Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center
Encyclopedia
The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center is the main memorial and educational
center for The Holocaust
in the Midwestern United States
. Its foundation cost was 45 million dollars, its area is about 20,000 square meters and it exhibits some hundred Holocaust related items, including a train car of the type that was used to transport people to concentration camps, and about 2000 video recorded testimonies of holocaust and other genocide
survivors.
attempt to march through Skokie, in which many Holocaust survivors live.
The new museum building opened to the public on April 19, 2009, in the attendance of keynote speaker Bill Clinton
and special guest Elie Wiesel
. President Barack Obama
spoke through a recorded video message, as did Shimon Peres
, president of Israel
.
Security arrangements at the museum were tightened after the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting
on June 10, 2009.
The building was designed by Stanley Tigerman
. The Interior and Exhibition was co-designed by Yitzchak Mais, a former director of Yad Vashem
. The Holocaust expedition occupies the first floor, beside the auditorium, the main entrance hall, the information and membership desks, the coatroom, the gift shop, and library.
The upper floor contains the remembrance areas, the art gallery, the upper part of the auditorium, and offices. The basement contains classrooms, exhibition for children, an exhibition on the building’s history, and a conference area.
The building’s main front is divided into two halves. The black half includes the entrance doors and the white half includes the exit doors. Between the two halves of the main front, there are objects that resemble torches. The main front is located in a narrow alley with a small parking lot on its northeast side. A wooded slope separates the museum from the highway I-94. As a result, one cannot view the entire front from any place.
(I-94
). The nearest exit is Old Orchard Road. To the east of the museum is also an abandoned railroad right of way. This right of way is considered for a new CTA Yellow Line extension, with a new terminal station in the proximity of the museum. The museum is already accessible through several bus lines nearby: CTA
lines 205 and 54A, and Pace
lines 208 and 422.
Museum education
Museum education is an important part of the role of museums.- Introduction :A museum's collection can be used to support education in a variety of ways...
center for The Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
in the Midwestern United States
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
. Its foundation cost was 45 million dollars, its area is about 20,000 square meters and it exhibits some hundred Holocaust related items, including a train car of the type that was used to transport people to concentration camps, and about 2000 video recorded testimonies of holocaust and other genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
survivors.
History
The Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois, which runs the museum, began as small storefront operation along Main Street in 1981. The foundation and small museum were established as a response to a Neo-Nazi group'sNational Socialist Party of America
The National Socialist Party of America was a Chicago-based organization founded in 1970 by Frank Collin shortly after he left the National Socialist White People's Party. The NSWPP had been the American Nazi Party until shortly after the assassination of leader George Lincoln Rockwell in 1967...
attempt to march through Skokie, in which many Holocaust survivors live.
The new museum building opened to the public on April 19, 2009, in the attendance of keynote speaker Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
and special guest Elie Wiesel
Elie Wiesel
Sir Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel KBE; born September 30, 1928) is a Hungarian-born Jewish-American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He is the author of 57 books, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz, Buna, and...
. President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
spoke through a recorded video message, as did Shimon Peres
Shimon Peres
GCMG is the ninth President of the State of Israel. Peres served twice as the eighth Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years...
, president of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
.
Security arrangements at the museum were tightened after the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting was a shooting at that nation's memorial to The Holocaust in Washington, D.C. on June 10, 2009, at 12:50 p.m. Security guard Stephen Tyrone Johns, 39, was shot, and later died from his injuries. Suspect James Wenneker von Brunn, 88, was charged...
on June 10, 2009.
Architecture
Stanley Tigerman
Stanley Tigerman is an American architect, theorist and designer. He studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Chicago Institute of Design, and Yale University. After serving several years in the United States Navy, he assumed the role of draftsman and designer in a series of offices...
. The Interior and Exhibition was co-designed by Yitzchak Mais, a former director of Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem is Israel's official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, established in 1953 through the Yad Vashem Law passed by the Knesset, Israel's parliament....
. The Holocaust expedition occupies the first floor, beside the auditorium, the main entrance hall, the information and membership desks, the coatroom, the gift shop, and library.
The upper floor contains the remembrance areas, the art gallery, the upper part of the auditorium, and offices. The basement contains classrooms, exhibition for children, an exhibition on the building’s history, and a conference area.
The building’s main front is divided into two halves. The black half includes the entrance doors and the white half includes the exit doors. Between the two halves of the main front, there are objects that resemble torches. The main front is located in a narrow alley with a small parking lot on its northeast side. A wooded slope separates the museum from the highway I-94. As a result, one cannot view the entire front from any place.
Location and access
The museum is located in the northwest corner of Skokie, west of the Edens ExpresswayEdens Expressway
The Edens Expressway is the main major expressway north from the city of Chicago. For most of its length, the Edens carries Interstate 94; it also carries U.S. Route 41 from Wilmette to its northern terminus. Only the short portion from the Spur Ramp to the expressway's end in Highland Park does...
(I-94
Interstate 94
Interstate 94 is the northernmost east–west Interstate Highway, connecting the Great Lakes and Intermountain regions of the United States. I-94's western terminus is in Billings, Montana at a junction with Interstate 90; its eastern terminus is the U.S...
). The nearest exit is Old Orchard Road. To the east of the museum is also an abandoned railroad right of way. This right of way is considered for a new CTA Yellow Line extension, with a new terminal station in the proximity of the museum. The museum is already accessible through several bus lines nearby: CTA
Chicago Transit Authority
Chicago Transit Authority, also known as CTA, is the operator of mass transit within the City of Chicago, Illinois and some of its surrounding suburbs....
lines 205 and 54A, and Pace
Pace (transit)
Pace is the suburban bus division of the Regional Transportation Authority in the Chicago metropolitan area. It was created in 1983 by the RTA Act, which established the formula that provides funding to CTA, Metra and Pace. In 2010, Pace had 35.077 million riders. Pace's headquarters are in...
lines 208 and 422.