British royal Kate Middleton, who is a patron of Britain’s Royal Photographic Society, released two photos featuring WWII survivors to mark Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January.
According to The Crown Chronicles, the photos were taken by the Duchess of Cambridge as part of an upcoming exhibition devoted to commemorate 75 years since the end of the Second World War and horrors of the Holocaust that will open later this year.
The Duchess released two portraits, one featuring 84-year-old Steven Frank, originally from Amsterdam, with his teenage granddaughters Maggie and Trixie, and another depicting German-born 82-year-old Yvonne Bernstein, who was in hiding in France throughout most of the horrors of the Holocaust, and was pictured alongside her granddaughter Chloe Wright.
Kate Middleton said that she tried to make the portraits “deeply personal” to Holocaust survivors to portray “a celebration of family and the life” which they managed to build since arriving in Britain in the 1940s.
“Despite unbelievable trauma at the start of their lives, Yvonne Bernstein and Steven Frank are two of the most life-affirming people that I have had the privilege to meet”, the Duchess revealed. “Their stories will stay with me forever”.
The project is a collaboration between the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, Jewish News, and the Royal Photographic Society. The final exhibition will reportedly feature 75 powerful images of Holocaust survivors and their families, taken by various photographers across Britain.
The Holocaust was one of the most tragic events in our recent history that saw a systematic murder of nearly six million Jews worldwide. On Monday, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will participate in a commemorative ceremony in Westminster, devoted to UK Holocaust Memorial Day.