King and Queen of Spain attend 80th anniversary of concentration camp liberation

King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain attended the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Mauthausen Concentration Camp in Austria.

Alexander Van der Bellen, Federal President of Austria, and his wife, Doris Schmidauer, greeted Their Majesties upon arrival. The quartet sat in the front row for the ceremony to remember the camp’s liberation.

The King and Queen laid a wreath in front of the victims’ monument before the ceremony officially began. Afterwards, they joined the presidential couple for a meeting and the signing of the guest book at the museum’s Temporary Exhibition Halls.

King Felipe and Queen Letizia also received a tour of the concentration and extermination camp and laid another wreath in front of the institutional plaque of Spain. They were also able to meet with survivors.

Queen Letizia meets a survivor. © Casa De SM el Rey

Their Majesties proceeded to the Spanish Republicans to lay a third wreath before laying a fourth wreath in front of the monument to the French Republicans.

Lastly, the King and Queen saw the Wiener Graben quarry and the “stairway of death.” The latter is where prisoners worked to construct the concentration camp for the Nazis.

© Casa De SM el Rey

The camp housed mainly Soviet prisoners who were released on 16 May 1945. At the time of their liberation, the Mauthausen Oath was proclaimed as a commitment to unite for a better world.

The survivors decided to return to the camp for liberation ceremonies as they felt it extremely important. The first liberation ceremony took place in 1946 with over 10,000 people in attendance.

The Mauthausen Committee in Austria organised the event.