Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Meets with Holocaust Survivors at Auschwitz-Birkenau

Photo credit: Sean Gallup - Getty Images
Photo credit: Sean Gallup - Getty Images

From Town & Country

The Duchess of Cornwall joined survivors of Auschwitz-Birkenau today as they walked along the railway lines that once brought prisoners to the Nazi death camp. Camilla attended a service marking exactly 75 years since the liberation of the camp alongside Holocaust survivors and dignitaries.

A tent was erected above what prisoners referred to as ‘The Gate of Death’ where the service was held. Afterwards, those who attended the commemoration walked 700 meters along the railway lines before placing candles at the site’s International Monument.

Photo credit: Markus Schreiber/AP/Shutterstock
Photo credit: Markus Schreiber/AP/Shutterstock

Around 200 Holocaust survivors from around the world were present for the somber event in Poland. Among them was Renee Salt who was taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1944, then transported to another camp, Bergen-Belsen in northern Germany. She was freed when that camp was liberated on April 15, 1945, and went on to marry a British soldier. She now lives in the UK where she speaks in schools about her experiences of living through the Holocaust.

“To have the support of the royal family is of huge importance, not just to me, but to all survivors, and the collective memory of our country,” Renee said. The duchess also met with survivor Hannah Lewis who was held in a labor camp from 1943 until liberation and now lives in London.

It is estimated that at minimum 1.3 million people were deported to Auschwitz between 1940 and 1945; of these, at least 1.1 million were murdered.

The service took place as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attended the UK Holocaust Memorial Day Commemorative Ceremony in Westminster. Prince William gave a reading from a letter written about his great-grandmother, Prince Philip’s mother Princess Alice, who sheltered a Jewish family during the Holocaust.

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