King Charles to Visit Auschwitz to Mark 80th Anniversary of Liberation: ‘Never Be Forgotten’

King Charles is set to lead the British commemorations of the victims of the Holocaust.

He is to head to the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp in Poland on Jan. 27 as the 80^th anniversary of its liberation is marked.

The date when Allied troops entered the largest camp run by Nazi Germany is also the day used around the world to pay tribute to those who died in the Holocaust. As Prince of Wales, King Charles became Patron of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust in 2017.

Charles, 76, who is still undergoing treatment for an undisclosed cancer, will travel to Poland along with leaders from around the world. He’s expected to meet with the President of the Republic of Poland, Mr Andrzej Duda. It will be Charles’ fifth visit to Poland — most recently he traveled there in 2008 with Camilla when she was Duchess of Cornwall.

The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust promotes and supports Holocaust Memorial Day, which has taken place in the U.K. since 2001.

The royal family has a tradition of solemnly commemorating Holocaust Memorial Day. In 2020, on the 75th anniversary, Kate Middleton and Prince William made a poignant tribute by lighting candles at the U.K. Holocaust Memorial Day commemorations. Joining them that day were survivors, including Yvonne Bernstein, 82, who was one of those featured in striking portraits Princess Kate took to mark the occasion.

The news of his visit came ahead of Charles hosting a Holocaust Education event at Buckingham Palace on Monday, Jan. 13. He is set to meet Manfred Goldberg, aged 94, who survived concentration camps, including Stutthof.

Charles also enjoyed a close friendship with survivor Lily Ebert, who he awarded an honor for her services to Holocaust education at Windsor Castle in 2023. When she died in Oct. 2024, Charles penned a heartfelt tribute to her, saying, “It was with the greatest sadness that I heard this morning the news of Lily Ebert’s death.”

“As a survivor of the unmentionable horrors of the Holocaust, I am so proud that she later found a home in Britain where she continued to tell the world of the horrendous atrocities she had witnessed, as a permanent reminder for our generation — and, indeed, for future generations — of the depths of depravity and evil to which humankind can fall, when reason, compassion and truth are abandoned.”

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“Alongside other Holocaust survivors,” the monarch continued, “she became an integral part of the fabric of our nation; her extraordinary resilience and courage an example to us all, which will never be forgotten.”