Yesterday (Jan 20, 2025) evening, a commemoration ceremony for the United Nations Holocaust Memorial Day (UNHMD), which falls this year on the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz, was held in Hong Kong at the Jewish Community Centre
January 27th is the day chosen to commemorate the memory of the Jewish victims murdered during the Holocaust. On this day every year, the world remembers the six million lives slaughtered, simply because they were Jewish. It marks the day when the Soviet troops liberated the Nazi concentration and death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland.
The official representative of the Hong Kong SAR Government Mr. Nick Au Yeung, Deputy Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs, delivered a speech at this symbolic and important memorial ceremony in Hong Kong.
Mr. Xu Min, Deputy Director of the General Office of the Consular Department of Commissioner's Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in the HKSAR, was also present with around 200 guests including consuls general and diplomatic representatives, leaders and members of the Jewish community and friends in Hong Kong.
Consul General of Israel to Hong Kong Mr. Amir Lati said in his remarks that the Holocaust history has left us the lessons of what racism, the hatred of the other, can cause one human being to do to another. He warned that antisemitism has been raising once again in the past year, with the number of antisemitic incidents on the rise in many countries around the world. It is alarming that, as recent surveys show, 20% of the people especially the young ones do not know what the Holocaust is. The year of 2024 marks a record year for Anti-Semitic incidents, with an increase of 340% in these incidents worldwide compared to 2022 and an increase of nearly 100% compared to the previous year.
Mr. Lati stressed the importance of education on the Holocaust and antisemitism, particularly in Hong Kong, and dedicated his speech to Holocaust survivor Mr. Yosef Wiener, who has lost two grandchildren in Hamas’s terror attack on Israel on October 7th in 2023. Mr. Wiener could not bear the loss and passed away at the age of 98 last month in Israel. The Jewish historic motherland Israel, is the only Jewish nation in the world and was created to ensure the wellbeing and safety of the Jewish people globally.
84-year-old Holocaust survivor Mr. Mark Spigelman traveled especially to Hong Kong to share his experience in person. Born in Poland, Mr. Spiegelman’s parents dressed him in a dress disguising him as a girl, in order to evade the Nazis. He had endured unimaginable hardships, hiding in a ghetto and living in secrecy. His experiences are featured in the graphic novel Maus: A Survivor’s Tale.
In display at the event was the exhibition “Auschwitz a Place on Earth”, portraying photos taken at the end of May or beginning of June 1944 by two SS men. The Auschwitz Album is the only known visual documentation of the arrival of the transport of Jews taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau. It shares the entire cruel process the Jews had endured since their arrival to the camp until their last moments.
The event and related educational activities were made possible by the event organizer - the Hong Kong Holocaust and Tolerance Center, and other supporters including the Hong Kong Jewish Community Centre, the Carmel School Hong Kong and the Consulate General of Israel in Hong Kong.
(Photo credit: Hong Kong Holocaust and Tolerance Center)