King Charles is in Poland today to mark the 80th anniversary of Auschwitz-Birkenau’s liberation.
The King will become the first British head of state to visit the former Nazi concentration camp, but he won’t be the only European royal attending the grand ceremony today.
Charles will be joined by King Frederik and Queen Mary of Denmark, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands – who will also bring their daughter and heir apparent, Princess Amalia, King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and Crown Prince Haakon of Norway.
The ceremony at the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum and memorial will be held in front of the infamous gates of the former Nazi concentration camp, which had the words Arbeit Macht Frei – “work sets you free” – above it. It will also see politicians and Holocaust survivors in attendance, including France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz as well as President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
More than a million people were murdered by the Nazis at Auschwitz-Birkenau during the Second World War as part of the Holocaust, in which six million Jewish men, women and children were killed.
Most of the victims were Jews killed on an industrial scale in gas chambers, but also Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war, gay people and others who were targeted for elimination in the Nazi racial ideology.
The camp was liberated by soldiers of the 60th Army of the First Ukrainian Front who opened the gates on January 27 1945.
Today, Auschwitz survivors will address the invited guests and then will place a light in front of a freight train carriage – a symbol of the event – and the King, with other heads of state and Government, will lay lights in memory of those who died during the Holocaust.
After the ceremony, Charles will walk through the gates to view personal items confiscated from victims when they entered the camp and lay a wreath at a reconstruction of the Death Wall, the site where several thousand people, mainly Polish political prisoners, were executed.
During his visit, he will make a brief speech at a Jewish charity event where he will say the testimony of survivors teaches us “to cherish our freedom, to challenge prejudice and never to be a bystander in the face of violence and hate”.
The King will say it is our collective duty, in a world filled with ‘turmoil and strife’ to learn the lessons of history, adding: “The act of remembering the evils of the past remains a vital task. In so doing, we inform our present and shape our future.”
Meanwhile, during a recent Buckingham Palace reception ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day – held annually on January 27 – the King said: “I feel I must go for the 80th anniversary, (it’s) so important.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.express.co.uk ’
