On 27 Jan 2021, 5pm, an educational panel discussion jointly conceived by the embassies of Israel and Germany and hosted by CoHASS, addressed the lessons learnt from the Holocaust and the relevance of Holocaust education and commemoration in this time and era. The Holocaust continues to raise challenging moral questions and thus the study of it serves as an important tool for humanity - that we continue to draw lessons from it even today, 75 years after the war ended.
You can watch the YouTube recording by clicking here.
Prof. Liow, Dean of CoHASS at NTU and moderator, explained the relevance of the event: “At the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, NTU, we take seriously our duty to instil values of
global civic citizenship in all our students. To that end, it is imperative, in our view, that the education experience encompasses efforts to foster deeper understanding of events that have shaped the flow of modern history. The Holocaust is one such event. This tragic episode might seem at first glance to be distant for a young adult studying in Singapore today, but the deep questions surrounding it: why such an event could happen, what its consequences have been, and how to prevent its recurrence, must be reflected upon in order to build a better tomorrow.”
H.E. Sagi Karni, Ambassador of Israel to Singapore, outlined the starting point of the discussion: “The Holocaust is a shared heritage of humanity. It carries a universal message for peace and mutual understanding today. Studying the history of this genocide means taking responsibility for the future. It is a call to protect and promote the dignity of all, and to build true global citizenship. We are grateful to the Nanyang Technological University of Singapore as one of the leading educational institutions in Southeast Asia for providing a venue for this discussion to be shared in the region.”
Dr Norbert Riedel, German Ambassador to Singapore, whose country currently holds the chairmanship of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), added: “Holocaust education is part of the responsibility that is and will always be of particular significance to Germany as the ‘country of perpetrators’. Taking up this challenging subject in a global context provides a way for all to learn how to welcome difference and diversity on the basis of respect and tolerance. Education about the Holocaust helps young people to understand better how mass violence can be prevented and to reinforce their own role today in deepening mutual understanding and respect in a world changing quickly.” “Holocaust education is part of the responsibility that is and will always be of particular significance to Germany as the ‘country of perpetrators’. Taking up this challenging subject in a global context provides a way for all to learn how to welcome difference and diversity on the basis of respect and tolerance. Education about the Holocaust helps young people to understand better how mass violence can be prevented and to reinforce their own role today in deepening mutual understanding and respect in a world changing quickly.”
The Holocaust refers to ‘the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.” A watershed event in world history, it spanned geographic boundaries, affected all segments of societies, and occurred during the Nazi regime.
The event also served as an opportunity to commemorate the International Holocaust Remembrance Day (IHRD) as it marks the liberation of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp and the end of the Holocaust on 27 January 1945.
Information on the Panel:
Moderator of the Panel:
Prof Joseph Chinyong Liow is the Tan Kah Kee Chair in Comparative and International Politics at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. He is the Professor and former Dean at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, and is currently the Dean of College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at NTU Singapore. He held the inaugural Lee Kuan Yew Chair in Southeast Asia Studies at the Brookings Institution, Washington DC, where he was also a Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy Program.
Panelist from Singapore:
Mr. Bilahari Kausikan, is Chairman of the Middle East Institute and former Ambassador-at-Large and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore. He has previously served in a variety of appointments, including as the Permanent Representative to the United Nations. He is a member of the Advisory Council of the IISS, the think-tank behind the Shangri-La Dialogue, the most important international conference on security issues in Asia.
Panelist from Israel:
Dr Eyal Kaminka is the Lily Safra Chair of Holocaust Education and the Director of the International School for Holocaust Studies, Yad Vashem. He develops educational approaches to teaching and learning about the Holocaust, trains teachers and other audiences in more than 60 different countries, participates in global forums and works with international organizations (such as IHRA and the UN) and government bodies worldwide. He served in various roles in both the public and private sectors and shares his extensive experience as a published author, lecturer, educator, manager and entrepreneur.
Panelist from Germany:
Dr Wolf Kaiser, is the former Director of the education department of the Memorial and Educational Site ‘Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz’ which teaches about the Holocaust in Berlin at the location where the “plans for the holocaust” were decided. Until most recently, he was a member of the German delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. As a senior researcher, he participated in a project on the role of historical sites and museums in Holocaust education and human rights education in the EU. He is a Member of the Council of the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust. He travels and publishes widely about this topic.