King Charles was pictured wiping away a tear during an incredible moving ceremony at Auschwitz to mark the 80th anniversary of the concentration camp’s liberation.
The King’s appearance at the former Nazi concentration camp today marks the first time a British head of state has paid a visit to the site.
The 76-year-old monarch has joined world leaders, foreign royals and elderly camp survivors, the youngest of whom are in their 80s, at Birkenau, the part of Auschwitz where the mass murder of Jews took place.
The sombre ceremony is being 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.
Charles is 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 also brought 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.
Others in attendance include politicians like France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz, as well as President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Earlier, the King visited the Jewish Community Centre in Krakow, where he met Holocaust survivors and delivered a speech in front of those in attendance.
Charles spoke against violence and hatred as he paid tribute to the “six million Jews, old and young, who were systematically murdered, together with Sinti, Roma, disabled people, members of the L.G.B.T. community, political prisoners, and so many others”
He praised Holocaust survivors, saying that they have “collectively taught us to cherish our freedom, to challenge prejudice and never to be a bystander in the face of violence and hate”.
Charles said that the “responsibility of remembrance rests far heavier on our shoulders” and added that “the act of remembering the evils of the past remains a vital task”.
In all, the Nazi regime murdered 6 million Jews from all over Europe, annihilating two-thirds of Europe’s Jews and one-third of all Jews worldwide.
More than a million of those people were murdered by the Nazis at Auschwitz-Birkenau during the Second World War as part of the Holocaust.
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.
Commemorations at the site began earlier when Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, joined Auschwitz survivors in laying wreaths and candles at a symbolic site.
Their tributes were left at a reconstruction of the Death Wall, the site where several thousand people – mainly Polish political prisoners – were executed.
The Prince and Princess of Wales are also expected to attend a ceremony on Monday to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day, according to Kensington Palace.
‘ 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 ’
