People riding scooters in Bangkok, Thailand. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

An official from the Israeli Embassy in Bangkok visited two Thai universities earlier this month as part of a campaign to raise awareness about the Holocaust and antisemitism among students, ThaiVisa News reported on Tuesday.

Yuval Waks — the deputy chief of mission, political and public affairs — said the embassy hosted at movie screenings at schools that highlighted the Holocaust and antisemitism. He explained, “[O]ften this subject is completely foreign to Thai students as its not taught in school here, so the movie, we have found, is a great medium to communicate such a grave subject…Thai students don’t know much about the European part of the Second World War.”

A recent showing at a university in Thailand featured “Life is Beautiful,” an Italian comedy-drama about a Jewish-Italian shop owner who tried using his imagination to protect his son from the horrors of internment in a Nazi concentration camp. Previous films shown included “Schindler’s List” and “The Pianist.”

Waks also talked about the embassy sending prominent Thai figures to Israel to participate in courses and seminars that encourage cooperation in areas including from agriculture and technology. He said, “We also often bring in people such as doctors, entertainers and educators to Thailand, and are actively promoting the exchange of knowledge between our two countries.”