Kate Middleton & Prince William Shattered While Walking Path Once Used By Hundreds Of Nazi Camp Victims

On their first royal tour as a family, the Duke and the Duchess of Cambridge visited the Stutthof Concentration Camp during the second day of their Poland visit.

Kate Middleton and Prince William visited the former Stutthof camp in northern Poland, where 65,000 people are estimated to have died during Germany’s occupation during World War II, reported the Daily Mail. Disease, malnutrition, physical exhaustion, exposure to the harsh climate, and abuse from guards — as well as a gas chamber used to murder those too sick to work — took an overwhelming number of lives opposite a brick crematorium.

Stutthof was a Nazi German concentration camp built in a secluded, wet, and wooded area near the small town of Sztutowo, 34 kilometers east of the city of Gdansk in the former territory of the Free City of Danzig. The camp was set up around already existing structures after the invasion of Poland in World War II used for the imprisonment of Polish intelligentsia. The actual barracks were built in the following year by hundreds of prisoners. Stutthof was the first camp outside German borders, in operation from September 2, 1939, and the last camp liberated by the Allies on May 9, 1945.

The royal couple were pictured taking in the harrowing site after entering the camp through the “death gates,” which once saw prisoners marched through by Nazi rulers.

They walked the path that thousands of women, children, and men once had to cover while being led to their deaths inside gas chambers.

They described the visit as “shattering,” saying the site is a “terrible reminder of the cost of war.” Both bowed their heads as they were shown inside the room used to burn the bodies of thousands of victims.

Prince William was visibly shaken and was overheard apologizing to the museum director for asking “so many questions” as they exited the crematorium.

The heart-wrenching scene numbs the senses where combs and children’s dolls have been turned into exhibits in memory of those who perished at the camp almost seven decades ago.

The royals were shown discarded shoes and clothing seized from prisoners on arrival at the camp, and the impact the visit had on them was evident from the heartfelt message the couple left in the visitors’ book before leaving.

“This shattering visit has reminded us of the horrendous murder of six million Jews, drawn from across the whole of Europe, who died in the abominable Holocaust. All of us have an overwhelming responsibility to make sure that we learn the lessons and that the horror of what happened is never forgotten and never repeated.”

During the visit, William and Kate walked and spoke with Holocaust survivors Zigi Shipper and Manfred Goldberg, both 87. They visited the camp for the first time since leaving all those years ago.

After the emotional visit, the royals were greeted by an immense and enthusiastic crowd awaiting them at a town market in Gdansk, Poland. Their schedule then had them attend a reception at the Gdansk Shakespeare Theater and was to be concluded at the monument to the fallen shipyard workers of 1970.

[Featured Image by Chris Jackson/Pool/Getty Images]