To mark the International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 75th anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz, the Hong Kong Holocaust & Tolerance Centre and the Asia Society Hong Kong Center were honoured to host Eva Schloss for an evening of student-centered learning, where she shared her remarkable story of life before the war, how she survived Auschwitz-Birkenau and rebuilt her life afterwards.

Eva Schloss is a Holocaust survivor, peace activist, international speaker, teacher, author and humanitarian, recognized by Queen Elizabeth II with an M.B.E. and for whom the play And Then They Came For Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank was written by James Still in 1999. She is also the stepsister of Anne Frank, whose diary possibly is the most famous work to emerge from the horrors of that event.

Eva Schloss’ story is one of heartbreaking loss, determination, betrayal and, ultimately, the survival and triumph of the human spirit against all odds: among her many ordeals, she survived escape from Austria, two years in hiding in Amsterdam, capture on her 15th birthday, nine months in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, the death of her father and brother, and repatriation to Holland. 40 years after the end of World War II, Eva Schloss started to share her story. She has since written three books and spoken all over the world about her experiences.

To accommodate overwhelming demand, the program took place in Jockey Club Hall, with live video stream in Miller Theater. The programme was be conducted in English. English-to-Cantonese simultaneous interpretation was available in Jockey Club Hall.

Holocaust survivor and distinguished guest Ms. Eva Schloss spoke to a packed auditorium of nearly 600 students at the Chinese International School. Following her moving remarks, many of the students stayed after the talk to ask Eva about her connection with Anne Frank, her story of hiding and what it was like to be liberated from Auschwitz.

Anne Frank’s posthumous stepsister and Holocaust survivor Eva Schloss MBE has arrived in Hong Kong on 12 January 2020. Eva has just kicked off her first Hong Kong full-house talk on stage with HKHTC Executive Director Simon Li at the Tsim Sha Tsui Baptist Church. Eva is the keynote speaker of this year’s United Nations Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration at City Hall. Welcome, Eva!

The Hong Kong Holocaust & Tolerance Centre was pleased to support a number of Holocaust-themed films as part of the 20th Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival taking place 2-10 November 2019.

In addition to school screenings, this year’s public screenings all took place at Asia Society Hong Kong Center at 9 Justice Drive, Admiralty. Please see the list below for film descriptions.

Supported Films 2019

Avenging Evil (3 November – 6:15 PM) 

A documentary featuring a seldom-told, thought-provoking story of revenge. Six million Jews are dead, but by 1946, just a handful of Nazis face trial. Most of the guilty will never face justice. For many of Hitler’s victims, this is not enough. Based on previously unheard recordings and exclusive interviews with those involved—all of whom are over 90—this film tells the story of a secret organization of Holocaust survivors who decide to take matters into their own hands. Assembled by the warrior-poet Abba Kovner, their aim is “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life.”

Who Will Write Our History (4 November – 7:00 PM)

In November 1940, days after the Nazis sealed 450,000 Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto, a secret band of journalists, scholars and community leaders decided to fight back. Led by historian Emanuel Ringelblum and known by the code name Oyneg Shabes, this clandestine group vowed to defeat Nazi lies and propaganda not with guns or fists but with pen and paper. Now, for the first time, their story is told as a feature documentary. Who Will Write Our History mixes the writings of the Oyneg Shabes archive with new interviews, rarely seen footage and stunning dramatizations to transport us inside the Ghetto and the lives of these courageous resistance fighters.

Bye Bye Germany (7 November – 7:00 PM)

Frankfurt, 1946. David Bermann and his friends have survived the Holocaust, escaped the Nazi regime and are now dreaming of leaving for America. But how will they get the money in these tough post-war times? The smooth-talking businessman focuses on what the Germans now need most: fine bed linens nicely wrapped in amusing stories! The six talented entertainers go from home to home, praising German housewives with chutzpah. Business flourishes and a bright new future can be seen in the horizon. But questions about Bermann’s past catch up with him. Why does he have two passports? What about his visit to Hitler’s mountain retreat? Could he have collaborated with the Nazis?

This special workshop was held on 26 October 2019 to coincide with HKHTC’s ‘Stars Without a Heaven: Children in the Holocaust’ exhibition at the City University of Hong Kong.

For further information, please contact lb@cityu.edu.hk