The Hong Kong Holocaust and Tolerance Centre (HKHTC), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the promotion, across Asia, of education and awareness of the Holocaust, has opened.

The new centre is housed in the Carmel School Association’s Elsa High School. Jeremy Amias, a former Londoner, and long-standing member of Hong Kong’s Jewish community, serves as director of the HKHTC.

Just prior to the official opening on Monday 14 May, Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, one of the youngest survivors of Buchenwald, was present to address an audience of over 300 local Hong Kong students.

Chief Rabbi Lau was also guest of honour for the formal launch ceremony, where he spoke to a group that included prominent community leaders as well as diplomats representing a number of nations.

Chief Rabbi Lau was warmly received by Hong Kong’s Chief Secretary of Administration, Stephen Lam Sui-lung, who also delivered an address.

Rachel Friedmann, Head of Carmel School Association’s Elsa High School, former deputy head of Hasmonean, said: “History is being made today in Hong Kong with the opening of the Hong Kong Holocaust and Tolerance Centre. Education is the only road that truly leads to tolerance and the strengthening of cultural ties between the Chinese and Jewish people.”