Princess of Wales hugs Holocaust survivors in emotional reunion
Key moments
- 6:39pm
- ‘We will make Holocaust education a national endeavour,’ vows Starmer
- 6:02pm
- Prince of Wales recalls great grandmother sheltering persecuted Jews
- 4:53pm
- Holocaust survivor: ‘It grieves me to see resurgence of Nazi ideology’
- 4:16pm
- ‘I will never let them know how much they are hurting me,’ recalls survivor
- 1:38pm
- King Charles: World has seen dangerous re-emergence of anti-Semitism
The Princess of Wales had an emotional reunion with two Holocaust survivors ahead of a London memorial service marking 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
The Princess, who joined her husband Prince William for the event, warmly embraced Yvonne Bernstein, 87, and Steven Frank, 89, who she photographed at Kensington Palace in 2020.
The group were reunited at a reception for around 50 survivors of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides, with the Princess saying it was a “treat” to see them again.
Both the Prince and Princess discussed their desire to teach their children about the Holocaust, with William saying of their 11-year-old son: “George is getting to the age where he’s starting to understand things. So it’s getting interesting to talk to him about what happened.”
The Prince later recalled the bravery of his great grandmother – Princess Alice of Battenberg – who sheltered persecuted Jews in Athens during the Second World War.
As he addressed attendees at the Holocaust Memorial Day service, he assured survivors that their stories and their bravery would never be forgotten.
It came as the King urged the world to “remember the depths to which humanity can sink” as he became the first British monarch to visit Auschwitz.
The Princess of Wales, then Duchess of Cambridge, took photographs of Ms Bernstein, then 82, and Mr Frank, then 84, in 2020 for an exhibition released to mark Holocaust Memorial Day, with each image depicting the connection between a survivor and subsequent generations of their family.
At the time, she said: “Their stories will stay with me forever.”
As the group was reunited on Monday, the Princess held Ms Bernstein’s hand, while the 87-year-old stroked her arm and thanked her for coming.
“It was such a treat for me to come and see an old friend,” the Princess said. “It’s so nice to see you.”
Today’s summary
Here’s a wrap up of today’s key moments:
- Olaf Scholz, the chancellor of Germany, said there was reason to worry over how many young people know little about the Holocaust.
- Elon Musk was criticised by world leaders for telling supporters of the anti-immigrant far-Right AfD to not feel “guilty” about the country’s Nazi past
- Giorgia Meloni, whose party has its origins in Italy’s post-war fascist movement, issued a strong denunciation of Nazism, Fascism and anti-Semitism
- The King visited the Jewish Community Centre in Krakow, where he met Holocaust survivors and heard from volunteers. He warned that the world has seen a dangerous re-emergence of anti-Semitisim and spoke of the “sombre and sacred moment” of commemoration
- Volodymyr Zelensky said evil persisted in the world, as Russian representatives were banned from taking part in the commemoration
- The Prince and Princess of Wales attended a ceremony at London’s Guildhall, hearing from Holocaust survivors and participating in a service
- David Lammy said action must be taken against anti-Semitism so that history does not repeat itself
- Survivors warn of ‘huge rise in anti-Semitism’ since 7 Oct
- Starmer vows to make Holocaust education a ‘national endeavour’
‘‘Never again’ is a promise we must uphold’ says Lammy
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The foreign secretary has said that action must be taken against anti-Semitism so that history does not repeat itself.
Speaking at a reception co-hosted by the Israeli embassy in the UK, David Lammy said: “‘Never again’ is a solemn promise which we owe to the victims, but also which we must uphold for our own sake, and for the sake of future generations.
“We need Holocaust remembrance. Holocaust education. Action against anti-Semitism - it is how we build a better future for us all together.”
Mr Lammy said the world needed to find “new ways to tell the story” so that the next generation does not forget the horrors inflicted by the Nazis.
He added: “We need them to understand what a catastrophic moral failure for humanity Auschwitz was, and how the seeds of such a catastrophe are still around us.”
Pictured: King given tour of Auschwitz
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Princess is ‘such a darling’, says survivor
Inside the Guildhall’s Great Hall, the royal couple watched solemnly as survivors shared their testimonies.
Speaking afterwards, Steven Frank, who was just nine and imprisoned at Theresienstadt when Auschwitz was liberated in 1945, said of his reunion with the Princess: “She’s just such a darling, you know? She’s just such a lovely person… She’s warm and kind and just a lovely person. [It was] lovely to see her.
“And she looked well, I thought. I asked her how she was, and she said she was fine, and that’s a good thing too.”
Asked about his continued efforts to share his experiences, Mr Frank added: “It’s become sort of a mission. Most people say ‘You do it because it helps you mentally get it off your chest.’
“I do it because I’ve had so much good fortune coming to this country and having lived, loved, played sport, had a nice family, and it’s time to give something back.”
As the Holocaust survivors in attendance gathered for a group photograph, with the royals and politicians, Sir Keir Starmer was heard telling one survivor that the picture was “fantastic”.
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‘We will make Holocaust education a national endeavour,’ vows Starmer
As the ceremony began, the walls of the Great Hall, the ceiling and chandeliers were lit purple as the London Youth Chamber Choir performed with an orchestra on stage.
Several extracts from memoirs written by Jewish people during the Holocaust were read out, including by TV personality Robert Rinder, while the testimonies of survivors were also played on TV screens.
Sir Keir Starmer said the Holocaust was a “collective endeavour” by ordinary people “consumed by the hatred of difference”.
The Prime Minister said: “We start by remembering the six million Jewish victims and by defending the truth against anyone who would deny it. So we will have a National Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre to speak this truth for eternity.
“But as we remember, we must also act. Because we say never again, but where was never again in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Darfur, or the acts of genocide against Yazidi.
“Today, we have to make those words mean more. So we will make Holocaust education a truly national endeavour.”
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Sir Keir said all schools would teach the Holocaust and give opportunities to hear a recorded survivor testimony so that “we can develop that empathy for others and that appreciation of our common humanity, which is the ultimate way to defeat the hatred of difference”.
At the end of the ceremony, the Prince and Princess each appeared on stage to gather a flame and light their own candles.
Ms Marks-Woldman said afterwards: “ The Prince and Princess of Wales are providing real leadership at a time when communities are feeling so vulnerable and so isolated, but they’re not only providing leadership by joining us, they were actually joining in.
“That is such an example to all of us. We can all show up and be here, and we can all take steps to do something about what we’ve learned as we come together on Holocaust Memorial Day.”
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Prince and Princess of Wales hear from survivors
The Princess, who wore a black coat over black wide-leg trousers and a black jumper with a five-string pearl necklace, was only revealed to be attending the event just hours before it started.
Ahead of the service, the Princess shared a warm hug with Steven Frank, who thanked her for sending him a Christmas card as the two chatted about his family.
Prince William sat with Polish born Alfred Garwood, who survived Bergen-Belsen as a child and Bosnian genocide survivor Sabina Kadic-Mackenzie, who now lives in Liverpool.
Apologising that they could not spend longer chatting, he said: “There is a lot of history at this table, we need to hear it all.”
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The Princess asked Lady Milena Grenfell-Baines: “Do you write a diary? It’s so important that these stories are written down. They are still relevant stories.”
Another survivor, Robert George Berkowitz, told her: “William is the luckiest man in the world to have you!” The Princess giggled and replied: “I will tell him that!”
On arrival, the couple were welcomed by Olivia Marks-Woldman, HMD chief executive and Laura Marks, the charity’s chair of trustees.
“I can’t believe it’s been 80 years,” the Prince said. “It’s staggering.”
He added: “We are glad we are here. It’s important to be here.”
Ms Marks-Woldman told the Princess she was glad she was feeling well, to which she replied: “Thank you, it’s good to be able to be here.”
The royal couple then joined 50 Holocaust survivors for a photograph, along with prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner.
Other politicians meeting survivors and their families in the reception included home secretary Yvette Cooper, former home secretary Sajid Javid and Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey.
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Pictured: Princess of Wales attends ceremony at Guildhall
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Prince of Wales recalls great grandmother sheltering persecuted Jews
The Prince of Wales has recalled the bravery of his great grandmother, Princess Alice, who sheltered persecuted Jews in Athens, as he spoke at a Holocaust Memorial Day service in London.
Prince William, who was joined by his wife, the Princess of Wales, assured Holocaust survivors that their stories, and their bravery, would never be forgotten.
“I am honoured to join you today to mark Holocaust Memorial Day and to remember the millions murdered during the Holocaust and in subsequent genocides,” he said.
“We also remember those survivors, who have lived with the scars both mental and physical.
“Their bravery in sharing with us the most harrowing moments of their lives, are extremely powerful and ensure we never forget. I assure them, we never will.”
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The Prince said the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz also served as a reminder of those who “risked death, torture and persecution to defy the aggressors” and help others.
He read an extract from the book Heroes of the Holocaust, by Lyn Smith, which recounts the stories of ordinary Britons who risked their lives to make a difference.
Among them was his great-grandmother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, who lived in Athens during the Second World War and who played a crucial role in protecting Jewish people, including widow Rachel Cohen and two of her five children, Tilde and Michel, to save them from deportation to the death camps.
The extract read by the Prince at the service, says: “This was an extremely risky undertaking in the close-packed streets of Athens where there was always the danger of spies and gossip….
“On 15 October 1943, Rachel Cohen and Tilde moved into Alice’s home. The staff were told that Mrs Cohen was the former governess to her children… Michel, the youngest of the four brothers, joined them about a month later…. There were great risks, not least the position of the house – the front door faced the residence of the local Archbishop, which always had a German guard on duty outside.
“She was sometimes interviewed by the Gestapo and used her deafness to an advantage, pretending not to understand their questions or what they were talking about. It worked and they soon gave up. Thanks to her, the entire Cohen family survived the war.”
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Survivors lay candles
Survivors have lit candles at the wooden train car which sits on the tracks at Auschwitz, paying tribute to victims of the Holocaust.
The final act of the ceremony was heralded by the blowing of the shofar - a ram’s horn usually sounded to mark the start of Jewish New Year or end of Yom Kippur. In this case, a wake-up call.
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Pictured: Dignitaries attend Auschwitz commemoration
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President of World Jewish Congress condemns pro-Palestine marches
Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, has condemned the pro-Palestine marches which have erupted around the world in response to conflict in the Middle East.
“We don’t want our past to be our children’s future,” he said, paraphrasing Roman Kent, a Polish Holocaust survivor who spoke at the 70th commemoration of Auschwitz a decade ago and died in 2021.
“If Roman Kent were here and saw what was happening to the Jewish people around the world in 2025, he would cry,” Mr Lauder said, adding: “It is hard for us to believe what we see today.
“The sudden violence and hatred against Jews. The singling out of the one Jewish state with huge demonstrations shouting anti-Semitic slogans everywhere.
“This is hard for us to watch but I cannot imagine what it must be like for the fifty survivors who are here today.”
Mr Lauder said there was a “common thread” between the horrors of Auschwitz and the Hamas terror attack on 7 Oct 2023, warning that the Holocaust was caused by a “step-by-step progression of anti-Semitism”.
“The Jews are the canary in the coal mine. …That canary died 15 months ago on October 7,” he said, warning that Adolf Hitler’s scope widened after targeting Jews.
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‘It grieves me to see resurgence of Nazi ideology,’ says survivor
Leon Weintraub, 99, has spoken of his sadness at witnessing a resurgence of hate in Europe.
“It grieves me deeply to see in many European countries, Nazi style uniforms and slogans openly paraded at marches,” he said, adding: “These people self proclaim as national champions but at the same time they proclaim the hateful ideology of German Nazis.”
Mr Weintraub said the world must avoid the mistakes made in the 1930s.
“Be sensitive to all expressions of intolerance or resentment of those who are different, with regards to their skin colour, religion or sexual orientation,” he said, adding: “We, the survivors, understand that the consequence of being considered different is active persecution.”
Mr Weintraub was 13 when his family were sent to the Lodz Ghetto. He was later transported to Auschwitz.
“We were stripped of all our humanity. First we were stripped naked and robbed of all our personal belongings. Then they brutally shaved all our hair,” he recalled.
Mr Weintraub’s mother and aunt were killed in the gas chamber, while he was sentenced to hard labour outside the camp.
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‘Our revenge was to build Israel and raise our families in peace,’ says survivor
“On an icy windy day, I stood and watched helplessly as little girls from the nearby barrack were marched away crying and shivering to the gas chamber… They too became ashes,” Tova Friedman recalled of Auschwitz, adding: “I thought it was normal that you had to die...if you were a Jewish child you had to die.”
Ms Friedman has said that the “world is again in crisis”, as Israel fights for its right to exist.
“Our revenge has been to build a strong Jewish country and raise our families in peace,” she said, adding: “Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, is fighting for its existence and its way of life.”
The Holocaust survivor said “rampant anti-Semitism” spreading throughout the world was a cause for concern.
“We must all reawaken our collective conscience to transform this violence, anger, hatred and malignancy that has so powerfully ripped our society into a humane and just world before these terrible negative forces will destroy us all,” she said.
‘I will never let them know how much they are hurting me’
Tova Friedman, 86, has recalled the horrors of being sent to Auschwitz at the age of five.
She told the audience: “I remember as a five-and-a-half-year-old child watching from my little hiding place in the labour camp as all my little friends were rounded up and driven to their deaths, while the heartbreaking cries of their parents fell on deaf ears.
“After all the children were gone and the courtyard was empty, I thought to myself - ‘Am I the only Jewish child left in the world?’ Shortly thereafter, we were loaded into cattle cars… this was the very first time I ever saw my father cry.”
Her father was sent to Dachau, while she was sent to Auschwitz with her mother.
“A gloomy Sunday. With a sky obscured by smoke and a terrible stink hung in the air,” Ms Friedman said of her arrival at the camp.
“There were rows and rows of naked women all around me. ‘What are they looking for?’ I asked my mother as I too was naked and trying to avoid the gleam of the German Shepherd’s teeth and eyes. I was their height.”
Ms Friedman said she was beaten mercilessly by a guard for fidgeting, for not being able to stand still.
“I looked into my mother’s eyes, she was standing next to me, silently, and she was pleading with me, don’t cry, don’t cry, hold on, and I didn’t.
“I recalled thinking I will never let them know how much they are hurting me. At five-and-a-half I had the rebellion in me. I would not show them, I would not let them know the pain they are inflicting on me.”
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‘War can erupt anywhere,’ warns survivor
Janina Iwanska, who is now 94, told the audience of how the camp had started out by housing political prisoners but soon turned into a “killing machine”.
“It was no longer a prisoner of war camp, when the killing machine started its operation, all they would do here was kill people,” she recalled.
Ms Iwanska said her thoughts were with the younger generation, for “war and chaos can erupt anywhere.”
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Pictured: Distinguished guests at Auschwitz service
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‘Huge rise in anti-Semitism,’ warns Holocaust survivor
Marian Turski, a 98-year-old Holocaust survivor, has condemned a “huge rise in anti-Semitism” around the world.
“Today and now we see a huge rise in anti-Semitism and that is the precise anti-Semitism which led to the Holocaust,” he said.
He praised the American diplomat Deborah Lipstadt who called out the “tsunami of anti-Semitism” and fought against Holocaust denial, adding: “Let us not fear demonstrating the same courage today when Hamas attempts at denial of the massacre of the 7 Oct.”
Mr Turski called for dialogue, saying: “Let us not be afraid to convince ourselves that we cannot solve problems between neighbours.”
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Holocaust survivor welcomes audience
The ceremony started with a series of photos from Auschwitz set to music by German Jewish composer James Simon, who was killed at Auschwitz.
Marian Turski, 98, then welcomed the guests “on behalf of all the survivors”.
Mr Turski survived the Lodz Ghetto as a teenager and was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where his brother and father were murdered.
He read from a letter written by a Polish poet to her friend before she died: “I am going somewhere, to a very distant place. A station that is unknown, for it is not in any map. There is the sky hanging over the station like a huge black lid.
“The engine shrieks with the voice of a beaten man. The train drivers have the faces of paper. All I have with me is just one suitcase and one grief. I am so very composed.”
He then invited the congregation to join him in a moment’s silence.
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‘The world has become toxic,’ says Holocaust survivor
Tova Friedman was six-years-old when she was amongst the 7,000 people liberated on Jan. 27, 1945.
The 86-year-old has returned to Auscwitz-Birkenau from her home in New Jersey to add her voice to those warning about rising hatred and anti-Semitism, believing this year’s to be the last gathering of survivors at Auschwitz.
“The world has become toxic,” she said a day before the observances in nearby Krakow. “I realise that we’re in a crisis again, that there is so much hatred around, so much distrust, that if we don’t stop, it may get worse and worse. There may be another terrible destruction.”
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Auschwitz service to begin
The main commemoration is scheduled to begin at 4 pm (3pm GMT) in a tent built over the gate to the former Auschwitz-Birkenau camp.
Politicians have not been asked to speak this year. Instead, four survivors are expected to speak:
- Marian Turski, 98, a journalist and historian who was sent to Auschwitz in 1944 and survived the westward ‘death march’ to Buchenwald in 1945.
- Tova Friedman, 86, an author and academic whose book ‘The Daughter of Auschwitz’ describes her experiences. She was transported with her mother to the camp at just five-years-old.
- Leon Weintraub, 99, a physician who lived in the Lodz ghetto and was separated from his family and sent to Auschwitz in 1944.
- Janina Iwanska, a Polish Catholic retired pharmacist who was taken to Auschwitz in a freight train in 1944, after being expelled from her home during the Warsaw Uprising against the Nazis.
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Zelensky warns that evil persists
Volodymyr Zelenskyy placed a candle at the Babyn Yar Holocaust memorial in Kyiv yesterday, where tens of thousands of Jews were executed during the Nazi occupation. He will attend the commemorations in Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland.
“The evil that seeks to destroy the lives of entire nations still remains in the world,” the Ukrainian president warned on his Telegram page, adding: “It is everyone’s mission to do everything possible to prevent evil from winning.”
Russian representatives have previously been integral to the anniversary in recognition of the Soviet liberation of the camp on Jan 27, 1945. But they have not been welcome since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
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‘Will they believe us when we are not here?’
Julia Wallach, a 99-year-old Holocaust survivor, cannot talk about what happened without crying.
“It is too difficult to talk about, too hard,” she said.
Born in Paris in 1925, Ms Wallach was sent to Drancy detention camp aged 18 before being deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. There, she escaped from a lorry destined for the gas chamber at the last minute.
As hard as it is to relive the horrors, she has insisted that she will continue to give witness. “As long as I can do it, I will do it,” she said.
Frankie, her granddaughter, added: “Will they believe us when we talk about this when she is not there?”
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‘We are the guardians of memory,’ says Polish president
Polish President Andrzej Duda carried a candle and walked with Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum director Piotr Cywinski. At the wall, the two men bowed their heads, murmured prayers and crossed themselves.
“We Poles, on whose land — occupied by Nazi Germans at that time — the Germans built this extermination industry and this concentration camp, are today the guardians of memory,” Mr Duda said to reporters afterward.
He spoke of the “unimaginable harm” inflicted on so many people, especially the Jewish people.
The Germans murdered six million Jews, amounting to two-thirds of Europe’s Jews and one-third of all Jews worldwide.
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Princess of Wales to join Prince William at Holocaust Memorial Day service
The Princess of Wales is to join her husband at a service to mark Holocaust Memorial Day, it has been confirmed.
The Princess, who is making a gradual return to public engagements following chemotherapy, will attend a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau alongside the Prince of Wales, hosted by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.
The couple attended the 75th anniversary of Holocaust Memorial Day in 2020.
They visited the site of the Stutthof concentration camp in 2017, meeting survivors and describing the experience of seeing it as “shattering”.
In 2021, the Princess took part in a project to honour Holocaust survivors at the Imperial War Museum in London, with two of her photographs included in the ‘Generations: Portraits of Holocaust Survivors’ exhibition.
“While I have been lucky enough to meet two of the now very few survivors, I recognise not everyone in the future will be able to hear these stories first hand,” she said then.
“It is vital that their memories are preserved and passed on to future generations.”
In the same year, she met Auschwitz survivors in the Lake District, joining a boat trip with two of the “Windermere Children”: the 300 young Holocaust survivors brought to the countryside in 1945 to help them begin to overcome their trauma.
The Princess is making a return to public life, having confirmed that she is now in remission from cancer.
Pictured: The King is welcomed to Krakow

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King Charles: World has seen dangerous re-emergence of anti-Semitism
In his speech, the King spoke of the “sombre and sacred moment” of commemoration, remembering the six millions Jews, “old and young, who were systematically murdered” along with the “so many others on which the Nazis inflicted their violence and hatred”.
“It is a moment when we recall the depths to which humanity can sink, when evil is allowed to flourish, ignored for too long by the world,” he said.
“It is the moment when we recall the powerful testimony of survivors.. who collectively taught us to cherish our freedom, to challenge prejudice and never to be a bystander in the face of violence and hate.
“In a world that remains full of turmoil and strife, and has witnessed the dangerous re-emergence of antisemitism, there can be no more important message.
“As the number of holocaust survivors regrettably diminishes over the passage of time, the responsibility of remembrance rests far heavier on our shoulders and of those of generations yet unborn.
“The act of remembering the evils of the past remains a vital task. And in so doing, we inform our present and shape our future.”
King Charles meeting survivors
The King’s first event of the day is at the Jewish Community Centre (JCC) Krakow, where he is meeting Holocaust survivors and hearing from volunteers and members about the centre’s support for people of all ages and backgrounds as part of its mission to rebuild Jewish life in the city.
He formally opened the centre in 2008, and was instrumental in setting it up.
Arriving half an hour ahead of schedule, the King fitted in a walkabout around a calm, quiet crowd that had gathered to see him in Krakow.
He will now meet members of the centre’s Senior Club, which provides support and social connection for older members of Krakow’s Jewish community, including survivors of the Holocaust.
Among the Holocaust survivors present is Ryszard Orowski, whom The King met during a visit to Krakow in 2002 which inspired the centre.
Nowadays, the centre also organises donations of food and essential items to refugees, including the 380,000 displaced Ukrainians in Poland.
The King will give a speech, his only one of the day, where he will speak of how the testimony of survivors teaches us “to cherish our freedom, to challenge prejudice and never to be a bystander in the face of violence and hate”.
He will emphasise that it is our collective duty, in a world filled with “turmoil and strife” to learn the lessons of history.
The King will say: “The act of remembering the evils of the past remains a vital task. In so doing, we inform our present and shape our future.”

Prince William to meet with Sir Keir Starmer
The Prince of Wales will today hold a private meeting with the Prime Minister, Kensington Palace has said.
Prince William will meet with Sir Keir Starmer later this evening, following their joint attendance at a memorial service in London marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust.
According to convention, the prime minister meets with the heir to the throne once a year.
However, today’s tete-a-tete will mark the Prince’s first such meeting since being named Prince of Wales on the death of his grandmother, Elizabeth II, in September 2022.
While he met former prime minister Rishi Sunak on various occasions, the pair did not sit down for an official audience in this capacity in 2023 or 2024, it is understood.
The agenda of the meeting will remain private but it is likely that the Prince and Sir Keir will touch upon today’s events marking the liberation of Auschwitz.
Both men are due to attend a ceremony to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day on Monday afternoon in London.
The Prince will meet Holocaust survivors to hear their personal stories before giving a reading at the ceremony and lighting a candle alongside young representatives from the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and other partner organisations.
He may also discuss with Sir Keir the most pressing political stories of the day, including Donald Trump’s inauguration and any potential plans to harness the Royal family’s unique brand of soft diplomacy to cement the so-called special relationship.
Mr Trump is expected to visit the UK “soon” after Sir Keir became the first European leader to speak to him since his inauguration, making him the first elected politician in modern history to be hosted for two state visits by the Royal family.
A Downing Street spokesman said that during the 45-minute call on Sunday night the two leaders “agreed to meet soon and looked forward to further discussions then”.
A senior Whitehall source said last month of Mr Trump: “He loves the Royal Family. Look at the fact he’s had his own photo album made of the last visit. Why wouldn’t we want a repeat?”
It has also been suggested that a royal visit to the US could take place next year, when America celebrates the 250th anniversary of the declaration of independence.
The Prince has met the prime minister many times, including when Sir Keir was leader of the opposition. The pair had a private audience in June 2023, according to the Court Circular.
When he becomes monarch, he will hold the traditional weekly audience with the Prime Minister of the day to discuss Government matters.
Though required to remain politically neutral on all matters, the monarch is able to “advise and warn” his ministers when necessary.
Pictured: Musk compared to Hitler
A striking and controversial piece of street art appeared in the northern Italy city of Padova on the eve of the commemoration of Auschwitz’s liberation.
Entitled ‘Elon Mask’, it shows Musk peeling off part of his face, as if it is a mask, to reveal the face of Adolf Hitler beneath.
The words ‘Elon Mask’ are written in blood red paint.
The art work was painted by an Italian street artist named EvyRein.
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Musk’s comments ‘all too familiar and ominous’, critics say
Elon Musk has been criticised by world leaders for telling supporters of the anti-immigrant far-Right AfD to not feel “guilty” about the country’s Nazi past, Jörg Luyken writes.
The richest man in the world made a surprise video link appearance at the party’s rally on Saturday, in which he spoke about preserving German culture and protecting the German people.
His comments come just a week after he caused uproar after performing a gesture which drew comparisons to a Nazi salute during President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
“I think there is frankly too much of a focus on past guilt and we need to move beyond that. Children should not be guilty of the sins of their parents, let alone their great grandparents,” Musk said.
In response, Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, said the comments “sound all too familiar and ominous - specially only hours before the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz”.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the chancellor added it “must depress us how many young people in Germany hardly know anything about the Holocaust”.
Germany’s ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, said of Musk: “[He] doesn’t seem to know our country well at all.
“Nobody makes children feel guilty for Nazi crimes. We want them to grow up informed and responsible, applying the lessons of Germany‘s past.”
Italian PM: Anti-Semitism is a plague that survived the Holocaust
Giorgia Meloni, whose party has its origins in Italy’s post-war fascist movement, has issued a strong denunciation of Nazism, Fascism and anti-Semitism.
The Italian prime minister said that anti-Semitism was not vanquished even when the horrors of Auschwitz and the other Nazi concentration camps were discovered.
Marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, she said that anti-Semitism is “a plague that survived the Holocaust...and spreads through new tools and channels.”
Although her Brothers of Italy party traces its origins to what remained of the Fascist movement in Italy after the Second World War, Ms Meloni has been at pains to distance herself from far-Right ideology since she was elected two years ago.
She said that Italy’s Fascist regime was complicit in the persecution of Jews during the war. Mussolini introduced laws which discriminated against Italian Jews and allowed the rounding up of Jewish people, many of whom died in concentration camps.
“Fighting anti-Semitism” is a priority for her coalition government, she added.
Defiant survivors arrive in clothes resembling the camp’s uniform
At 9am this morning, survivors - some of whom wore the distinctive blue and white stripes of their former uniform - gathered at the “Wall of Death” near Block 11 of the former Auschwitz I camp.
Shaky but determined, they stepped forward one by one to place a lit candle at the site of so much death.
Shuffling with walking sticks, some bent down as if in slow motion: the physical struggle to do so worth it to honour their former friends and families who died here.
Others were helped by younger relatives, as the click of camera shutters echoed.
Most laid a hand on the wall, where prisoners were executed under the Nazi regime.
The site is a reconstruction of the wall where Auschwitz inmates, mostly political prisoners, were shot by the SS.
The short, solemn ceremony is the first of the day. It will be followed by a service at 4pm local time, where four Holocaust survivors will tell their stories.

‘Never forget’ the victims, urges President Macron
French President Emmanuel Macron attended a service in Paris at the Shoah Memorial on Monday morning before setting off to Auschwitz.
In a statement posted on X afterwards, he said: “Let us never forget the millions of victims of the Holocaust.
“Let us fight tirelessly against anti-Semitism and hatred, in the name of all those who perished.
“Let us be the memory of their memory.”
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Notebooks of Auschwitz prisoner finally published
The notebooks of a Jewish Nazi slave in Auschwitz have finally been published after 80 years, writes Henry Samuel.
Alter Fajnzylberg, who was made to work in the gas chambers as part of the “Sonderkommandos”, wrote how he saw a “special hell here on Earth”.
The young Pole from a Jewish family detailed his experiences in “What I saw in Auschwitz - Alter’s notebooks”, which were penned after the liberation in four notebooks between 1945-46.
However, his testimony remained locked in a shoebox for decades, as his only son “didn’t dare face it”.
Roger Fajnzylberg told AFP he finally opened the notebooks in 2005 and had them translated into French.
The Sonderkommando were often branded collaborators by other prisoners, but were central eyewitnesses to the process of mass killing.
He recounted the “ignoble and inhuman” work, in a camp where “several million people were burnt without being registered”.
“Who will remember them, if not me?,” he added.
Born in 1911 in Poland and dying in 1987 in Paris, he fought in Spain in the International Brigades and was deported to Auschwitz in March 1942 in the first convoy from France.
‘Worry’ in Germany about youth’s lack of knowledge on the Holocaust
Several of Germany’s top officials, including Olaf Scholz, the chancellor and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the president, are attending Auschwitz for the event.
Before setting off, Mr Scholz said: “We should be worried about how many young people in Germany hardly know anything about the Holocaust.”
He added that there was now a “mission for all of us to change this”.
As well as the commemoration ceremony at the death camp, there are various memorials going on across Germany too, writes Jörg Luyken.
King Charles: Vital to learn lessons of history
The King is due to make a short speech this afternoon, as he visits Jewish Community Centre ahead of the main ceremony, writes Hannah Furness.
He will speak of how the testimony of survivors teaches us “to cherish our freedom, to challenge prejudice and never to be a bystander in the face of violence and hate”, it is understood.
He is expected to emphasise that it is our collective duty, in a world filled with “turmoil and strife” to learn the lessons of history.
The King will say: “The act of remembering the evils of the past remains a vital task. In so doing, we inform our present and shape our future.”
Today will be the King’s first visit to Auschwitz, as he represents Britain at the ceremony with survivors and their families.