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Kate Middleton shot personal portraits of Holocaust survivors for a special memorial exhibition

Olivia Harvey
·4-min read

On Monday, January 27th, Kate Middleton debuted her two personal photographs of Holocaust survivors that will appear in an exhibition hosted by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, Jewish News, and The Royal Photographic Society. The exhibition will commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the Polish concentration camp where over one million Jews were murdered during World War II.

According to the Kensington Royal Instagram page, the subjects of Middleton’s portraits are Yvonne Bernstein and Steven Frank, whom both enlightened the Duchess of Cambridge with their stories of survival while visiting Kensington Palace earlier this month. There, Bernstein and Frank posed for Middleton with a few personal items and their respective granddaughters.

“They look back on their experiences with sadness but also with gratitude that they were some of the lucky few to make it through,” Middleton said of Bernstein and Frank in a statement, per Instagram. She added that she was inspired to connect with Holocaust survivors after reading The Diary of Anne Frank.

“Their stories will stay with me forever,” Middleton said.

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Today is #HolocaustMemorialDay, which takes place each year on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, and honours survivors of the Holocaust, Nazi Persecution, and subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. Earlier this month, The Duchess of Cambridge met two Holocaust survivors, Steven Frank and Yvonne Bernstein, as she took photographs for a project by @holocaustmemorialdaytrust, Jewish News and @royalphotographicsociety to mark 75 years since the end of the Holocaust. The Duchess’s photographs will be included in an exhibition of 75 images of survivors and their family members, which will open later this year. “The harrowing atrocities of the Holocaust, which were caused by the most unthinkable evil, will forever lay heavy in our hearts. Yet it is so often through the most unimaginable adversity that the most remarkable people flourish. 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. They look back on their experiences with sadness but also with gratitude that they were some of the lucky few to make it through. Their stories will stay with me forever.” – The Duchess of Cambridge Photographs © Kensington Palace

A post shared by Kensington Palace (@kensingtonroyal) on Jan 27, 2020 at 2:07am PST

Frank—who posed with his two granddaughters, Maggie and Trixie—was one of 93 children who survived the Theresienstadt camp, out of a total 15,000 children who were sent there. Bernstein, who posed with her granddaughter Chloe, was hidden by her aunt and uncle in France during the Holocaust.

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As part of the commemorations for the 75th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust, The Duchess of Cambridge has taken photographs of two Holocaust survivors with their grandchildren. The first photograph features Steven Frank with his granddaughters, Maggie and Trixie. Alongside his mother and brothers, Steven was sent to Westerbork transit camp then to Theresienstadt. Steven and his brothers were 3 of only 93 children who survived the camp - 15,000 children were sent there. The Duchess also photographed Yvonne Bernstein with her granddaughter Chloe. Yvonne was a hidden child in France, travelling in the care of her aunt and uncle and frequently changing homes and names. The Duchess said: “I wanted to make the portraits deeply personal to Yvonne and Steven – a celebration of family and the life that they have built since they both arrived in Britain in the 1940s. The families brought items of personal significance with them which are included in the photographs. It was a true honour to have been asked to participate in this project and I hope in some way Yvonne and Steven’s memories will be kept alive as they pass the baton to the next generation.” The portraits will form part of a new exhibition opening later this year by @holocaustmemorialdaytrust, Jewish News and @royalphotographicsociety , which will feature 75 images of survivors and their family members. The exhibition will honour the victims of the Holocaust and celebrate the full lives that survivors have built in the UK, whilst inspiring people to consider their own responsibility to remember and share the stories of those who endured Nazi persecution. Portraits ©The Duchess of Cambridge

A post shared by Kensington Palace (@kensingtonroyal) on Jan 26, 2020 at 2:05pm PST

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Middleton’s photos will hang alongside a grouping of 75 portraits of Holocaust survivors and their family members. Of the photographs, Frank said in a statement per People, “I would hope that the people who look at these pictures not only look at the beauty of the photography, but they will also think of the people behind the photos and their families that they lost in the Holocaust.”

Thankfully, Middleton and many other photographers are helping to make Frank’s hope a reality.