King Charles drew sustained applause from survivors and World Jewish Relief officials alike with his warm words at a special appearance at the Jewish Community Centre in Krakow on Monday — the centre he helped to found 16 years ago.
As Jonathan Ornstein, executive director of the centre, made it clear: “Your Majesty, welcome to your JCC!”
In a brief but emotional address, the king emphasised how important it was for us to keep the memories of the Holocaust alive as there were fewer and fewer survivors to give firsthand accounts. He paid special tribute to the late Lily Ebert and praised her work in Holocaust education.
He said: “To be in Poland on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, as we commemorate 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz, is both a sombre and indeed a sacred moment.It is a moment when we recall the six million Jews, old and young, who were systematically murdered, together with Sinti, Roma, disabled people, members of the LGBT community political prisoners and so many others…”
He said that 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.”
Hundreds of local Krakow citizens lined the streets outside the community centre in the heart of the Jewish Quarter in the city, waiting to cheer the King, who went on to speak on behalf of the UK at the main Auschwitz commemoration, marking 80 years since the death camp was liberated by Russia’s Red Army.
Hundreds of local Krakow citizens lined the streets outside the community centre in the heart of the Jewish Quarter in the city, waiting to cheer the King
Once inside the JCC King Charles, who later declared he was “proud to be a patron of World Jewish Relief”, was welcomed by Britain’s chief rabbi, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, and the chief rabbi of Poland, Michael Schudrich. Several survivors who are active members of the JCC Senior Club — including Zofia Radzikowska, who met the king 16 years ago when he formally opened the centre — were there to greet him. “I knew him when he was just a prince!” She joked.
Zofia, who was born in 1935, in Krakow, spent the Holocaust in hiding with her mother. Today she is at the JCC on a daily basis and calls it her second home.
Also there to meet the king was Ryszard Orowski, born in 1941 in a village outside Krakow. He first met the King in 2002 and again during the official opening of the centre in April 2008.
After his remarks, King Charles met a number of supporters of World Jewish Relief, including Shimon Cohen, who recited the particular blessing to be said on meeting a King. He was thanked by the current WJR chair, Maurice Helfgott, whose late father, Sir Ben, was well-known by King Charles and other members of the royal family.
