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Photos by Benjy Lipsman
On a damp, chilly afternoon in Skokie, an estimated 12,000 people packed a tent on the grounds of the new Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center for the new museum's official opening. The first of its kind in the Midwest, Illinois' Holocaust museum is also likely the last built with the input of Holocaust survivors. The day included performances by hip-hop violinist Miri Ben-Ari and Soul Children of Chicago, as well as speeches from numerous people involved with the creation of the museum, including Holocaust survivor and museum president Samuel R. Harris, Skokie mayor George Van Dusen and Executive Director Richard Hirschhaut. J.B. Pritzker, the museum's capital campaign chairman, served as MC for the afternoon.
The top billing, however, went to two men who have built international reputations for their opposition to genocide. Famed Jewish author, Nobel Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Weisel and former President Bill Clinton spoke about the need to stand up against genocide and how museums like this one can educate future generations about the horrors of the past and how to prevent similar atrocities from happening.
Following the opening ceremonies, the new museum was open for the first public tours. Designed by architect Stanley Tigerman, the 65,000 square foot museum leads visitors from "darnkess to light."
The dark walls and sharp angles represent “the descent into darkness.” The museum exhibits begin in the dark side and shows pre-war Jewish life in Europe, the rise of Hitler and the horrors of the Holocaust. Historical artifacts, posters explaining the history of events and survivor interviews on video make up the bulk of this part of the tour. The second half of the museum “ascends into the light” with soft rounded edges and rooflines filled with natural light emphasize exhibits that represent the rescue and renewal of survivors of the Holocaust. In addition to memorial spaces, there are art galleries that show works representing more recent occurrences of genocide as well as calming reflection room. Joining the two halves is a wedge that includes a period German cattle car used to transport Jews to the concentration camps, and a Book of Remembrance on the upper floor. In the lower level, a children's section will allow schools to bring students to learn lessons and values related to genocide (identity, bullying, cooperation) without subjecting the younger ones to the actual graphic depiction of events seen throughout the rest of the museum.
Blair Kamin's critique of the new museum was published in this weekend's Tribune. We agree with his assessment on the museum's odd orientation toward the expressway. Returning to the grounds last evening to tour the museum for the first time, we were confused about how to approach the entry from the parking lot. While we understand Tigerman's symbolism, this is perhaps one time when the actual site needed to take priority. However, we disagree with Kamin's assessment of museum's exterior itself. We think the clear contrast are both visually interesting and will help children -- one of the primary audiences for a museum -- better understand the symbolism. Meanwhile, inside the museum, more subtle symbolism is at play everywhere to lead visitors through the range of emotions felt when encountering a place explaining such an event.
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America's fascination with the Holocaust is something I doubt that I'll ever understand.
I sincerely hope you get slapped in the mouth by someone who knows you and reads that.
Do you know...ANYTHING about the history and population of Skokie, the Shoah or populations of survivors?
No. You don't. Ignorant little twerp.
Fascination? Huh? Not sure I understand the use of the word, so perhaps you could clarify.
In any case, a few notes and questions:
1. Have you travelled much? Certain countries in Europe also pay great attention to this part of relatively recent history, and do so through numerous monuments, plaques, educational programs, etc.
2. Many Jews, whether survivors of the Holocaust or their direct descendants, ended up settling in American in the post-war decades; many ended up in the Chicago area.
3. The Holocaust--in fact, the whole Nazi genocide/ethnic-cleansing operation, which resulted in the killing of more than millions of Jews, of course, was one of the bloodiest such efforts in recorded history, and further proof that humanity is capable of extremely dark activities. That alone supports an ongoing "fascination" (your word really fails to capture what is going on here, but you get my point, I hope).
4. One way to prevent a repeat of the bad parts of history is remembering what happened. This is especially true as the generation that directly experienced the event dies off.
5. Would you have something different rather than a "fascination" with this period of history?
In addition to all of Matilda's good points, I would just like to expand a little bit on #3 & #4. There are somethings in history, like genocide and slavery, that are unimaginably horrific. It is so important to try to understand how these things came to happen - not just the political and historical reasons but the human reasons, the psychological reasons. We struggle to try to understand the unimaginable. The "fascination" is part of trying to understand and trying to prevent.
Also, people who suffered such agony, those who survived and those who didn't, and the people who tried to help deserve to be remembered and honored.
No. You don't. Ignorant little twerp.
I'm the ignorant one?
Yes, because stupid is when you lack the ability to discern or have been denied information. Ignorant is when you have the information at hand and willfully reject it for no rational purpose.
I apologize to twerps everywhere for casting you in with them. There are some very fine twerps.