By
Richelle Budd Caplan, Director
International Relations, Holocaust Studies, Yad Vashem

China, though a country with no history of anti-Semitism, is truly embracing Holocaust education and studies. In Kunming, in the south-western province of Yunnan, China, a special seminar on Holocaust education was recently conducted at Yunnan University.

This was actually the fourth such seminar for Chinese students, but a first for southwestern China. Previous seminars have been organised in Shanghai, Nanjing and Kaifeng. The latest drew attendance from approximately 80 Chinese graduate students and professors from all over the country.

The seminar was sponsored by The Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research, the Foundacion pour de la Shoah, London Jewish Cultural Centre (LJCC) and Yunnan University, but it was Jerold Gotel, director of the overseas division of the London Jewish Cultural Centre’s Holocaust and Anti-Racism Education Department, who initiated this seminar as a result of his connections with the Vice Chancellor of Yunnan University, Professor Xiao Xian, and Professor Xiu Xin of Nanjing University.

International presenters from Yad Vashem in Israel; London Jewish Cultural Center in the United Kingdom; Haus Der Wannsee Konference in Germany; the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. worked closely with the participants. In addition, Joanna Millan, a Holocaust survivor from the United Kingdom, was present to share her personal story.