closeicon
News

Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to visit Holocaust sites on European tour

The five-day tour will take in a visit to the former Stutthof concentration camp 

articlemain

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will visit the former Stutthof concentration camp on a tour of Germany and Poland this month, Kensington Palace has announced.

The five-day tour, which begins on July 17 in the Polish capital, Warsaw, will also see the royals visit the Warsaw Rising Museum and the Berlin Holocaust Memorial, meeting survivors at each location.

The couple are making the trip at the request of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office - and will also meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Kensington Palace said that as well as meeting business, government and civil society leaders, the Duke and Duchess will "pay special attention to getting to known the young people of Poland and Germany", including mental health campaigners and entrepreneurs.

"They look forward to a busy and impactful tour, and are grateful that they will have the opportunity to meet the Polish and German people - such important friends of the United Kingdom - as a family," Kensington Palace added.

Prince George and Princess Charlotte will also travel with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Stuthof was the first camp outside German borders in operation from September 1939 and was liberated by the Allies on May 9, 1945.

More than 85,000 victims – including 28,000 Jews - were killed in the camp. As many as 110,000 inmates were deported there.

In 2015 the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited the site of Bergen-Belsen.

It was the first time the monarch had visited an extermination camp – although she has regularly met survivors.

Prince Charles – a patron of World Jewish Relief - has also previously visited a camp.

Karen Pollock, Holocaust Educational Trust chief executive, said: "At the Trust we always say that 'hearing is not like seeing'.

"Stutthof was a place where tens of thousands died at the hands of the Nazis. Those who could not work were sent to the gas chamber. Having visited Stutthof myself, I know that seeing a site like this - a site where thousands of Jewish people lost their lives - is a powerful experience that never leaves you."

Share via

Want more from the JC?

To continue reading, we just need a few details...

Want more from
the JC?

To continue reading, we just
need a few details...

Get the best news and views from across the Jewish world Get subscriber-only offers from our partners Subscribe to get access to our e-paper and archive