Reflection and respect
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said they were ‘intensely moved’ as they toured Stutthof concentration camp near Gdansk, Poland, with former inmates Manfred Goldberg and Zigi Shipper. ‘You could see their faces, they were in pain,’ said Mr Shipper, who was returning to the Nazi camp with Mr Goldberg for the first time since the war
THE last time Manfred Goldberg and Zigi Shipper saw the gates of Stutthof, they were in fear for their lives as the horrors of the Holocaust unfolded around them.
Yesterday, they returned to the camp, with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, in a deeply emotional visit described by the royals as “shattering”.
Saying they were “intensely moved” by the 90 minutes they spent with the survivors, the Duke and Duchess urged everyone to ensure the horrific circumstances were “never forgotten and never repeated”.
Mr Goldberg, 87, called the day a “seismic event”, admitting he had hesitated in returning to Stutthof but had decided “finally to face the past” with the Royal couple by his side.
Mr Shipper, who survived Auschwitz-birkenau before being sent to Stutthoff, said the visit “means so much” as he paid tribute to the friends, including Mr Goldberg, who saved his life by supporting him on the final death march when they were both 15.
The men, who both moved to Britain after being liberated, have been friends ever since, and now teach young people about the true stories of the Holocaust. This is the first time either has returned to Stutthof.
The Holocaust Educational Trust (HET) arranged for Mr Goldberg and Mr Shipper to visit the camp, which was created as a prison camp for Poles in 1939 before tens of thousands of Jews were transported there in 1944.
Designed for labour, it became a concentration camp with mass hangings and a gas chamber to murder those too ill to work. Some 65,000 people died there, including 28,000 Jews.
The Duke and Duchess visited Stutthof during their five-day tour of Germany and Poland to “draw attention to the need to teach young people about this tragic episode in our shared memory”, the HET said.
The Duke and Duchess were shown discarded shoes, clothing and other personal items stolen from prisoners, and a gas chamber. They paid their respects by placing stones by the camps’ Jewish memorial in a traditional custom, accompanied by Mr Shipper and Mr Goldberg, who recited the El Maleh Rachamim, the Jewish memorial prayer for those who have died.
They then met Maria Kowalska, 91, Mareka Dunin, 92, and Edward Anderson, 91, three Polish survivors, and listened to their stories before the Duke asked: “You must wonder how people could commit such evil?”
Writing in the guest book, the Duke and Duchess said: “We were intensely moved by our visit to Stutthof, which has been the scene of so much terrible pain, suffering and death. All of us have an overwhelming responsibility to make sure that we learn the lessons and that the horror of what happened is never forgotten and never repeated.”
Mr Shipper spoke of his hopes that the royal visit would encourage others to learn about the camp, saying they appeared “very moved”. “You could see their faces,” he said. “They were in pain.” Of his friend Manfred, he said: “It means so much to me that we were able to come back to the camp today, together.” Mr Goldberg said: “For me, returning to Stutthof is a seismic event. I have never been back to any of the places where I was imprisoned since I came to the UK in 1946.
“When I was first asked about visiting the camp, I hesitated. The mere thought of returning made me relive those years in my mind. But I decided I had to come and finally face the past.”
Later in the day, the Duke and Duchess were mobbed by thousands of wellwishers as they visited the medieval market in Gdansk. Serenaded by a choir, they shook hands with admirers, waved at the crowd and sampled local dumplings and a traditional Gdansk liqueur the Duchess pronounced “very strong”. Tomorrow, the royals will move on to Germany.