Inside Kate Middleton's Heartwarming Reunion With A Holocaust Survivor
Earlier this year, with the support of the Royal Photographic Society and the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, Kate Middleton photographed two Holocaust survivors as a part of a deeply touching exhibit in the Imperial War Museum (via Vogue). The portraits of Steven Frank and Yvonne Bernstein were taken along with their grandchildren to "capture the special connections between Holocaust survivors and the younger generations of their families, and remind us of our collective responsibility to ensure their stories live on," (via Instagram) and are displayed in the "Generations: Portraits of Holocaust Survivors" exhibit, open till January 2022 (via People).
"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," she said, per Vogue. This week, the Duchess of Cambridge reunited with both Frank and Bernstein while opening two new galleries at the museum.
Kate Middleton was emotional
Every year, the British royal family remembers the sacrifice of people who served in the collective armed wars and conflicts on a day called Remembrance Day (via British Legion). Kate Middleton inaugurated the opening of two new permanent galleries on this significant week: the Holocaust Galleries and the Second World War Galleries at the Imperial War Museum, per Daily Mail. There, she had an emotional reunion with Holocaust survivors Steven Frank and Yvonne Bernstein.
Upon seeing Frank, the Duchess immediately exclaimed, "I want to give you a big cuddle!" After a warm welcome and hug from Frank and his granddaughters, the royal greeted Bernstein and her granddaughter, and all of them went on to view the portraits she'd taken of them. In the pictures, Frank holds a pan that belonged to his mother while Bernstein held onto her ID card as a preservation of their own deeply personal stories. "I loved the items you chose and the colors. Thank you for your time. You were good sitters. Seeing this really brings back such special memories. We need to tell your stories. That is what is so powerful about this project, the generational nature of it and the handover of stories," the Duchess added.
Earlier in the year, Middleton said that "despite unbelievable trauma at the start of their lives," Bernstein and Frank were "two of the most life-affirming people that I have had the privilege to meet."