Seven survivors of the Holocaust are recorded in paintings to go on show at Buckingham Palace.
Image source, BBC Studios/ Angel Li
The Prince of Wales has commissioned seven artists to paint portraits of seven Holocaust survivors, in a tribute to their passing generation.
“As the number of Holocaust survivors sadly but inevitably declines, my abiding hope is that this special collection will act as a further guiding light,” Prince Charles said.
The paintings will be put on public display in Buckingham Palace.
And the art project will feature in a BBC Two documentary later this month.
It would be not only a reminder of “history’s darkest days but of humanity’s interconnectedness as we strive to create a better world for our children, grandchildren and generations as yet unborn – one where hope is victorious over despair and love triumphs over hate”, Prince Charles said.
Image source, BBC Studios/ Angel Li
The documentary will also feature the survivors’ accounts of what the Nazis did to them, as children, and their families.
Many are now over 90, having spent their adult lives in Britain.
Paul Benney has painted Helen Aronson, 94, who survived incarceration in the Lodz ghetto, in Nazi-occupied Poland.
Image source, BBC Studios/ Tom Hayward
Peter Kuhfeld has painted German-born Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, 96, who played in an orchestra of inmates in the Auschwitz concentration camp, also in Nazi-occupied Poland, and was later held at Bergen-Belsen, in Germany.
The other paintings are by Ishbel Myerscough, Clara Drummond, Massimiliano Pironti, Stuart Pearson Wright and Jenny Saville.
Holocaust Educational Trust chief executive Karen Pollock said: “Holocaust survivors endured the very worst.
“To survive the concentration and death camps and 77 years later see their portraits displayed in Buckingham Palace is very special indeed and a poignant and fitting testament to their lasting contribution to this country.”
Prince Charles has made a personal cause of promoting tolerance and building bridges between religions and has often warned against the dangers of extremism and persecution.
And in a speech marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, he said the lessons of the Holocaust were still “searingly relevant”.
Survivors: Portraits of the Holocaust is on BBC Two at 21:00 on 27 January, marking Holocaust Memorial Day. The paintings will be at the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, between 27 January and 13 February, and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, in Edinburgh, from 17 March to 6 June.