91-year-old Hédi Fried, who survived from Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen, tells about her trip to 70th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz with Victoria on January 27th. With them at the trip was also Emerich Roth, another survivor from the concentration camps.
Hédi Fried: The trip to Auschwitz January 27, 2015
There are different kinds of trips. There are pleasure trips, explorations, conducted tours and Auschwitz trips.
And there are trips that you just have to do. Especially when you think you can light a candle at the place where your parents went to Heaven. And to top it all, in the company of Crown Princess Victoria. So I said yes. And it became my life's journey.
We departed from Bromma. This time, no trains for livestock waited on us. At the government plane sat the Crown Princess with her entourage …
… Emerich and I were taken care for by the local staff and entered in a giant tent, which turned out to be the place where the memorial ceremony would soon be held. We sat on the chairs, and were told that under no circumstances we were allowed to leave our seats, both during the time we were waiting for the tent to be filled, and during that time the ceremony would take place: Ordnung muss sein…
… It was decided from the beginning that no journalists should be allowed to interview the royals, and no other than the various countries' representatives would be able to lit candles next to the ruined crematorium. Crown Princess Victoria would not be who she is, if she had not obtained the special benefits for us Swedes. At a certain time we two were picked from the tent, and the Crown Princess was interviewed by Swedish SVT reporter Rolf Fredriksson. He also asked brief questions to Emerich and me.
After the ceremony had ended, I was sad and wanted to go out, the adjutant came and stopped me. The Crown Princess, who knew that I also wanted to light a candle in this place, took us decisively on the short drive to the monument. Then I finally got at the age of 91, light a candle for my young parents, mother 44 and father 49. The local staff offered several candles and even helped me to light a candle for the rest of my and my sister Livia's large family, a common candle to those whose names are inscribed on the wall next to the Stockholm synagogue, and for all the others who had lost their lives during the Holocaust. Then we had to regain our journey home, back to Sweden after having being rescued a second time from Auschwitz.
At 91 years of age, one can not wish for anything more.
Thank you Sweden!
Stockholm - Resan till Auschwitz - Goethe-Institut
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