‘I Feel I Have to Do It, It’s Important’: King Charles Visits Auschwitz
Jerusalem, 27 January, 2025 (TPS-IL) -- (Adnkronos) – King Charles is in Poland today, Monday 27 January, the first British monarch to set foot on the site of Auschwitz, “as a man and as a king” and on a “deeply personal pilgrimage”, to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
Charles will join other dignitaries and Holocaust survivors at a ceremony at the Lager Memorial and Museum. Buckingham Palace said he would also meet with members of the local community in Krakow ahead of the ceremony. Prince William of Wales will represent the royal family at a ceremony in London marking Remembrance Day.
After passing through the camp gates beneath the sign Arbeit Macht Frei (Work makes you free) and viewing the collection of personal items confiscated from victims upon entry to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the King will lay a wreath at the site known as the Wall of Death, where several thousand people were executed under the Nazi regime. Described as a “deeply personal pilgrimage” for the King and a “particularly moving” visit, after hearing the stories of survivors of many years of fighting, the trip marks the first time a British monarch has visited the site of the concentration camp .
Around 50 survivors are expected to make the journey this year, compared with 300 a decade ago. At a Holocaust event at Buckingham Palace earlier this month, the King said of the visit: ” I feel I have to do it for the 80th anniversary. It’s very important .” A source close to the King said: “Although His Majesty has found many ways over the years to engage with Holocaust survivors, I know this visit to Auschwitz is particularly poignant for him. Not just because of the significance of the anniversary, but also because it is an opportunity for him to reflect on the many stories of suffering and courage he has heard from those who witnessed it, right where it happened.”
“As anyone who has visited will tell you, the camp has a profound impact on the soul, making you realise both the scale of the horrors and the lessons that must be learned for all eternity. In that sense, it will be a deeply personal pilgrimage for the King, who will pay his respects both as a man and as a monarch.” Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said the King’s presence would “elevate” the event onto the world stage and “send an important signal to the world” of its importance. “I am so grateful, delighted and proud that the King is making this visit in this significant year,” she added.
This afternoon’s ceremony will be attended by heads of state and political leaders, including Sergio Mattarella, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canada’s Justin Trudeau, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Olaf Scholz, along with members of the royal families of Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Spain. No politicians are allowed to speak at the ceremony, with survivors speaking instead .
Ahead of the anniversary, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer paid tribute to the Jews murdered by the Nazi regime and renewed his commitment to ensuring all schools in the country educate students about the history of the genocide. The prime minister said: “The Holocaust was a collective effort by thousands of ordinary people, completely consumed by hatred of otherness. This is the hatred we are fighting against today and it is a collective effort by all of us to defeat it. We must start by remembering the six million Jewish victims and standing up for the truth against anyone who would deny it.”
International Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorates the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland by Soviet soldiers in 1945.
