King Charles III will attend a ceremony in Poland marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Buckingham Palace said Monday (January 13, 2025), in his first visit to the former German Nazi concentration camp.
Ahead of the January 27 commemoration, King Charles, who is undergoing treatment for cancer, will also meet with community leaders in Krakow, and hold talks with Polish President Andrzej Duda, the palace added in a statement.
It will be the U.K. head of state’s fifth visit to Poland, including recent trips in 2008 and 2010.
Many international delegations are expected to attend the ceremony commemorating 80 years since the Soviet Red Army liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Nazi Germany built the death camp after it invaded Poland in World War II.
The camp has become a symbol of Nazi Germany’s genocide of six million European Jews, one million of whom died at the site between 1940 and 1945, along with more than 100,000 non-Jews.
Last week, the Polish government said it would grant free access to Israeli officials wanting to attend the commemoration, despite a warrant issued in November by the International Criminal Court for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Published – January 13, 2025 07:07 pm IST
