The Prince of Wales has succeeded his mother, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, as the new patron of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.
Queen Elizabeth has been patron of the organisation since its inception ten years ago. She has visited the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 2015 and frequently hosts Holocaust survivors at Buckingham Palace.
When the Queen took on the organisation it was understood that she would act as patron for a period of ten years.
Chief executive of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, Olivia Marks-Woldman spoke how “honoured” the charity is that Prince Charles has accepted their invitation to take over the position: “We are honoured that His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales has chosen to accept our invitation to succeed the Queen as patron of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.
“Survivors of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides are hugely appreciative of The Royal Family’s recognition of the importance of commemorating the dreadful persecution which they endured,” she added.
At last year’s Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau which he attended with the Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Charles called the Holocaust “an unparalleled human tragedy”.
He said: “The Holocaust is an unparalleled human tragedy and an act of evil unique in history and it is for these reasons that we must always remember it and honour its Jewish victims and the Nazis’ other victims.”
Prince Charles and Camilla visited Krakow in Poland in 2008 to open a new Jewish community centre as he has always been a supporter of the Jewish communities in the United Kingdom and abroad.
Charles has also hosted many Kindertransport events, one of those being a reception at St James’ Palace for the 75th anniversary of the Kindertransport in 2013.
The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust was started in 2005 and is a Government supported charity that promotes and supports Holocaust Memorial Day in the UK. The day is commemorated annually on January 27 and is a chance to reflect back on the Holocaust, all forms of Nazi persecution, and the genocides that have taken place in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.
