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The Royal Family observe Holocaust Memorial Day

Holocaust Memorial Day in Auschwitz, 70 years after the Holocaust. Photo: Odd Andersen/TT

Prince Daniel met Georg and Eva Klein at the performance of Our Class at Teater Galeasen. Georg was born in Budapest in 1925 into a Jewish Hungarian family who were killed at Auschwitz. He managed to escape from a convoy of prisoners. Georg and his wife Eva came to Sweden in 1947 having fled the Soviet occupation of Hungary. They completed their studies in medicine in Sweden, and the married professors have worked as researchers at Karolinska Institutet for half a century. Photo: David Sica/Stella Pictures

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27 January 2015 marked the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the prisoners at Auschwitz concentration camp. The King and Queen and The Crown Princess Couple took part in Holocaust Memorial Day commemorations.

The Crown Princess attended the memorial ceremony held in Auschwitz, Poland. The ceremony began at the former concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, and ended at the memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. The ceremonyexternal link, opens in new window brought together 300 survivors, as well as royalty, politicians and cultural figures from around 40 different countries.

The King and Queen arrive at the memorial ceremony organised by the Jewish Community at the Great Synagogue of Stockholm. Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / TT

The King and Queen arrive at the memorial ceremony organised by the Jewish Community at the Great Synagogue of Stockholm. Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / TT

The King and Queen attended a ceremony organised by the Jewish Communityexternal link, opens in new window at the Great Synagogue of Stockholm. Speakers included Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, Israel's ambassador Isaac Bachman, Lena Posner-Körösi, chair of the Jewish Community in Stockholm, and Tommy Ringart from the Association of Holocaust Survivors.

Prince Daniel saw the acclaimed play Our Class at Teater Galeasen, which was revived on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. The play has been described as one of the most powerful and most important Swedish theatrical productions of the 21st century. It was written by the Polish playwright Tadeusz Słobodzianek, and depicts a class of schoolchildren – both Catholics and Jews – in the small Polish town of Jedwabne, from the early 1930s to the present day.

The Prince also presented scholarships from the Micael Bindefeld Foundation in Memory of the Holocaust.

The Prince presented scholarships from the Micael Bindefeld Foundation in Memory of the Holocaust to Sara Sommerfeld, Johan Romin and Örjan Henriksson. Photo: David Sica/Stella Pictures

The Prince presented scholarships from the Micael Bindefeld Foundation in Memory of the Holocaust to Sara Sommerfeld, Johan Romin and Örjan Henriksson. Photo: David Sica/Stella Pictures

The scholarships, which were presented this year for the first time, were awarded to photographer Örjan Henriksson for his work with the photographic exhibition Auschwitz KZ I-II, and to actress Sara Sommerfeld and producer Johan Romin for the production of the documentary film My Grandmother and the Holocaust.

The aim of the foundation is to finance projects that convey narratives about the Holocaust through cultural expression.

About Holocaust Memorial Day

27 January – the date on which Auschwitz Concentration Camp was liberated in 1945 – is International Holocaust Memorial Day. This day has been observed around Sweden since 1999.

The UN declared the date as an international day of remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust in 2005.

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