The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Royal candles to remember the Holocaust
The King and Queen Consort have lit candles at Buckingham Palace to remember those who suffered “such horrors” during the Holocaust.
Charles and Camilla met with Dr Martin Stern, who was taken to Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War.
They lit two candles in remembrance of victims of genocide to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.
After doing so, the King said: “I hope this will be one way of trying to remember all those poor people who had to suffer such horrors for so many years – and still do.”
Dr Stern, who was born to a Jewish father and nonJewish mother, survived the Westerbork transit camp and Theresienstadt ghetto in Nazi-occupied Netherlands after being taken away by officers at the age of five.
His father died in a separate camp in 1945 and his mother died due to an infection during childbirth in 1942.
He said: “We talked about the importance of education about the Holocaust and about other genocides.
“The King was very insistent on inquiring about other genocides as well, and so was the Queen Consort. So, the importance of education, the importance of starting that education at an early age.”
Speaking about the lighting of the candles, he added: “That is immensely important. The perpetrators would like that we would just forget about it, move on to other things so they get on quietly with doing more of their horrific crimes.
“Lighting a candle publicly is a marker that makes it hard for tyrants and state criminals to perpetuate their mass crimes quietly.”
Charles and Camilla also met with Amouna Adam, from the persecuted Fur tribe, who survived genocide in Darfur in western Sudan, as well as representatives of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.
They discussed ongoing work to ensure the lessons learned during genocides are not forgotten.
Laura Marks, chair of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, said: “What the King was able to offer us, to share with us, was his interest in both in the Holocaust, but also, in the other genocides and the work that he’s doing.
“And he’s been the patron of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust for many, many years as Prince of Wales.”