Latest news with #HolocaustMemorialDay
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Kate Middleton Subtly Honors Holocaust Victims with Her Jewelry at VE Day Concert
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Prince William and Princess Kate made a surprise appearance with King Charles and Queen Camilla on Thursday, May 8, attending a concert to commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE Day, which marks the end of World War II in Europe. The event, which included music from the WWII era and stories from veterans, was a last-minute addition to the couple's calendar after they joined the Royal Family for a service of thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey earlier in the day. The Princess of Wales has long been a master at sending messages with her wardrobe, and once again, she wore a symbolic piece as she honored the wartime generation. Princess Kate—dressed in a white Self-Portrait blazer dress—wore the same five-strand pearl necklace that she debuted at a Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony in January to the concert. The £275 piece was created by Jewish designer Susan Caplan and was crafted from vintage faux pearls. At the time, Caplan posted on Instagram, writing, "Today marks 80 years since the Holocaust, and as a Jewish owned brand we are honoured that the Princess of Wales chose to wear our necklace for today's memorial to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day." Pearls are a traditional symbol of mourning and remembrance, making the necklace all the more appropriate for the event. Members of the Royal Family have worn pearl necklaces and earrings to memorials and family funerals over the years, such as when the Princess of Wales wore Queen Elizabeth's Japanese Pearl Choker and Bahrain Pearl Drop Earrings to the late monarch's 2022 funeral. As for the rest of her outfit, the Princess of Wales wore a vintage pair of Susan Caplan pearl cluster earrings with her Self-Portrait dress, a piece she wore for a 2021 reception at Buckingham Palace and the Platinum Party at the Palace concert in 2022. The future queen topped her look off with a black velvet bow, wearing her hair pulled half back in soft curls. Earlier Thursday, Princess Kate repeated the white polka dot Alessandra Rich dress she first wore to Garter Day in 2023, pairing the style with a black veiled hat and tan Demellier London handbag. And on Monday, the Princess of Wales wore a vintage-style berry coat dress to attend a military parade and VE Day flypast with Prince William and their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
Los Angeles Times
22-05-2025
- General
- Los Angeles Times
Holocaust Survivor Hannah Holsten Shares Her Story on the Harvey School Campus
As one of the last living survivors of the Holocaust, Hannah Holsten carries a story that demands to be heard — not simply to inform, but to serve as a warning. Her visit to the Harvey School on Jan. 15 proves the value of these testimonies and the lasting impact they have on those who listen. While survivors are still with us, every student should take the opportunity to hear voices like Holsten's so they are prepared to recognize injustice and stand up against it. Recognizing this importance, the Harvey School made a dedicated effort to bring a first-hand account to its students. In collaboration with the school's Jewish Culture Club, the Harvey English and History departments organized the event to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day. English and History Department Heads Virginia Holmes and Jessica Falcon partnered with the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center to select a speaker. From the Center, Executive Director Millie Jasper and Speakers Bureau Liaison Bette Sparago connected them to Holsten, who lived a normal life in Nuremberg, Germany until 1938—when the night of Kristallnacht shattered it all. On the night of Kristallnacht, Holsten shared that the Nazis destroyed all of her family's personal belongings and jewelry store. This was the beginning of the world's descent into unspeakable horror—one that millions would not survive. According to Holsten, what followed was a period of displacement and almost impossible choices that defined her years in the shadows. At the Harvey School, Holsten gave her testimony, stating that she felt an obligation to speak. 'I'm here,' her voice quivered. 'Six million of my brethren are not.' Teacher Nate Alexander and student Benji Cutler recorded her testimony, preserving it as a record presented to the entire Upper School Community on Feb. 11. Observing nearly every student in the room captivated by the gravity of Holsten's words, Department Head Ms. Holmes explained: 'Not only is the content in her story so powerful, but she herself was such a dynamic speaker that the Harvey community was listening to every word she had to say.' Among many of Holsten's reminders was that while it is easy to reimagine history's greatest atrocity as the work of a single individual, it is crucial to remember that Adolf Hitler was legally elected. In other words, he didn't seize power by surprise—he was chosen. Holsten detailed the systemic laws that slowly eroded the rights of the Jewish people until they were no longer humans but problems to be solved. Yet what allowed Hitler to finally claim absolute power, in Holsten's words, was silence. 'Whatever he did, it was in silence,' she reminded the audience. 'No one at all spoke up.' As Holsten shared her story with the Harvey School, she recounted the moments when fate blurred the line between her family's tactics and sheer luck on their route toward survival. After Kristallnacht, Holsten recounts her mother putting her and her brother on a train to Amsterdam. Though they were not allowed to disembark there—this attempt to escape having failed—Holsten's Dutch aunt joined the train and convinced the children to exchange their toys for new ones. Holsten revealed that her mother had hidden jewels inside the toys, hoping that the family could use the jewels to potentially bargain for their survival. The toys fulfilled this wish, and Holsten's father eventually used the jewels to hire new smugglers to begin their escape. Holsten said that the terror of being nearly caught haunted her and her family at every step. Survival during the Holocaust meant being subject to forces beyond one's control, Holsten explained. Transported by new smugglers to escape, her family was hidden in the disguised bottom of a hay wagon. 'We rolled along the countryside—and of course, we were stopped,' Holsten said. What followed was a life-saving twist of fate. According to Holsten, 'The Nazi officers took their pitchforks and put them in the hay. Who was looking after us? Maybe it was God. Maybe it was destiny. Maybe it was luck. They did not penetrate us. They were so high that what they hit was really hay—and not us.' When the smuggler transporting them could go no further, Holsten remembers him directing the family toward a bridge—their only path into Belgium and safety. But when they arrived, a troop of German soldiers with bayonets lined the bridge. According to Holsten, another miracle of chance saved her and her family. By sheer luck, the soldiers turned around and allowed them to cross the bridge. 'Was it empathy? Was it [that] they saw a young woman with three children, and they [decided not to] kill them?' Holsten asked the students at the Harvey School—chills permeating the room. Once in Belgium, Holsten recalls her father using their family's remaining money to reach Britain. After a year enduring blitzkriegs there, Holsten's family left for the United States. But Holsten makes clear that they were among the fortunate. Millions—including many of Holsten's relatives—never made it out. Holsten shares that at an age when most children learned nursery rhymes and games, she had endured the art of survival. Eventually, her family was granted entry into the United Kingdom—where she lived in Cardiff before making her way by boat to the United States. Holsten described her current life, explaining that she now lives in Hartsdale as the bearer of her family's legacy— a legacy that defied Hitler's attempts to erase the Jewish people. She has three children, ten grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren, and enjoyed a long career in Jewish education, retiring a decade ago. At the end of her story, Holsten recounted a final memory that left students shocked. Her aunt, who had hid in Holland, was betrayed and deported to Auschwitz. Her aunt had a son— a 4-year-old of whom she made the difficult choice to give away to strangers to give her son a chance of survival. These acts of sacrifice defined the Holocaust. Holsten's aunt knew she would not survive— but her son had a chance. Later, Holsten revealed that her aunt endured Auschwitz until liberation. Her husband was not as fortunate and died on a death march shortly before being freed. Incredibly, Holsten shared that her aunt's son survived and lives today in Israel. Yet, the story of his mother and millions of victims reflects the unspeakable cruelty of the Holocaust. The Harvey School administration now intends on sharing Holsten's story every four years, ensuring that every graduating class hears Holsten's story. As the last living survivors of the Holocaust slowly leave us, the responsibility of remembrance falls on the generations who live long after. Holsten's story reveals that history is never far in the distance— and that unspeakable cruelty and violence may resurrect itself if we dare not confront our silence and complacency. Looking ahead, they remain committed to never letting Holsten's words fade. The act of listening to Holsten's recorded testimony will forever be a part of the Harvey School's graduation tradition, inspiring students to preserve an unspeakable history in the name of shared responsibility— and ensuring that the terrors of the Holocaust never happen again. As we navigate an era marked by rising disinformation, extremism, and social tension, Holsten's story is not just relevant — it's essential. Her testimony serves not just as a remembrance of the past, but as a warning to the present. To ensure that such atrocities are never repeated, we need to continue listening to the stories of survivors while they are still with us and commit to carrying their voices forward once they are gone. Related
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Kate Middleton Shares Emotional Hug with Holocaust Survivor During Their Royal Garden Party Reunion
At a Buckingham Palace garden party, Kate Middleton reunited with a Holocaust survivor who she photographed about five years ago She first met Steven Frank about five years ago, when they participated in a project marking the 75th anniversary of the end of the tragedy The pair also connected at a memorial event in late JanuaryKate Middleton had a special reunion at the latest Buckingham Palace garden party. At the royal event on Tuesday, May 20, the Princess of Wales shared a warm embrace with Steven Frank, a man originally from Amsterdam who lived through multiple concentration camps as a child. Kate, 43, photographed Frank with his then-teenaged granddaughters, Maggie and Trixie Fleet, five years ago for a project marking the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. The royal said at the time, '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.' '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,' she said of the experience. 'Whilst I have been lucky enough to meet two of the now very few survivors, I recognize not everyone in the future will be able to hear these stories firsthand. It is vital that their memories are preserved and passed on to future generations, so that what they went through will never be forgotten.' Can't get enough of PEOPLE's Royals coverage? to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more! Princess Kate also reunited with Frank and another survivor, Yvonne Bernstein, on Jan. 27 when she and Prince William attended an event in London honoring Holocaust Memorial Day and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. During their reunion earlier this year, Princess Kate told Frank, 'I want to give you a big cuddle,' before the two embraced, according to the Daily Mail. Princess Kate and Prince William helped host the garden party at Buckingham Palace in London on Tuesday, marking their first appearance of the year at the seasonal events. For Kate, it was her first time attending one of the numerous garden parties each year since 2023, as she didn't attend any last year amid her cancer treatment. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Kate Middleton Looks Glamorous in Pearls at VE Day 80 Concert
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." As the United Kingdom wrapped up their commemorations of the the 80th Anniversary of VE Day, the royal family attended a concert at Horse Guards Parade. Joining the royals was Kate Middleton, who looked lovely in a white Self-Portrait dress, accessorizing with pearl jewelry—including what appears to be the five-strand pearl necklace from jeweler Susan Caplan that she debuted on Holocaust Memorial Day. She also seemed to be wearing pearl cluster earrings from Orelia, which retail at just $63 (though they are currently out of stock). The dress appears to be the Self-Portrait's Cream Tailored Bouclé and Chiffon Midi Dress that the Princess has worn on previous occasions, including to a concert celebrating Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee. Kate is a longtime fan of the brand. Also in attendance this evening were King Charles, Queen Camilla, Prince William, and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh. K Earlier today, the royals attended a Westminster Abbey service, where Kate wore earrings that belonged to Princess Diana, and repeated a polka dot Alessandra Rich dress. 'Attending today's VE Day 80th anniversary service at Westminster Abbey was a powerful reminder of the courage, sacrifice and resilience of those who served,' the Prince and Princess of Wales posted on social media. 'An honour to mark this historic moment and give thanks alongside veterans and families.' Tonight's concert marks the end of the commemorations surrounding VE Day 80. On Monday, they kicked off with a military parade and a flypast, which the royals watched from the Buckingham Palace balcony. Kate and William brought their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, for that event, marking their first public engagement of the year. You Might Also Like 12 Weekend Getaway Spas For Every Type of Occasion 13 Beauty Tools to Up Your At-Home Facial Game
The Guardian
25-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘We have lost our humanity': Holocaust survivors call for end to war in Gaza
Few days speak so profoundly to the soul of Israel than Holocaust Memorial Day. As the country sat in silence on Thursday to remember six million Jews exterminated by the Nazis, the same refrain was, as always, repeated by many: never again. But for some across Israel, as the war in Gaza continues to ravage the Palestinian people and wipe out entire families, never again had come to hold another meaning. As the country's most powerful politicians, including the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, attended a ceremony on Thursday morning at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, three Holocaust survivors in their 80s stood at the entrance holding a sign aloft: 'If we have lost our compassion for the other, we have lost our humanity.' About 40 miles (64km) away in a square in central Tel Aviv, thousands, including descendants of Holocaust survivors, stood holding photos of Palestinian children who had been killed since the war began. Dozens more lined the roads of the city dressed in black, holding out empty pots to symbolise the starvation of those in Gaza. In recent months, particularly since the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel collapsed in March, the country has been rocked by protests. These demonstrations have loudly called for an end to the war in the name of saving the remaining Israeli hostages left in Gaza, 24 who are still believed to be alive, and to bring back the bodies of the 35 dead. Yet starkly absent has been mention of the suffering and devastation being brought upon the civilians of Gaza by Israel's relentless onslaught. Over 51,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the ground and air assault began on 8 October 2023 after Hamas's deadly attack on Israel the day before. Almost 2,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war resumed in March. The Gaza health ministry, which counts the dead, does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but more than half of those killed have been women and children. For many in Israel, the horrors inflicted in the 7 October 2023 attack, when thousands of Hamas militants stormed kibbutzes, towns and cities in southern Israel and committed terrible atrocities, killing more than 1,200 people, and taking 251 hostages, including a nine-month-old baby, have left them cold to the plight of any Palestinian – particularly while hostages remain captive in Gaza. As tens of thousands of Israelis have been called up to serve, many currently have family members on the frontlines. Meanwhile, the human ordeal of Gaza is largely absent from mainstream Israeli media. To some, the Hamas attack proved that as long as Palestinians remain in Gaza, Israel will never be safe. Yet a small but growing number of voices within Israel have begun to push back, calling for an end to the war both to save the hostages and stop the massacre of human life in Gaza. A growing number of letters written by army and air force reservists, retired and even serving officers, have demanded the government end the war, not only in the name of Israeli lives but also innocent civilians in Gaza. Veronika Cohen, 80, a Holocaust survivor who was born in the ghetto in Budapest, said she had come to protest outside Yad Vashem on the day of remembrance because: 'I don't think we can remember our suffering without acknowledging the suffering of Gaza, the deaths of tens of thousands of children, the starvation that's going on this minute, for which we are partially responsible. It occupies the same place in my heart.' She acknowledged that she was in the minority in Israel when it came to speaking up about the terrible cost of the war to Palestinian life. 'People here see Palestinians as the other and that's why they have created a barrier,' she said. 'They have managed not to feel their pain and I find that incomprehensible. To me, when I read the stories of their suffering in Gaza, it blends completely into how I feel about the Holocaust.' Cohen's eyes filled with tears as she recalled seeing a recent photo of a young Palestinian boy whose arms had been blown off by Israeli missile strikes in Gaza. 'The news story said that when he woke up from his operation, the first thing he did was turn to his mother, and he said: 'how will I hug you now?' To me, that's a Holocaust story. And that's why we are here: to try to awaken people to their pain in any way we can.' Ruth Vleeschhouwer Falak, 89, who survived the Nazi-occupation of the Netherlands as a child, said she was standing there because 'in the 1930s, if Germans had stood up loudly against the Nazi party, maybe they wouldn't have been able to do what they did to us. Speaking up is not a choice for me.' 'The saying is never again; that means never again for anybody. That's really what we're standing here for,' added Ilana Drukker Tokotin, 87, who spent her childhood in hiding from the Nazis. Yet the few who have tried to bring the voice of Gaza into the anti-war protests have regularly faced fierce resistance, if not outright violence, from police. After the death of more than 500 children in Gaza in the past month alone, Standing Together, a progressive movement of Israelis and Palestinians, decided to hold an anti-war protest on Holocaust Memorial Day that was primarily dedicated to the children who had been needlessly killed by Israel in Gaza as well as the Israeli hostages still held captive. Yet after applying for permission, police told the group they were banned from holding up posters of children killed in Gaza and certain phrases such as 'ethnic cleansing' were also forbidden. It was not the first time activists had faced such pushback; at other protests, police have regularly confiscated any posters bearing the faces of Gaza's killed women and children or used force to break them up. 'There was nothing new about this attempt to silence any mention of Gaza – the only difference this time was that the police foolishly put it in writing,' said Alon-Lee Green, the co-director of Standing Together. The group not only successfully challenged the ban in court but also then began taking donations to put the photos of Gaza's child victims of the war on posters and bus stops across central Israel, with almost 200 and counting. 'There has been a complete unwillingness among many here to engage with the human cost of the war in Gaza, even anger to anyone who expresses empathy for Palestinians, but I think after the government restarted the war, something is beginning to shift,' said Green. 'This killing is done on the land we share and by our own hands. How can we ignore that any longer?' On Thursday night, in the same square where the hostage protests have been taking place for months, thousands gathered to hold photographs of children in Gaza aloft; chubby-cheeked babies, giggling toddlers and whole families of siblings clutching each other's hands at they sat in their best outfits, all killed in the past 18 months. 'It's unbearable to see the faces of these children, who are no different to my children, who were killed by us,' said Noa First, 46, an artist who attended the protest, clutching a photo of baby girl D'na Khatib. 'My grandparents fled the Holocaust in Germany, I'm so glad they are not alive on this remembrance day to see what Israel has become.' However, there have also been visceral and hostile responses to these protests, speaking to the complexity of speaking out in the current environment. As Thursday's demonstration took place, a far-right group gathered to shout through a megaphone: 'Put down your bullshit signs. Those are the new Nazis on the other side of the border.' As around 50 people gathered in Tel Aviv to stand silently in a line holding empty saucepans to protest at Israel's ongoing aid blockade on Gaza – which has prevented all food, water and medicines going into the Palestinian territory for more than 50 days – they were met with indifference and anger. 'Traitors,' screamed one man loudly at them, while another cursed loudly at the protest. 'You should all be in Gaza,' he shouted. Among those participating, holding a sign that said 'starvation is a war crime' was Shira Geffen, an award-winning Israeli actor and film-maker. 'In Israel, people want to ignore that we are the ones responsible for not only killing Palestinians with bombs but also hunger. But the angrier they get at our protests, and the more the police try to silence us, the louder we will scream.'
