King Charles will become the first British head of state to visit Auschwitz when he tours the former Nazi concentration camp to mark the 80th anniversary of its liberation.
The King will travel to Poland to join survivors and other dignitaries for a special service, at the end of which he will lay a light of remembrance to honour those who lost their lives.
Sources close to the King say this is a profound visit for him, with one aide describing it as a “deeply personal pilgrimage.”
Back in the UK, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has renewed his commitment to ensuring all schools teach pupils about the Holocaust – warning that society must “make ‘never again’ finally mean what it says”.
Sir Keir will join the Prince of Wales at the official commemorations in London to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.
Holocaust Memorial Day, which takes place on 27 January each year, remembers the six million Jews murdered during World War Two.
It also commemorates the millions of people outside the Jewish faith who were murdered through Nazi persecution and those targeted in more recent genocides.
Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest Nazi concentration camp and was at the centre of the Nazi campaign to eradicate Europe’s Jewish population.
The King has long wanted to be present at Auschwitz for the liberation ceremony – not just because of the significance of the anniversary but also to bear witness to the testimony of survivors in the location where so much suffering happened.
A palace source told the BBC: “There is no substitute for paying tribute at the very scene where the horrors took place.”
In 1943, the King’s grandmother, Princess Alice of Greece, saved a Jewish family by taking them into her home and hiding them in Nazi-occupied Athens – something the King has said brought him and the Royal Family an immense sense of pride.
During his brief visit to Poland, the King will also meet President Andrzej Duda.
Speaking ahead of the anniversary, Sir Keir said while we remember the six million Jewish victims “we must also act”, adding that he wanted to make teaching young people about the genocide a “national endeavour”.
“It happened, it can happen again: that is the warning of the Holocaust to us all,” he said.
“The Holocaust was a collective endeavour by thousands of ordinary people utterly consumed by the hatred of difference.
“That is the hatred we stand against today and it is a collective endeavour for all of us to defeat it.”
On Wednesday, Sir Keir welcomed a group of survivors and their families to Downing Street, describing the meeting as “an incredible privilege” and praising their “sheer and remarkable courage”.
A recent survey by Claims Conference, a group representing Jewish victims of Nazi German persecution and their descendants, showed some young Germans are unaware of the Holocaust – and a significant minority cannot name a single concentration camp, death camp or ghetto.
German ambassador to the UK Miguel Berger told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the results of the survey showed the country had to continue to invest in education about the Holocaust.
He also rejected comments by some members of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party who have been critical of the country’s culture of remembrance – called Erinnerungskultur – insisting it was a “German responsibility” to “keep the memory [of the Holocaust] alive”.
Mala Tribich, a survivor of the Holocaust who settled in England in 1947, also spoke to Today – telling the programme about her forced separation from her family, and her subsequent detention in the Ravensbrück and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps.
Jewish people were treated like “cattle” by the Nazis, Ms Tribich said, explaining how she felt the dehumanising treatment they were subjected to “did something to our soul”.
The 94-year-old also stressed the importance of ensuring “young people get the right education” to avoid a repeat of the horrors she had experienced as a girl. “We’re all hoping for a better world, but we need to contribute to it,” she said.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch spoke of the importance of confronting “the resurgence of antisemitism today”, while reflecting on the Holocaust as a “unique evil in human history”, in a statement to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.
While Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey urged vigilance in defending “peace, human rights and compassion”, and guarding against “antisemitism, hatred, discrimination and oppression”.
Source: BBC
