RELEVANT VIDEO

2024
25 January

United Nations Holocaust Memorial Day Commemoration 2024

Every year on 27 January, the international community comes together to commemorate the United Nations Holocaust Memorial Day. The Hong Kong Holocaust and Tolerance Centre is pleased to host the commemorative event in Hong Kong with 87-year-old Holocaust survivor Peter Gaspar at Tai Kwun.

Born in Czechoslovakia, Peter’s life was forever changed when the Nazis occupied and dismembered his country when he was just two years old. Soon after, faced with the threat of deportation, Peter and his parents went into hiding, seeking shelter wherever they could find it. Peter and his mother were later separated from his father and sent to the Theresienstadt camp, where they endured unimaginable suffering. Today, he strongly believes that education is the key to stopping antisemitism.

2023
17 January

United Nations Holocaust Memorial Day Commemoration 2023

The Hong Kong Holocaust and Tolerance Centre, together with the Asia Society Hong Kong Center, was pleased to host the annual United Nations Holocaust Memorial Day Commemoration 2023. 

Poland-born Holocaust survivor Mr Pinchas Gutter was the keynote speaker. In 1942, as ten-year-old Pinchas was deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to the killing site of Maidanek and then to a series of concentration camps, he shut himself off to the terrors surrounding him and tried his best not to be noticed, to become almost invisible. But after liberation, his photographic memory would not let his past fade away, and Pinchas struggled to deal with nightmares and flashbacks. 

Pinchas is the first Holocaust survivor to be immortalised in an interactive projection in the USC Shoah Foundation’s Dimensions in Testimony – this is in partnership in Asia with the Hong Kong Holocaust & Tolerance Centre.

2022
13 December

A Long Road to Justice | HKHTC Webinar – Commemorating the 85th Anniversary of the Atrocities at Nanjing

To commemorate the 85th anniversary of the Rape of Nanjing, we host a talk by Penguin Author Sylvia Yu Friedman on Imperial Japanese military sex slavery (“comfort women”) during World War II and modern-day slavery across Asia.

A constant stream of impoverished women and girls have been, and are being, enslaved and abused in the Asia Pacific region. Slavery is not a historical issue – it’s happening today. History is repeating itself.

Through Sylvia’s work in journalism, she’s had rare access to survivors over the last two decades. Sylvia will share her personal journey of documenting the stories of these survivors across Asia for the next generation and to spur more people on to get involved in the fight against injustice.

2022
8 June

“Beyond the Shadow of a Perpetrator: A Conversation with Bernd Wollschläger”  Webinar

Growing up with a Nazi father, Dr Bernd Wollschläger is now a Jew by choice. Born a German Catholic, he was the son of a tank commander who received the Iron Cross, Germany’s highest military honor, which was pinned on him by Adolf Hitler. When the son discovered his father was a decorated Nazi war hero who has kept the past hidden from his children, he rebelled, converted to Judaism, and even served in the Israel Defense Forces. Dismayed by the legacy of the Holocaust, the son found that the rift between family and faith never healed.

Please join us for a truly phenomenal and educational talk with Dr Bernd Wollschläger, as he shares with us his story of a German life out of the shadow of a perpetrator.

This special webinar has been made possible by the generous support of the Raymond and Nicette Bera Foundation.

“When my children started asking questions about my parents, I decided to break the wall of silence and tell them the truth about me. I needed to express what compelled me to dramatically change my life. I finally had to explore the relationship with my father and how it was overshadowed by the Holocaust. Our unresolved conflict and his denial motivated me to search for answers, and I found them within me and my acquired faith: Against all odds, change is possible… This is my story.”

2022
27 April

Yom HaShoah 2022 | A Live Virtual Programme with Holocaust Survivor Rena Quint

The annual Yom HaShoah Commemoration to remember the six million Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust took place on Wednesday, 27th April 2022. The Hong Kong Holocaust & Tolerance Centre presented a special Live Virtual Discussion with Rena Quint.

Rena was liberated from Bergen-Belsen as a young child, with no memory of her real family. Taken away from her mother and later from her father, in the camps Rena had seen one adopted mother after another sent to the gas chambers while she somehow survived the unspeakable — a lone flame among the ashes.

We also invited participants to take part in a communal candle lighting where they lighted a candle at home while those online do so too. These lights in this virtual commemoration allowed us to connect with each other and to shine a commemorative light in the dark shadow of the Shoah.

2022
25 April

HKHTC-HKU Event | Nuremberg Prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz & the Evolution of International Justice: From the Holocaust to the Invasion of Ukraine

In 1947, Benjamin Ferencz wrote legal history by prosecuting high-level Nazi ‘Einsatzgruppen’ officers who had been responsible for the murder of over one million Jews. The trial at Nuremberg was part of a first attempt to hold perpetrators of the most heinous atrocities to account in an international court. Over the course of Ferencz’s life (he is still alive at age 102), this international legal order has evolved significantly.

In this HKHTC-HKU webinar (25 April 2022), Prof Gregory Gordon (CUHK, Law) tracked Ferencz’s landmark contributions to international justice through his role at Nuremberg and his longstanding advocacy for the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC). In light of recent developments in Ukraine, questions about the need for international justice are more pressing than ever.

2022
27 January

UN Holocaust Memorial Day with Greek Holocaust Survivor Lola Angel

Welcome to our UN Holocaust Memorial Day virtual commemoration in Hong Kong. This year, we are honoured to have our keynote speaker Ms Lola Angel, one of the very few Greek Jews left to remember the horror of the Nazi concentration camps. Approximately 83 percent of Greek Jews, nearly 59,000 people, were exterminated when the country was occupied by Nazi Germany. Lola is among survivors who have not spoken until now. Because she was so young at the time, she felt it was not her place to speak. But seven decades after the end of WWII, she finally feels ready to pass on her stories to the next generation. Please join us as we bear witness to her unique story of survival.

2021
16 November

Online Lecture for Bard College on Asia’s Strange Fixation with Nazi Hate Iconography

On November 16, the Bard Center for the Study of Hate (BCSH) welcomed HKHTC’s Executive Director Simon Li to speak on “Hitler Shirts, Nazi Salute and Swastika Flags: Decoding Southeast Asia’s Strange Fixation with Nazi Hate Iconography.”

2021
15 July

Shanghai’s Forgotten Jewish Past and Hong Kong

In this video feature story, HKHTC Executive Director & Columbia University’s Historical Dialogue Fellow Simon K. Li discusses how Shanghai hosted a large, vibrant community of Jewish refugees fleeing persecution in Nazi Europe as well as the refugees’ relationships with Hong Kong.

2021
16 June

“Forgotten Victims: A Conversation with Sinti Holocaust Survivor Rita Prigmore” Webinar

Together with Jews, the Roma and Sinti (Gypsies) were targeted for extermination by the Nazis during their twelve-year reign of terror and were thus also victims of ideological racism. The stories of the Roma and Sinti are less well known and the first memorial to their suffering was only unveiled in Berlin in 2012: the history of this persecution, over a thousand years of oppression in Europe, must be told even more urgently while the few survivors are still with us.

Rita Prigmore’s mother was facing forced sterilization when she was found to be carrying twins, a subject of endless fascination to Nazi doctors in their pursuit of creating a super race. This saved the life of the as yet unborn Rita and her sibling but both infants were then subject to unspeakable medical “experimentation”. While she was only two years old when the war ended, Rita has managed to trace the story of her birth and suffering – an indelible part of her early memories – and she still lives with their long-term consequences today.

In her sharing, Rita tells us of this little-known aspect of the Holocaust and where her community is still subject to extreme racism and deprivation in contemporary European society.

 
2021
29 April

HKHTC was honoured to participate in the 24-Hour Virtual Global Vigil hosted by the #TogetherWeRemember Coalition to mark the conclusion of Genocide Awareness Month. Over a 24 hour cycle, the vigil featured content from major organisations from around the world commemorating genocide, including HKHTC. On 29 April 2021, the global audience joined the live stream of our special one hour programme ‘Remembering Together: Chinese and Jewish Students Discuss Holocaust/Genocide Education’. Mixing music and dialogue, this conversation between Jewish students in Hong Kong and Chinese undergraduates in Macao,
addressed pressing questions on the need for Holocaust education and its use in raising awareness of genocidal atrocity in Asia. Bringing together students from different backgrounds to talk about the Holocaust and its place in wider genocide education, we hoped to find common ground for communal memory where both groups participate in each other’s understanding of shared humanity.

2021
21 April

“The Fight against Anti-Semitism in Germany and Europe Today” Webinar

April is Genocide Awareness Month. HKHTC hosted a special webinar with Germany’s inaugural Federal Government Commissioner for the Fight against Anti-Semitism, Dr Felix Klein, for a live discussion and Q&A on the fight against anti-Semitism in Germany and Europe today.

The webinar was moderated by HKHTC Chairman and HKU scholar Dr Roland Vogt.

This event was supported by the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany and the University of Hong Kong’s School of Modern Languages and Cultures.

2021
8 April
“Yom HaShoah 2021/5781
Remembering Music’s Saving Powers at Auschwitz”Anita Lasker-Wallfisch OBE is one of the dwindling number of men and women still living who survived Auschwitz. She was taken to the camp but escaped the gas chambers because of her ability to play the cello, and went on to become a founding member of the English Chamber Orchestra.On this year’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, Ms Lasker-Wallfisch shares with us her unique story of how playing the cello saved her life
2021
17 March

“Technology and The Future of Holocaust Education in Asia” Webinar

What role can technology play in the future of Holocaust and tolerance education in Asia?

Join USC Shoah Foundation Finci-Viterbi Executive Director, Stephen Smith and HKHTC Executive Director and Columbia University’s Historical Dialogue & Accountability Fellow, Simon K. Li as they discuss the ways in which we can fight hate and teach empathy, understanding and respect in this digital age.

2021
26 February

HKHTC-ASHK Live Webinar

“The Ballerina of Auschwitz”:
A Historic Morning with Dr. Edith Eva Eger

In honour of Hong Kong Holocaust and Tolerance Centre’s (HKHTC) 10th Anniversary we proudly present “Dimensions: Insights to the Past, Present and Future of Lessons from the Holocaust” Webinar Series.

HKHTC in partnership with Asia Society Hong Kong Center (ASHK) were delighted to virtually host award-winning author, eminent psychologist and Auschwitz Survivor Dr. Edith Eva Eger as our special guest for the first webinar of this special series.

In this webinar, Dr. Eger shared her remarkable story of survival against all odds and her powerful tips for coping through uncertain times.

“Even in hell, hope can flower.”
– Dr. Edith Eva Eger

2021
27 January

The annual International Holocaust Remembrance Day is designated by the United Nations as a commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. To mark this event, the Hong Kong Holocaust and Tolerance Centre hosted a virtual commemoration on 27 January 2021.

This year, we were honoured to have our keynote speaker Mr Eddie Jaku OAM, who at 100 years old has an illuminating perspective on life and a very unique story of enduring Kristallnacht, escaping and being captured by the Nazis, and surviving the concentration camps on multiple occasions. Thank you for joining us as we bear witness to his unique story of courage and survival.

2020
30 April
HKHTC was honoured to participate in the 24-Hour Virtual Global Vigil hosted by the #TogetherWeRemember Coalition on April 30th to mark the conclusion of Genocide Awareness Month. Over a 24 hour cycle, the vigil featured content about genocides from 33 major organisations in 17 countries around the world, including Bosnia & Herzegovina, Poland, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Argentina, Spain, Turkey, Mauritius, Macedonia, Guinea, Uganda, and the United States. As Asia’s largest and most active organization dedicated to Holocaust awareness, HKHTC kicked off this global event with a unique Asia-based perspective.
2020 January 20 For this year’s 75th Anniversary we were happy to have Eva Schloss MBE, Auschwitz Survivor, Stepsister of Anne Franke, and Internationally Renowned Peace Activist as our featured speaker.
2020
April 20
Around this time every year, we come together in Hong Kong to remember and honour those who perished in the Holocaust. Even though we are all social-distancing amid COVID-19, we can utilise online platforms to come together virtually as we remember and pay tribute in this year’s Yom HaShoah.
2020 January 20 For this year’s 75th Anniversary we were happy to have Eva Schloss MBE, Auschwitz Survivor, Stepsister of Anne Franke, and Internationally Renowned Peace Activist as our featured speaker.
2019 January 23 The theme for the 2019 ceremony was: “Being a Woman in the Holocaust”. Holocaust survivor Ms. Eva Koralnik was our guest speaker and shared her incredible story of survival.
2018 January 25 HKHTC UN Holocaust Memorial Day with, 90 Year old visiting Holocaust Survivor, Werner Reich in Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong
2017 January 27 HKHTC UN Holocaust Memorial Day with Micha Gelber in Sai Ying Pun
2017 January i-Cable News broadcast
covering Micha Gelber’s school visits
In Chinese with English
2017 January Harrow International School HK  哈羅香港國際學校
In cooperation with HKHTC.
Speaker Micha Gelber, Holocaust Survivor
English
 2016 September

Asian Righteous Talk by Mr Nobuki Sugihara at:
Harrow International School HK 哈羅香港國際學校
In cooperation with HKHTC

English

2016 January

HKHTC UN Holocaust Memorial Day 2016 at Leighton Hill
哈羅香港國際學校
Speaker: Holocaust survivor Dov Landau

English

2015 January UN Holocaust Memorial Day
Speaker: Sgt. Rick Carrier
English
2014 March UN Holocaust Memorial Day
Speaker: Olga Horak
English
 2013 October  Opening of the Oasis Exhibition (part A)
English
2013 October Opening of the Oasis Exhibition (part B)
English
2013 October Opening of the Oasis Exhibition (part C)
English
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