King Charles says he ‘can’t bear’ to see dwindling numbers of Holocaust survivors

King Charles has expressed that he “can’t bear” to see dwindling numbers of Holocaust survivors following a conversation with 94-year-old Holocaust survivor Manfred Goldberg BEM.

The remark came during an event to mark Holocaust Memorial Day at Buckingham Palace. The King has also announced plans to visit Auschwitz to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the camp. 

Goldberg, who survived concentration camps including Stutthof, and a death march when just a schoolboy, accompanied the King to witness three initiatives being developed in the UK to ensure the experience of Holocaust survivors and the lessons they carry are passed on to future generations.

The monarch, marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, was first introduced to an initiative organised by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT), of which the King is the patron.

For this project, HMDT invited communities and schools across the UK to design and create 80 unique candleholders, honouring all the individuals and communities murdered and persecuted by the Nazis.

Two students chosen to showcase the project to the King, Amy and Nadia, from Cheney School in Oxford, told the JC the inspiration for their candles came from studying the life of Holocaust survivor Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, a cellist who survived Auschwitz by joining the Women’s Orchestra.

Amy’s candleholder incorporates musical notes, referencing Anita’s musicianship, and broken glass, symbolising her experience in Auschwitz. There are also human figures depicted, referencing the community and orchestra that Anita was a part of and through which “she and others were able to join together and share a common human experience and keep hope alive in order to survive, and that’s what we told His Majesty,” Amy said.

Amy found the King to be “genuinely interested in what we had to say and he engaged with our project with interest. I think he really appreciates the importance of having a day dedicated to Holocaust memorial and projects, and how important it is to have ways to remember bad things that happen in the past so that they aren’t repeated.”

Nadia added that projects like the 80 Candles for 80 Years project are important ways to “immortalise” the Holocaust, so “even generations hundreds of years into the future will realise how significant [the Holocaust] is”, and through which they can learn about people “who are just like ourselves but born during a different time.”

The 80 candleholders will be showcased in a special digital exhibition on Holocaust Memorial Day and will also play a central role in local HMD events.

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Events & Meetings

EJC holds concert in Krakow to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau

EJC Executive Vice-President Raya Kalenova addressed the hundreds of participants at the event, which included distinguished policymakers, diplomats, leaders of Jewish communities from across the world, and Holocaust survivors, emphasising the need for the stories of the millions murdered under the Nazi regime to continue to be told for generations to come.