King delivers speech to Holocaust survivors on 80th anniversary of Auschwitz liberation
The King delivered a speech to Holocaust survivors on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, and said “remembering the evils of the past remains vital”.
“It is a moment when we recall the depths to which humanity can sink when evil is allowed to flourish, ignored for too long for the world,” he said on a visit to the Jewish Community Centre of Krakow, which he opened in 2008.
Charles will join survivors and other dignitaries at the site, where a ceremony will be held at 3pm UK time.
The King’s visit is first time that a serving British monarch has visited Auschwitz, the concentration camp where more than a million people were murdered at the hands of the Nazi regime.
Kate, the Princess of Wales, will also join Prince William at a Holocaust commemoration ceremony in London later on Monday.
The royals will pay their respects alongside Sir Keir Starmer and hear survivors and campaigners speak.
King Charles arriving at Krakow Airport, in Balice, Poland. Pic: PA
Speaking in Krakow, the King said: “In a world that remains full of turmoil and strife, and has witnessed the dangerous re-emergence of antisemitism, there can be no more important message.”
“As the number of Holocaust survivors regrettably diminishes with the passage of time, the responsibility of remembrance rests far heavier on our shoulders and on those of generations yet unborn.
“The act of remembering the evils of the past remains a vital task, and in so doing, we inform our present and shape our future”
“Here in Krakow, from the ashes of the Holocaust, the Jewish community has been reborn.”
Read more:
Survivors mark liberation from Auschwitz 80 years ago
‘My mother sacrificed herself for me’
The King went on to say there is “no greater symbol” of that rebirth than the centre he is speaking in itself.
“In a post-Holocaust world, projects such as this, this centre is how we recover our faith in humanity,” he said.
“They also show us there is much work still to be done,” he says, adding that it’s important not just to remember the past, “but to use it to inspire us to build a kinder and more compassionate world for future generations”.
“This remains the sacred task of us all.”
More than a million people were murdered at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp during World War Two, most of whom were Jews but also Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war and other nationalities.
Six million Jewish men, women and children died during the Holocaust.
Commemorations at the former death camp began earlier when Poland’s president Andrzej Duda joined Auschwitz survivors laying wreaths and candles at the site.
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‘I lost 41 members of my family’
Their tributes were left at a reconstruction of the Death Wall, the site where several thousand people, mainly Polish political prisoners, were executed.
In a speech, Mr Duda said “we Poles are the guardians of memory today” and had a duty to maintain the life stories of the survivors.
World
Surreal scenes as foreign soldiers sent to Rwanda alongside Congolese troops as rebels take capital
On the doorstep of Goma – the site of the UN’s biggest peacekeeping mission in the world – there are signs of surrendered soldiers and fierce battles.
As we walked on the road in front of the United Nations’ main base, we stepped around fatigues, rounds and helmets once belonging to the Congolese army fighting the Rwandan-backed M23 rebels.
The rebels now control the strategic city of Goma after fighting for the border post with Rwanda. It sits south of the swathes of mineral-rich mining territory the rebels have been seizing through last year.
Pic: Reuters
We see them packed on the back of trucks still marked by the FARDC logo of the Congolese army.
I ask one man watching from the side of the road what he makes of this extreme shift.
“This is bad!” he says to me discreetly on the side of the road, with our car as cover from the prying eyes of the junior M23 soldiers.
“My family is not good. I am not good – we don’t know what comes next.”
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Watch as M23 rebels take over Goma in DRC
Small groups are meeting the rebels with cheers and clapping.
We cannot tell if it is relief from the Congolese state or a necessary precaution for many who do not want to leave their hometown on the cusp of a new administration.
But before they can settle in and set up a local authority, M23 have time to stop and humiliate their former enemy.
Not just the Congolese troops, but the Romanian mercenaries fighting alongside them.
Pic: Reuters
MONUSCO, the United Nations’s peacekeeping group in the DRC, brokered an evacuation convoy for the paid fighters to go to Rwanda with trucks full of Uruguayan peacekeeping troops watching as M23 led the handover through their newly-captured border.
Pic: AP
As the Romanian men pass through in a single file, they are chastised by M23 spokesperson Willy Ngoma who taps them mockingly one by one.
“Come on soldier!” he said. “You were fighting for money – we were fighting for our life!”
Read more:
Hospitals overwhelmed as rebels complete takeover of Goma
Inside the Congolese city overrun by rebels
I corner him as he flags the buses through – could you have come this far without Rwanda’s support?
He tries to keep busy, and after the fourth time I repeat the question, he yells into my face in French:
“We are a Congolese army, we are Congolese! We fight for a fair and noble cause – we are Congolese. We are not helped by Rwanda!”
M23 spokesperson Willy Ngoma gave a feverish denial that the rebels are backed by Rwanda
It will take more than a feverish denial to undermine the widely known support of Rwanda for M23 – one that has been condemned at the highest levels of the United Nations and senior diplomats from around the world.
As the “Welcome to Rwanda” sign gets closer, the last Romanian mercenary limps across with a wounded leg flanked by a UN security advisor and an Indian medic.
A surreal sight of a man heading home after fighting a war in a foreign country surrounded by Congolese families fleeing the war at home.
At least 30 people have died and 60 have been injured in a stampede at a Hindu festival in northern India.
Images from the scene in the city of Prayagraj, in Uttar Pradesh state, show bodies being stretchered away and rescuers helping those who were hurt.
All 60 people injured have been taken to hospital, according to local police.
Millions of people were attempting to take a holy bath in the river at the massive Maha Kumbh festival when there was an initial stampede at 1am local time (7.30pm UK time) on Wednesday.
People bathing in the Ganges on Wednesday. Pic: AP
The banks and a bridge over the Ganges full of people on Wednesday. Pic: AP
Authorities said people trying to escape it were then caught in a second – and more serious – stampede at an exit.
Devotees had congregated to bathe at the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers.
Authorities took more than 16 hours to release precise numbers of those injured and killed.
A Rapid Action Force unit, a special team deployed during crisis situations, was sent to the scene.
Security teams helping those injured at the Maha Kumbh festival. Pic: Reuters
People in a state of shock after the deadly stampede. Pic: Reuters
A Rapid Action Force unit was sent to the scene. Pic: APTN
The state’s most senior official, Yogi Adityanath, made a televised statement later on Wednesday, urging those still planning to bathe in the Ganges to do it elsewhere on the riverbank.
“The situation is now under control, but there is a massive crowd of pilgrims,” he said.
Around 30 million people had taken the holy bath by 8am local time on Wednesday, he added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he has spoken to Mr Adityanath, calling for “immediate support measures”, according to the ANI news agency.
Authorities had expected a record 100 million people to visit Prayagraj for the Maha Kumbh – “festival of the Sacred Pitcher” – on Wednesday for the holy dip.
It is regarded as a significant day for Hindus, due to a rare alignment of celestial bodies after 144 years.
A woman bathing in the Ganges as part of the festival on Wednesday. Pic: AP
The Maha Kumbh festival, which is held every 12 years, started on 13 January, lasts six weeks, and is the world’s largest religious gathering.
Organisers had forecast that more than 400 million people would attend the pilgrimage site over the course of the festival.
Huge crowds gathered on Tuesday. Pic: Reuters
People arriving for a holy bath on Tuesday. Pic: AP
Authorities have built a sprawling tent city on the riverbanks, equipped with 3,000 kitchens, 150,000 toilets and 11 hospitals.
Stampedes are relatively common around Indian religious festivals, where large crowds can gather in small areas.
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