The past two days, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden has attended events surrounding Holocaust Memorial Day.
On 27 January, the Crown Princess was present at Stockholm’s Great Synagogue for a memorial ceremony set to honour and memorialise the victims of the Holocaust that took place during World War Two. After the service, Her Royal Highness accompanied Holocaust survivor, Livia Fränkel to a memorial monument outside the synagogue. Fränkel, who was using a walker, was helped outside by the Crown Princess.
The monument holds the names of 8,500 people murdered during the Holocaust who had relatives that travelled to Sweden.
The Holocaust survivor suffered under the Nazi’s in the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. She was later transferred to Bergen-Belsen as the Allies approached Auschwitz. You can read more about Livia Fränkel on her website.
Yesterday, Crown Princess Victoria attended a seminar hosted by Sweden’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs in cooperation with The Living History Forum. The Holocaust Remembrance Lecture, held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was delivered by historian Professor Deborah Lipstadt. The Professor, who teaches Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies at Emory University in the United States, focused on hate crimes and current trends towards anti-Semitism.
Others in attendance included the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Margot Wallström; Swedish Ambassador to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism, Joachim Bergström; and the Superintendent of The Living History Forum, Ingrid Lomfors.
It was on 27 January 1945 that the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination was liberated. The day has been a memorial day in Sweden since 2001. The United Nations made 27 January a memorial day in 2005.