King Charles will become the first British monarch to visit Auschwitz when he travels to the former Nazi concentration camp later this month, he told guests at a memorial event yesterday.
He revealed to Holocaust survivor Manfred Goldberg, 94: “I feel I must for the 80th anniversary. It’s so important.”
Charles will join heads of state, presidents and prime ministers from around the globe for a poignant remembrance ceremony at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial in Poland on January 27.
Buckingham Palace has said that the 76-year-old monarch will meet members of the local community in Krakow ahead of the event next Monday.
During his brief visit, the King will also meet Poland’s President Andrzej Duda. It will mark the first time a monarch has visited Auschwitz.
Camilla visited the concentration camp for its 75th anniversary, while the late Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip visited Bergen-Belsen during their state visit to Germany in 2015.
On Monday afternoon, Charles hosted an event to hear about various initiatives designed to ensure that the experiences of Holocaust survivors are not forgotten.
He met Manfred Goldberg, 94, who survived concentration camps, including Stutthof, and a death march.
The pair, who have met before, chatted in the Bow Room of Buckingham Palace where the King spoke of his plans to travel to Poland to attend the anniversary ceremony next week.
“I feel I must for the 80th anniversary,” Charles said. “It’s so important.”
Speaking of the small number of Holocaust survivors still alive to share their experiences, he added: “I can’t bear the dwindling number left behind.”
Mr Goldberg, who did not speak publicly about the horrors he experienced until he was in his 70s, has worked alongside the King and the Prince and Princess of Wales to ensure the horrors of the holocaust are not forgotten.
In 2017, he returned to Stutthof, where he met William and Kate during a deeply emotional visit described by the royals as “shattering”.He was also one of seven elderly survivors to sit for portraits, unveiled in January 2022, commissioned by the King in the hope that their stories act as a “guiding light for our society”.
Mr Goldberg said he was “full of admiration” for the way the King had decided “not to keep silent” and to show the world where his sympathies lay, adding: “Silence never helps the oppressed. It always helps the oppressor.”
He said: “I find it almost difficult to put into words, and I’m not often lost for words,” he said after their latest meeting. But I think it is an astounding affirmation by His Majesty that he fully understands the colossal injustice and atrocity that was perpetrated against the Jewish people during the Holocaust.
“He seems to have made it an active component of his life to do what he can to ensure that people become aware. Like me, he is trying to spread knowledge. Once people understand what the Holocaust represents, every single one contributes to preventing it ever happening again.”
A virtual reality Manfred Goldberg was on display on a screen at the palace, part of a new digital education programme in schools organised by the Holocaust Educational Trust.
Charles, patron of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, was given a demonstration of the virtual 94-year-old created after his living counterpart was filmed answering hundreds of questions to enable him to interact with schoolchildren.
The King asked the AI-generated Holocaust survivor what lesson he wanted humanity to learn, and it replied that ignoring the “injustice” experienced by someone else was a “dangerous response”.
The head of state told Mr Goldberg: “Thank you for all the things you do, it shows how special you are.”
On display were portraits of Holocaust survivors commissioned by Charles when he was the Prince of Wales, including an image of Mr Goldberg, and a candleholder created by pupils from Cheney School in Oxford, as part of the 80 Candles for 80 Years national project by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.
Groups ranging from schools to prisons have created 80 holders with each inspired by a figure or community persecuted by the Nazis.
The reception ended with a short performance from Echo Eternal, a commemorative arts and community engagement project led by CORE Education Trust in partnership with the National Youth Music Theatre.
Schools and youth organisations have been invited to create artistic responses to the testimonies of British Holocaust survivors.
