Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, said he was “profoundly moved” after visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial on the first day of his visit to Israel.
Duke’s message in book: I’m honoured my own great grandmother is Righteous Among Nations. We must never forget’ pic.twitter.com/aYH2QkWTgE
— Justin Cohen (@CohenJust)
Wearing a kippah and bowing his head, the Prince, who is second in line to the British throne, laid a wreath at the Hall of Remembrance, and also met with veterans of the Kindertransport which rescued some 10,000 Jewish children from Europe, bringing them to the United Kingdom shortly before the outbreak of World War II.
The Prince was accompanied by the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom, Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, who recited the El Malei Rahamim Jewish memorial prayer for the souls of the departed.
“It has been a profoundly moving experience to visit Yad Vashem today,” the Duke of Cambridge wrote in the guestbook. “It is almost impossible to comprehend this appalling event in history. Every name, photograph and memory recorded here is a tragic reminder of the loss suffered by the Jewish people.
“We must never forget the Holocaust — the murder of 6 million men, women and children, simply because they were Jewish,” the Prince wrote. “We all have a responsibility to remember and to teach future generations about the horrors of the past so that they can never re-occur. May the millions of Jewish people remembered by Yad Vashem never be forgotten.”
HRH, viewing piles of shoes from victims of Majdanek, says: ‘Its terrifying. To comprehend the scale and numbers is terrible’ pic.twitter.com/vVmaH4ZzdV
— Justin Cohen (@CohenJust)
Prince William noted that his own great-grandmother, Princess Alice of Battenberg is recognized by Yad Vashem as a Righteous Among the Nations for sheltering a Greek Jewish family in Athens during World War II.
“The actions of those few who took great risks to help others are a reminder of the human capacity for love and hope. I am honoured that my own great grandmother is one of these Righteous Among the Nations,” he wrote.
The Duke will visit Princess Alice’s grave on the Mount of Olives on Thursday.