Skokie fulfills its destiny, in a way, as Holocaust museum opens

More than 30 years after neo-Nazis threatened to march on Skokie, which at the time had the second largest number of Holocaust survivors outside the state of Israel, the village saw the inauguration of a museum that honors the memory of the victims and offers hope for the future.

On a rainy Sunday, with cold air filling the two tents used for the ceremony, thousands gathered to celebrate the opening of the 65,000-square-foot Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, designed by award-winning architect Stanley Tigerman. Among those in attendance were Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, former President Bill Clinton and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn.

The April 19 opening was significant as it is the anniversary of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto uprising, as well as being the beginning of Holocaust Remembrance Week.

Several Holocaust survivors attended, including Anna Bekerman of Buffalo Grove. Originally from Krakow, Poland, Bekerman said she doesn't like to talk about the past, but she readily opened up about her struggle. She was held in five concentration camps and ultimately forced into a march that resulted in the death of 10,000 people. Only 2,000 survived, she said. The last of her strength was ebbing when some people came to her aid, feeding her a red beet to enable her to continue the march.

When the war ended, she took a train from Germany to her hometown, riding on the top of the train for three weeks.

"I came back to Krakow to look for my family; I couldn't find anybody," she said. She eventually found her brother, who now lives in Australia.

Bekerman attended the opening accompanied by her daughter Susan Heinemann, who lives in Deerfield and was 9 months old when she and her mother arrived in America.

Also in attendance was State Rep. Sidney Mathias and his wife, Rita, who is a docent at the museum.

Sidney Mathias, who lives in Buffalo Grove, said his father was held in the Buchenwald concentration camp, but "somehow got out and was able to come to America on the last ship in 1939, before the war broke out in Europe.

"He would never talk about it, and I was probably too young at the time to even understand or ask the questions. But it was never talked about in our house, even though he lost his parents. His three sisters were all killed. Just one brother survived, and he was the one who brought him over."

Rita Mathias, noting that the museum's slogan is "Remember the Past, Transform the Future," said, "There is a great push for every person who walks through this, especially young people, to come out with a sense of responsibility for our global community, learning about respect, learning about standing up for yourself and standing up for other people."

She said she has caught a glimpse of the permanent exhibit, the story of the Holocaust, which is still being completed.

"The one thing that struck me is there is a charred replica of a synagogue that (was destroyed) during Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass, Nov. 9-10, 1938, in Germany). That was such a decisive time for all Jewry, especially German Jewry, when they knew that there was no longer life there."

The event included performances by Grammy Award-winning violinist Miri Ben-Ari, a video message from Academy Award-winning director Steven Spielberg and a reading of Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise" by Chicago teenager Sabrina Walker, a member of the After School Matters program.

President Barack Obama spoke to the crowd by video, saying, "This museum, built with help from survivors and supported by so many others, will serve as a lasting memorial to all those who died in the Holocaust and those who lived through it. But it will also help each of us understand what we can do to fight the many forms of injustice and cruelty that persist in our time."

Another speaker was the German ambassador to the United States, Klaus Scharioth. "I stand here before you with a heavy heart but also with a heart full of hope.

"The Holocaust, the murder of 6 million European Jews, is probably the most heinous crime in human history. It is certainly the most shameful period in German history. Germany unequivocally recognizes its historical guilt and responsibility."

Scharioth said Jewish life in Germany is not just a memory. Over the years, some 240,000 Jews, many from the former Soviet Union, have found a new home in Germany.

During his speech, former President Clinton said now that we are more than a half-century removed from the Holocaust, divorcing ourselves from the problems of other people is neither a moral nor a practical option. "We have a heavy obligation to prevent future genocide."

Holocaust survivor Wiesel received a warm reception from the crowd.

He remembered that in April 1993, another rainy day, he and then-President Clinton shared a different platform. It was at the inauguration of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

In the middle of his address in Washington, Wiesel said, he turned to the president and said he had just been to Sarajevo. "I pleaded, 'We must do something to stop the bloodshed.' That was the beginning of our relationship. And that was the beginning of the end of the war in the Balkans."

At Sunday's event, Wiesel spoke about the Holocaust, saying we know how it happened. But, he said, "We do not know why it happened. Nobody knows why.

"Who knows why? Maybe God himself knows." But, he added, "If anyone would come and say this is why it happened, I will not accept the answer, because the answer could be so horrendous that it will fill our lives with infinite fear."

He also asked, "Has the world learned the lesson (of the Holocaust)? I must confess the answer is no. Had the world learned the lesson, there would have been no Cambodia, and no Rwanda, and no Darfur, and no Bosnia, and no racism, and no anti-Semitism and no Nazi marches here in Skokie. But we must learn now certain very simple lessons, that whatever happens to one community affects all communities."

<p class="News"><b>If you go</b> <p class="News"><b>What:</b> Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center</p> <p class="News"><b>Where:</b> 9603 Woods Drive in Skokie</p> <p class="News"><b>Hours:</b> Mondays, closed. Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.</p> <p class="News"><b>Admission:</b> $8 for general admission, $6 for students and seniors and children, ages 5 to 12, are $5.</p> <p class="News"><b>More information:</b> 847-967-4800 or <a href="http://www.ilholocaustmuseum.org" target="new">www.ilholocaustmuseum.org</a>.</p> <div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Related links</h2> <ul class="moreWeb"> <li><a href="http://www.ilholocaustmuseum.org/">Museum's home page</a></li> </ul> <h2>Video</h2> <ul class="video"> <li><a href="/multimedia/?category=9&type=video&item=332">Opening day </a></li> <li><a href="/multimedia/?category=9&type=video&item=330">Holocaust survivor Sam Harris </a></li> <li><a href="/multimedia/?category=9&type=video&item=328">Holocaust survivors on new museum </a></li> </ul> <h2>Photo Galleries</h2> <ul class="gallery"> <li><a href="/story/?id=287463">Illinois Holocaust Museum <span class="date">[4/18/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=287645">Photos from the opening <span class="date">[4/19/09]</span></a></li> </ul> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=287430">Vision becomes reality as Illinois Holocaust Museum opens in Skokie <span class="date">[04/19/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=287528">Editorial: Holocaust teaches lessons for today<span class="date">[04/19/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=286408">Designer: Center the 'most important building I've ever done' <span class="date">[04/16/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=283790">Holocaust museum 'a force for good' <span class="date">[04/03/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>