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Britain's King Charles to visit Poland for Auschwitz liberation anniversary

17.12.2024 09:00
Britain's King Charles is set to visit Poland next month to attend the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi German Auschwitz concentration camp.
Britains King Charles III.
Britain's King Charles III.Photo: Lucy North/PA Wire via PAP

According to British media reports, Charles will take part in the event despite continuing his weekly cancer treatment.

The media highlight the historic significance of the King's presence, as this will mark the first time a British monarch has visited Auschwitz.

Entrance to the former Auschwitz death camp with the infamous "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work sets you free) sign. 
Entrance to the former Auschwitz death camp with the infamous "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work sets you free) sign. Photo: CC BY-SA 2.5 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)via Wikimedia Commons

In previous years, King Charles—then the Prince of Wales—made four visits to Poland, in 1993, 2002, 2008 and 2010.

He was also the honorary patron of the reconstruction of a Shakespearean playhouse in the Baltic city of Gdańsk.

Representatives from more than 20 countries are expected to attend the commemorative event at the site of the former concentration camp in southern Poland on January 27.

It was on that day in 1945 that the camp was liberated by the Soviet Army, with only 7,000 prisoners remaining at the time.

Photo: Photo: EPA/www.auschwitz.org

More than 1.1 million people were killed in Auschwitz by the Germans, the majority of them European Jews, along with Poles, Roma, Soviet POWs and prisoners of other nationalities.

(mk/gs)