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.

Our one hour programme was led by HKHTC’s Executive Director, Simon Li, who spoke live to viewers about HKHTC’s work on Holocaust education, Asian Righteous Among the Nations, and the Jewish Ghetto in Shanghai during the Holocaust. Simon also shared details about the Nanjing massacre, the Cambodian genocide, and other recent atrocities in Asia. As part of HKHTC’s presentation, Hong Kong-based Cambodian Genocide survivor Emilie Tran shared her family’s story and the chilling experiences of other survivors. The event has been viewed over 10,000 times and demonstrates HKHTC’s expanding role in providing Holocaust, genocide and tolerance education. Given the proliferation of racism and discrimination in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is as critical as ever to understand the tragic consequences of intolerance through online events such as this.

HKHTC’s portion of the event commences at 1:01:45 of the following link:
https://www.facebook.com/TogetherWeRemember/videos/2870839933036848/

As always, we value your continued support and hope you will join us in participating in HKHTC’s future programming.

YOM HASHOAH 2020 – VIRTUAL COMMEMORATION
WE REMEMBER WITH THE HONG KONG HOLOCAUST & TOLERANCE CENTRE

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.

The Yom HaShoah 2020 virtual commemoration took on April 20 at 7:30pm on our social media platform. It can be watched here to remember and pay tribute.

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!