King Charles visits the Jewish Community Centre in Krakow (Image: Getty)
gave a powerful speech against violence and hatred today in Poland, w
The King, who will soon become , visited the Jewish Community Centre in Krakow, where he met Holocaust survivors and delivered a speech in front of those in attendance.
Charles, who greeted dozens of well-wishers outside the building, first opened the centre in 2008 as Prince of Wales.
In his speech, the King paid tribute to the “six million Jews, old and young, who were systematically murdered, together with Sinti, Roma, disabled people, members of the L.G.B.T. community, political prisoners, and so many others upon whom the Nazis inflicted their violence and hatred.”
He said the Holocaust can make us “recall the depths to which humanity can sink when evil is allowed to flourish, ignored for too long by the world”.
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King Charles’s speech at the Jewish Community Centre in full
“Ladies and gentlemen, to be in Poland on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, as we commemorate eighty years since the liberation of Auschwitz, is both a sombre and, indeed, a sacred moment.
“It is a moment when we recall the six million Jews, old and young, who were systematically murdered, together with Sinti, Roma, disabled people, members of the L.G.B.T. community, political prisoners, and so many others upon whom 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. And it is a moment when we recall the powerful testimonies of Survivors such as Lily Ebert, who so sadly passed away in October, and 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 – especially as the United Kingdom holds the Presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
“As the number of Holocaust Survivors regrettably diminishes with the passage of time, the responsibility of remembrance rests far heavier on our shoulders and on 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.
“Here in Krakow, from the ashes of the Holocaust, the Jewish community has been reborn. And there is no greater symbol of this rebirth than the Jewish Community Centre, in which we are gathered here today.
“Standing on the steps of this wonderfully vibrant Centre some seventeen years ago, having encouraged its construction and taken immense pride in opening it, I was filled with a sense of hope and optimism at the life and energy that coursed through the building.
“So, returning today, along with World Jewish Relief, of which I am extremely proud to be Patron, that sense of hope and optimism has only grown. With their support, together with other generous benefactors, this Centre has blossomed from the bud of an idea into an essential hub for the community.
“Ladies and gentlemen, in a post-Holocaust world, projects such as this Centre are how we recover our faith in humanity. They also show us there is much work still to be done if we are not just to remember the past, but to use it to inspire us to build a kinder and more compassionate world for future generations; a world of which we can be truly proud.
“And this remains the sacred task of us all.”
King Charles delivers speech during his visit to the Jewish Community Centre (Image: Getty)
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The King praised Holocaust survivors, saying that they have “collectively taught us to cherish our freedom, to challenge prejudice and never to be a bystander in the face of violence and hate”.
He stated that the “responsibility of remembrance rests far heavier on our shoulders” and added that “the act of remembering the evils of the past remains a vital task”.
Later in the day, at 3pm UK time, the King will attend the main commemoration at the former concentration camp.
The ceremony will be held in front of the infamous gates of the former Nazi concentration camp, which had the words Arbeit Macht Frei – “work sets you free” – above it.
Charles will be joined by other European royals, including the Kings and Queen’s of Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as politicians like France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz as well as President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
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King Charles is presented with a gift created by children of the Frajda Preschool and Nursery (Image: Getty)
King Charles meets food bank volunteers (Image: Getty)
After the ceremony, Charles will walk through the gates to view personal items confiscated from victims when they entered the camp and lay a wreath at a reconstruction of the Death Wall, the site where several thousand people, mainly Polish political prisoners, were executed.
More than a million people were murdered by the Nazis at Auschwitz-Birkenau during the Second World War as part of the Holocaust, in which six million Jewish men, women and children were killed.
Most of the victims were Jews killed on an industrial scale in gas chambers, but also Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war, gay people and others who were targeted for elimination in the Nazi racial ideology.
The camp was liberated by soldiers of the 60th Army of the First Ukrainian Front who opened the gates on January 27 1945.