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24
Jan 2018
(Wed)

From Darkness into Light: An Evening Dialogue with Holocaust Survivor Mr. Werner Reich

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Date & time
24Jan 2018 (Wed)19:00 - 21:00
Venue
Room 315, 3/F, Admiralty Centre, 18 Harcourt Road, Hong Kong (access via the shopping arcade escalators through Exit A, Admiralty MTR Station)
Fee
Free
Enquiry
28678329
Remarks

Medium of Instruction: English


HKU SPACE and the Hong Kong Holocaust and Tolerance Centre jointly welcome Holocaust survivor Mr Werner Reich to HKU SPACE on 24 January, 2018 evening.

 

Mr Reich will talk about his experience as a teenager during the Holocaust. Mr Reich was in a number of Nazi death camps, including Auschwitz-Birkenau, and survived medical selection and the death march. His story is a unique and inspiring one of survival and endurance. For more background information on Mr. Reich, please read the following articles:

1) https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/05/05/nyregion/auschwitz-magician-nivelli-war-play.html?referer=https://www.google.com.hk/

2)  https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/3037452

 

SPEAKER: Werner Reich

Werner Reich and his family were residents of Berlin, Germany when the Nazis came to power in 1933. The family moved to Zagreb, Yugoslavia and in 1941 a year after his father died, the Nazis occupied the country.

In 1943 he was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Theresienstadt and then Auschwitz – Birkenau where he was one of 89 who survived ‘selections’ by Dr Josef Mengele - most of the other 6,000 perished. Werner was later transferred to Auschwitz I. In January 1945, after a seven-day death march, he ended up in Austria at the Mauthausen concentration camp. After liberation in May 1945, Werner returned to Yugoslavia, and then to England where in 1955 he married another survivor, one of the Kindertransport saved by Sir Nicholas Winton. They moved to the US where he became an engineer. He has two sons and four grandchildren.

His is a story of courage, resilience and survival.

Mr. Werner Reich

ABOUT HONG KONG HOLOCAUST TOLERANCE CENTRE
LOGO

The Hong Kong Holocaust and Tolerance Centre (HKHTC) is a non-profit organisation dedicated to the promotion, across Asia, of education and awareness of the Holocaust.  It was founded in 2011 and the Resource Centre was officially opened in May 2012. Their goal is to become an international resource centre for scholars, teachers, students and the general public, through the creation and accessibility of locally relevant material in English, Chinese and other regional languages. The HKHTC actively promotes conferences, workshops, exhibits and remembrance events that use the lessons of history to prevent anti-Semitism, discrimination and genocide, as a way to advance tolerance and understanding among people, in order to make a positive contribution to our society and future generations.
 

For more information of HKHTC, please refer to the below links:
1)  https://www.hkhtc.org/
1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAXXjtnI7bI

In addition, for those interested in the Jewish Holocaust and the war legacies and cultural heritage of the Cold War, do not miss the study tour "War Lagacies in Poland and the Baltics: A Memorable Journey through the Dark!"

Programme Structure


Pre-departure workshop (15 hours) – to be delivered by experts, scholars, Holocaust survivor and Consulate representatives

  • Introduction to the country’s landscape, people, customs, language, lifestyle, and architecture
  • Introduction to Dark Tourism sites and the UNESCO World Heritage sites
  • Learn the dark history on war legacies from the WWII and Cold War in these four countries

 Educational Tour in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia (12 days) 

  • Meet with the Holocaust and concentration camp survivors or Righteous Among the Nations award recipients
  • Meet with museum local guides and tour guides for in-depth understanding of both culture and history of the four countries

Post-tour workshop (3 hours)

  • Self-reflection and peer sharing on what you have learnt
  • Tea gathering
 
Highlights of the Educational Tour in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia:
  • Poland (Warsaw, Krakow, Gdansk, Ryn):
    Visit the historic centers of Warsaw and Krakow (UNESCO World Heritage) and their Jewish Ghettos; the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial (former German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp); Pope John Paul II Family Home Museum in Wadowice; Museum of the History of Polish Jews; Fryderyk Chopin Museum; Roads to Freedom Exhibition; WWII Museum; Westerplatte (where the first battle of the European theatre of WWII); Wolf’s Liar (the ruins of Adolf Hitler’s war headquarters); Ryn Castle (a medieval castle functioned as prison during WWII); etc.
     
  • Lithuania:
    Visit the historic center of Vilnius (UNESCO World Heritage); Memorial of January 13th Uprising; Uzupis Republic; the Kaunas 9th Fort (a defensive fort, prison & extermination camp); Plokstine former nuclear missile silo base & Cold War Museum; Hill of Crosses (historical monument with 100,000+ Crosses); etc.
     
  • Latvia:
    Visit the historic center of Riga (UNESCO World Heritage); Museum of Occupations & KGB Building; People’s Front Museum; Central Market; Art Nouveau Buildings; Karosta prison experience in Liepaja; Salaspils concentration camp; the Soviet secret nuclear bunker in Ligatne; etc.
     
  • Estonia:

    Visit the historic center of Tallinn (UNESCO World Heritage); KGB tour in Sokos Viru Hotel; Museum of Occupations; Seaplane Harbour Museum; Smoke sauna experience (UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage); Mid-summer celebration with bonfire; etc.

    To meet and interact with the locals and professional museum guides, appreciate the local cuisine and enjoy the beautiful scenery in various sites!

For inquiries, please contact Miss Leung  (Tel: 2867 8386)