Sir Keir Starmer travelled to Poland with his wife and children over a long weekend to explore Lady Starmer’s family origins and the Jewish heritage shaped by displacement and war.
The Prime Minister and his family visited a village on the outskirts of Warsaw where Lady Starmer’s grandparents had lived before fleeing to Britain in the early 20th century to escape rising anti-Semitism. Members of her wider family who remained in mainland Europe were later killed during the Holocaust.
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Read the full reportThe private trip was intended to help the couple’s teenage children understand their maternal family history. Lady Starmer’s father, Bernard, was born in Britain in 1929 after his parents resettled there. Sir Keir, who is not Jewish, has spoken previously about the importance of recognising that part of the family’s identity.
Lady Starmer’s grandparents had lived in Warsaw’s Koło district, once home to a large Jewish population. Their departure reflected a wider movement of Jewish families leaving central and eastern Europe amid political instability and discrimination before the First World War.
The visit follows an earlier journey the couple made to Poland in January last year, when they visited Auschwitz. Sir Keir described that experience as profoundly affecting, saying it reinforced the scale of the Holocaust and the human systems that enabled it.
Lady Starmer has worked closely with the Holocaust Educational Trust and hosted events at Downing Street. The family observe Shabbat dinners at home, a tradition Sir Keir has said helps his children connect with their grandfather’s heritage and maintain continuity with their family’s past.
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