King Charles to visit Auschwitz for 80th anniversary of liberation
Monarch to be guest at commemorations marking camp's liberation on 27 January
Jenni Frazer is a freelance journalist
King Charles has accepted an invitation to visit the Auschwitz concentration camp in January, joining representatives from 20 different countries to mark the 80th anniversary of the camp’s liberation.
The king, who visited Auschwitz in 2020 when still Prince of Wales, has had a long-standing connection with survivors, a number of whom, though now frail, are expected to attend the commemoration ceremonies. During his 2020 visit he warned that “hatred and intolerance still lurk in the human heart.”
Though not in the best of health himself — he is still continuing weekly treatment for cancer — King Charles has vocally opposed antisemitism and was determined to attend the historic occasion on January 27. It will almost certainly be the last such event attended by Holocaust survivors.
Organisers say he will be the first British monarch to visit Auschwitz. His mother, the late Queen Elizabeth, made her final foreign trip in 2005 when she visited Bergen-Belsen.
Organisers say he will be the first British monarch to visit Auschwitz. His mother, the late Queen Elizabeth, made her final foreign trip in 2005 when she visited Bergen-Belsen.
Though Auschwitz was liberated by troops from the Soviet Union’s Red Army, it is believed that there will not be a formal delegation from Russia at the ceremony because of global condemnation of the country’s war with Ukraine. The Auschwitz Museum director, Piotr Cywiński, has emphasised that the commemorative events will be “divorced from politics” — and given the king’s decision to attend, it is unlikely that anything at the ceremony will be done which could embarrass him.
The king has had a long-standing commitment to the Jewish community, particularly in Poland where his close connection to World Jewish Relief led to the opening of a Jewish community centre in Krakow. He remains a patron of the charity.
The UK government has announced additional funding for the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, of which the king is also a patron, to support the anniversary.
The main commemoration will begin at 4pm in a specially constructed tent over the gate of the former Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp, with its notorious, deeply cynical Nazi slogan, “Arbeit Macht Frei, or “Work Sets You Free”. A freight car will be positioned in front of the gate as a powerful symbol of remembrance.
Communities across the UK will participate in a special nationwide project called “80 Candles for 80 Years” to mark the anniversary. The event will herald the beginning of several commemorations, culminating in the 80th anniversary of VE Day (Victory in Europe) on May 8.
King Charles’ grandmother, Princess Alice, was named a Righteous Gentile for her sheltering of a Jewish family in Athens during the Holocaust.
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