The Majdanek Holocaust death camp. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Australia’s island state of Tasmania announced the construction of a forthcoming Holocaust commemoration center on Tuesday.

Tasmania’s Attorney-General Elise Archer said the state government would work with the local Jewish community to develop and progress plans for the center. A date for the center’s opening has not been set.

News that the center had been approved was announced at the synagogue in Hobart, Tasmania’s capital, at a special ceremony on Tuesday night.

An emotional Josh Frydenberg, Australia’s Federal Treasurer, told the audience: “Ladies and gentleman, this is a very solemn occasion but this means so much to me.”

Felix Goldschmied — a Holocaust survivor who lives in Tasmania — separately recalled his experiences as a child living under Nazi occupation.

“My time during the Holocaust was not very nice, my relatives were all murdered, went to Auschwitz concentration camp, and my father was interned in a concentration camp,” he said.

Goldschmied explained that the purpose of the new Holocaust center was “to stop hatred, inhuman behavior, discrimination.”

“The crime of the Holocaust was so enormous that it’s left an indelible mark on society and I think it’s important that we should all learn about it to prevent it from ever happening in the future,” he added.