King Charles to Visit Auschwitz for 80th Anniversary of Liberation
King Charles is set to become the first British head of state to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau, marking the 80th anniversary of its liberation. He will travel to Poland to commemorate this significant milestone alongside foreign monarchs, presidents, prime ministers, and Holocaust survivors.
During a recent reception at Buckingham Palace ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day, Charles expressed, "I feel I must go for the 80th anniversary, (it's) so important."
Auschwitz-Birkenau was the site where more than a million individuals, predominantly Jews, along with Poles, Soviet prisoners of war, and other nationalities, were murdered by the Nazis during World War II. This atrocity was part of the broader Holocaust, which resulted in the deaths of six million Jewish men, women, and children.
The camp was liberated on January 27, 1945, by soldiers of the 60th Army of the First Ukrainian Front. The ceremony will take place before the infamous gates of the concentration camp, which bore the slogan 'Arbeit Macht Frei' - 'work sets you free'.
Auschwitz survivors will address the gathering, which is expected to include notable dignitaries such as France's President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, and Spain's King Philip VI and Queen Letizia.
During the ceremony, survivors will place a light in front of a freight carriage, symbolising the event, and King Charles, along with other heads of state, will lay lights in remembrance of Holocaust victims.
Following the ceremony, Charles will walk through the gates to view personal items confiscated from victims upon their entry to the camp and will lay a wreath at a reconstruction of the Death Wall, where many Polish political prisoners were executed.
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