King to visit Auschwitz concentration camp

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 at a service at the site of the former concentration camp, at the end of which he will lay a light of remembrance o 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 ensure all schools teach pupils about the Holocaust, warning that society must “make ‘never again’ finally mean what it says”.

He 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 II.

It also commemorates the millions of people outside of 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 he wanted to make teaching young people about the genocide a “national endeavour”.

He said: “It happened, it can happen again: that is the warning of the Holocaust to us all.

“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 praised their “sheer and remarkable courage”.

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”.

Additional reporting by Lucy Clarke-Billings.