NEW YORK - The World Jewish Congress (WJC), the leading international organization representing more than 100 diverse Jewish communities on six continents, is currently in the second week of its annual #WeRemember initiative to combat anti-Semitism and all forms of hatred, genocide and xenophobia, and has already reached more than 150 million people through social and conventional media and outreach. 
“Around the world today, anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial, and hatred of others continue to rear their ugly heads. We must remember because there are fewer and fewer survivors among us, and within just a few decades, all will have passed. We must remember because ‘never again’ seems to happen again and again,” said World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder. “It is now the responsibility of the younger generation to teach their friends about the horrors of hatred, and to spread the message that never again must mean never again.”
As part of the campaign, the WJC is reaching out to millions of people across the globe to photograph themselves holding a #WeRemember sign, and post the image to social media, to help spread the message as widely as possible. More than 250 million people were reached in 2017 campaign, with participants including heads of state, celebrities and average people from around the world. This year, the WJC hopes to reach 500 million people.
Visit http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/weremember to follow the WJC's 2018 We Remember campaign
Since the 2018 campaign began on 8 January, more than 125 million people were reached via social media, media and physical activities, with active participation by more than 800,000. The estimated global participation in the campaign so far of 150,000 people, including those posting WeRemember signs, sharing and actively supporting the campaign on social media, and posting content about the Holocaust with the WeRemember hashtag. The campaign is currently active in 50 countries, and in 24 languages, including Chinese and Arabic.
Participants so far include the Chelsea Football Club team and owner Roman Abramovich; Israel’s leading sports teams such as Hapoel Katamon, Maccabi Haifa, Hapoel Beer Sheva, in football, and Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball; leading Muslim clergy from around the world, including the chief imam of India; and top figures in Europe, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, head of the German Evangelical Church Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, Minister of Justice & Attorney General of Canada Jody Wilson-Raybould, Croatia president Kolinda Greber-Kitrovic and more. 
Lauder said: “We launched the inaugural We Remember campaign last year with the goal of symbolically reaching six million people as a meaningful way to remember our past while also protecting our future. In today’s digital age, social media is the only tool that can allow us to connect the world together with this message. The initiative far exceeded our expectations and became more than just a campaign. It became a worldwide grassroots movement, of real people and real stories, shared from the heart.”
The campaign will run through International Holocaust Remembrance Day at the end of January, culminating with a live projection of all participant photos, interviews with Holocaust survivors, and messages from influencers from varied backgrounds, professions, ages and religions on the grounds of Auschwitz-Birkenau January 24-27.
The goal of the campaign is to ask people around the world to do a simple yet meaningful task that would inspire conversation and help teach a new generation. Through multi-lingual videos and posts, the international community became aware of the campaign and started posting their pictures.
