The Holocaust will never be forgotten, says the Queen
The Queen has said that the atrocities of the Holocaust will never be forgotten as she spoke at a reception for the Anne Frank Trust.
Queen Camilla, 77, renewed her commitment to “never forget” in a speech on Thursday to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and the death of Anne Frank.
She paid tribute to the teenage Holocaust victim, who died aged 16 in Bergen-Belsen just before the end of the war, saying that the legacy of her diaries “demonstrates that even the quietest, loneliest voice in the wilderness can change the world”.
Her remarks come ahead of the King’s trip to Poland next week, when he will become the first British monarch to visit Auschwitz.
Speaking to more than 600 guests who had gathered to mark the anniversary in London, the Queen warned that levels of anti-Semitism were at their “highest level for a generation” as she urged those gathered to “heed the warning” of Holocaust survivor Marian Turski.
She quoted Ms Turski’s testimony from the 2020 anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, during which he said: “Don’t be complacent… because if you become complacent, before you know it, some kind of Auschwitz will suddenly appear from nowhere and befall you and your descendants.”
In her a five-minute speech, Camilla said: “The deadly seeds of the Holocaust were sown at first in small acts of exclusion, of aggression and of discrimination towards those who had previously been neighbours and friends.
“Over a terrifying short period of time, those seeds took root through the complacency of which we can all be guilty: of turning away from injustice, of ignoring that which we know to be wrong, of thinking that someone else will do what’s needed – and of remaining silent.”
The Queen was named as the first royal patron of the Anne Frank Trust in January last year. Tim Robertson, the charity’s chief executive, has previously said that Frank’s passion for royalty was one of the hobbies that gave her hope as she hid from the Nazis.
The Queen said that the teenager’s “life and death continue to inspire an anti-prejudice movement across the globe”, adding that last year the trust reached 126,000 young people in Britain.
She praised the charity’s “distinctive combination of Holocaust history, education about discrimination and youth empowerment”.
During Thursday’s reception, she was joined by members of the charity and some of their key supporters, including Sir Stephen Fry, Rob Rinder and Emma Barnett.
Camilla also spoke briefly with two Holocaust survivors and John Wood, the son of a British Army officer who was the first to arrive at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp on the day of its liberation.
Mr Robertson joined Her Majesty on stage and mentioned the record-high reports of anti-Semitic incidents in the UK, fuelled by the Israel-Gaza conflict.
“Holocaust education is of a higher importance now than ever before,” he said.
The charity was established in 1991 by friends and family of Otto Frank, Anne’s father, following his wish that an education organisation be established in memory of his daughter.
The trust’s key educational tool remains Anne Frank’s Diary, which she wrote while in hiding with her family for more than two years in Amsterdam before their capture. It has since sold over 35 million copies.
“Words have power,” the Queen said, adding: “Anne knew that they were always there to offer truth, comfort and hope.”
