Kate has met Manfred Goldberg twice before
On Wednesday, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge met hundreds of people while standing in for the Queen at this week’s Buckingham Palace Garden Party. But there was one attendee in particular who stimulated Kate’s interest: Manfred Goldberg.
The mother-of-three has previously met Holocaust survivor Manfred, 92, twice, most recently in January 2021 via video call to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day.
During her tour of Poland with Prince William in 2017, the Duchess first met Manfred during a visit to the Stutthof concentration camp near Gdansk.
As per Daily Mail, Kate contacted him after spotting him in the crowd with his wife of 61 years, Shary.
“Manfred,” Kate said, “It’s so lovely to see you again. How are you?”
The two shook hands, whilst Manfred replied: “It’s my pleasure and privilege to see you again.”
“When I saw your name on the guestlist I thought ‘yes!’ I am so happy to see you! Are you keeping well?” asked the Duchess, whilst holding an umbrella that kept her dry from the rain.
Afterward, Manfred, who has four children and 12 grandchildren, said of his reunion with the Duchess: “These are some of the perks granted to us as a consequence!”
His wife Shary, added: “She is so sweet.”
Mr. Goldberg continued: “It is such an honor to be here. Undreamt of when I arrived here as a 16-year-old. She admires the work I have been doing for many years now.
I have come to the firm conclusion that hearing testimony from a survivor is one of the most effective ways of educating people into understanding that silence is all that’s needed for evil to triumph.
“I have a PowerPoint which I use in talks and the most effective image is an enormous pile of shoes. This photograph was taken by a Russian soldier after liberation and I ask people to visualize that each pair of shoes belongs to one person that had gone to the gas chamber.
People agree that is one of the most effective ways of trying to understand the magnitude of evil we are talking about.”
