Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center

In the wake of planned neo-Nazi marches in Skokie in the late 1970s, Chicagoland Holocaust Survivors joined together to form the Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois. They purchased a small Skokie storefront and made it available to the public, focusing on combating hate with education. The 65,000-square-foot Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center that opened in 2009 is a culmination of 30 years of hard work by the Survivor community.

Illinois Holocaust Museum not only honors the memory of the millions who were murdered during the Holocaust, but salutes the courage and resilience of Survivors. They are the people who rebuilt their lives and awoke the conscience of humanity, working tirelessly to tell their stories, so that none of us ever forget. It is for them that we carry out our founding principle: Remember the Past, Transform the Future.