On January 27, 2020 The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attended the UK Holocaust Memorial Day Commemorative Ceremony at Central Hall in Westminster.
Holocaust Memorial Day takes place each year on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust. It is a day to remember the victims and the survivors of the Holocaust, Nazi persecution, and the genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.
To commemorate the anniversary, The Duchess of Cambridge took portraits of two Holocaust survivors Steven Frank and Yvonne Bernstein with their grandchildren. The project is a collaboration between the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, Jewish News and the Royal Photographic Society, for which Catherine became Patron of in 2019.
The portraits will be part of a new exhibition which will open later this year, bringing together 75 powerful images of survivors and their family members to mark 75 years since the end of the Holocaust.
The Royal Photographic Society says, the project “aims to honour the victims of the Holocaust and to celebrate the full lives that survivors have built in the UK. Each of the portraits depicts the special connection between a survivor and younger generations of their family, who over the coming years will carry the legacy of their grandparents. However, the project also aims to inspire people across the UK to consider their own responsibility to remember and share the stories of those who endured persecution at the hands of the Nazis.”
During the ceremony, Prince William gave a reading of a letter written about his great-grandmother Princess Alice, who helped to hide her Jewish friends, the Cohens, in her home. He and The Duchess also took part in lighting candles in commemorate the six million Jews who lost their lives. After the ceremony The Duke and Duchess met with survivors and their families, including Yvonne Bernstein, who she had photographed.
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Engagements & Tour Photos > 2020 > January 27 | UK Holocaust Memorial Day Commemorative Ceremony