Hong Kong Report

Iwas invited by the Hong Kong Holocaust and Tolerance Centre (HKHTC) for a week in April this year to speak in a variety of schools and organisations. The HKHTC was set up a year ago by prominent members of the local Jewish community. The new centre is housed in the Carmel School Association’s Elsa High School and its chairman is Jeremy Amias, a former Londoner and the son of an AJR member. My visit to Hong Kong was on behalf of the London Jewish Cultural Centre’s (LJCC) Holocaust and Anti-Racism Department, which holds annual seminars in mainland China. My purpose was to set up a new annual conference for teachers, both to promote Holocaust education to schoolchildren and to show teachers how effective it is to have a survivor stand up in front of the classes to give first-hand information. In addition, I wanted to set up, together with the LJCC, an annual conference for Hong Kong teachers which would enhance the programme in mainland China. I reached 15 different schools and organisations, including two Jewish schools, in one week – a gruelling programme which involved speaking three or four times each day and included a short address at the Yom Hashoah ceremony at the Jewish Cultural Centre there. My talks were extremely well received and I was overwhelmed by the generous notes of appreciation and gifts. I look forward to further co-operation with the community in the future. No time was spent shopping, with the exception of a very necessary couple of pairs of trousers which a local tailor made for me in only three days so that I could take them home with me back to London. Most of the schools at which I spoke were international or local schools which are teaching in English. I was driven to and from the venues as parking is virtually impossible in Hong Kong. Taxis were plentiful except when it rained, which was quite often. The ferry system is amazing. Boats dodged past tankers, warships, small craft and other ferries to get to their destinations. Travel is cheap and efficient in comparison with the UK. I took the ferry to Macau, where I visited a school, and then on to the university in the evening. On the way back to the ferry, I passed all the amazing hotels with flashing lights – just like Las Vegas. (I was told they take more money in the casinos there than in Las Vegas even though there are fewer hotels.) I was also invited to a school on Lantau Island, which is where the new Disney Resort is located. The international school at Discovery Bay on this island is a very pleasant, more rural, location, where many international families live. My most amazing visit was to the United World College, which has a campus in Hong Kong similar to the one in Wales. Two students from countries all over the world are invited to attend. The standard of education is extremely high and the students are selected for their academic ability. This organisation is all about working together and tolerance. The students all live on campus and engage in many activities which involve co-operation. Some of them went on the March for the Living. I met two Israeli students there and, naturally enough, I was asked many searching questions about my history and reasons for speaking. Another memorable visit was to a Born Again Christian group. I wasn’t at all sure how they would react but they were very anxious to please and asked many appropriate questions. This was the only group with whom a translation was necessary, though many of the people there did understand a significant amount. My visit to the Lycée Français International was extremely well received. I had not expected this as it had proved difficult to persuade them to cover Holocaust education and they had not previously been engaged with the HKHTC. My visit generally t e nded to cement relations throughout the English-speaking community with the Centre. This was true also of the Diocesan Girls’ School, which had never had a speaker before. I was invited to lunch with the Czech Republic’s Vice Consul at the 1930s-style Press Club. He gave me some papers which should prove useful for my research. I also met the European Union Vice Consul and his wife, who were Dutch and Croatian respectively, and the Polish Vice Consul and his wife, all of whom attended a Friday night dinner at the Jewish Cultural Centre. There was huge interest in my visit, which gave increasing visibility to the HKHTC. An article and photo about my visit appeared in the South China Morning Post with a reference to theholocaustexplained website, launched at the Foreign Office by the LJCC two years ago. Additionally, one of the students to whom I spoke wrote a very moving poem following my talk (see above). Joanna Millan