Hong Kong memorial service for victims of the Holocaust
Dignitaries from Hong Kong and beyond gathered to light candles and hear from survivors of the horrors of Nazism as the city marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Dignitaries from Hong Kong and beyond gathered to light candles and hear from survivors of the horrors of Nazism as the city marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day yesterday.
Hundreds of guests, including several consuls general and former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa, gathered at the Jewish Community Centre in Mid-Levels to remember the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp.
Among the speakers was Silvain Gilbert, a Hong Kong resident and Holocaust survivor. He led the dedication of the six candles - one for every million Jewish victims.
"Together, with the unspeakable human loss, we remember the loss of culture, of language, religion and the vitality of Jewish life that was those ways in those years," he said in an emotional speech.
Previously unseen footage from wartime concentration camps was also shown, as director Andre Singer's documentary was given its Asian premiere after showing in Britain and the US in the past few days.
The film featured footage shot inside the liberated camps by soldiers under the supervision of the legendary director Alfred Hitchcock. So grim was the footage that it was kept out of public view until the 1980s.
Giving the keynote speech last night was retired US army sergeant Rick Carrier, 90. He was just 20 when he helped liberate Buchenwald, one of the largest camps on German soil.
"When I found Buchenwald, I saw everything in there in infinite detail, not only the picture of them, but the smell and sound of it, and the environment of it," he told the
"The ultimate goal is this will inspire aspects of people's citizenship, and we've focused much more on that element than we have in the past."
Concerned about a lack of knowledge on the Holocaust, the centre hopes to use the anniversary to spur interest from schools, both local and international.
"We are moving to create locally relevant materials, also translating [the history of the holocaust] into Chinese."
One problem is that there is no word equivalent to "holocaust" in Chinese; the closest word is "massacre".
"We first have to be able to express what we mean before we go on to develop educational material," Goldberg said.
One initiative the centre is planning is to send a delegation of Hong Kong students to Poland to learn about the Holocaust. They would then share their experience with others in the city.
Diplomats from Israel, the US, Britain, Germany, Russia and Poland were among those in attendance last night.
