TO COMMEMORATE INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY, THE CLAIMS CONFERENCE LAUNCHES NEW INNOVATIVE SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN

#DONTBEABYSTANDER

The Claims Conference In Partnership With Yad Vashem Launches New Social Media Campaign To Honor Righteous Among The Nations, Non-Jews Who Risked Everything During The Holocaust To Rescue Jews.

NEW YORK, Jan. 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Gideon Taylor, President of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference), announced today a new social media campaign in partnership with Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, called #DontBeABystander: Those Who Risked It All To Save A Life. This initiative is a Holocaust education campaign that highlights a lesser-known aspect of the Holocaust – stories of "Righteous Among the Nations," those brave non-Jews who risked everything, including their own lives, to save Jews during the Holocaust. 

Gideon Taylor, President of the Claims Conference: "The Jewish people owe a debt of gratitude to their Righteous rescuers. For some Jewish families at their most desperate hour, their saviors were guided by conscience and moral imperative, even above their own safety. It is our duty not only to honor the rescuers for their refusal to be bystanders, but also to share their heroic endeavors as a counterbalance to humanity's darkness and indifference during the Holocaust. The Claims Conference is proud to be partnering with Yad Vashem in this important campaign."  

In a series of two-minute videos, the campaign highlights the heroic actions of non-Jewish individuals from all walks of life, including the dangers they faced to save Jewish men, women and children in German-occupied Europe. Included in the law establishing Yad Vashem that was enacted by the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) in 1953 is the official recognition of non-Jews who took great risks, endangering their lives and often the lives of their families, and received no reward or compensation for their efforts to help save Jews during the Holocaust. Over the years the title "Righteous Among the Nations" has become a most coveted title, bestowed by Yad Vashem on behalf of the Jewish people. These individuals were rays of light in one of the darkest chapters in modern history. Their stories are a source of inspiration in today's fractured world and will remain so for generations to come.