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Kate Middleton showcased her impressive photography skills in her latest moving project. The Duchess of Cambridge, who often snaps photos of her children, stepped behind the camera to photograph two Holocaust survivors, Steven Frank and Yvonne Bernstein, and their respective grandchildren. The powerful images were taken earlier this month for a project by the Royal Photographic Society, The Jewish News and the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust to mark 75 years since the end of the Holocaust.
“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,” Kate, who is patron of the Royal Photographic Society, said in a statement. “It was a true honor 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.”
Steve and his granddaughters, Maggie and Trixie, posed for a photo for the Duchess. Kensington Palace noted that Steve, his mother and brothers were sent to Westerbork transit camp and then to Theresienstadt. Of the 15,000 children that were sent to the camp, Steven and his brothers were three of the only 93 survivors. Meanwhile Yvonne Bernstein, who was joined by her granddaughter Chloe for the photo session, was a hidden child in France. Yvonne traveled in the care of her aunt and uncle during the Holocaust, and frequently changed homes and names.
On Monday, January 27, Kensington Palace shared behind-the-scenes photos from the Duchess’ shoot in honor of Holocaust Memorial Day, which takes place on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, and honors survivors of the Holocaust, Nazi Persecution, and subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. “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,” Prince George ’s mom said.
She continued, “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’s photos will be included in an exhibition of 75 images of survivors and their family members. Set to open later this year, the exhibition will pay tribute to the victims of the Holocaust and will celebrate the lives that survivors have built in the UK, while inspiring people to consider their own responsibility to remember and share the stories of those who endured Nazi persecution.