The Skokie Museum is temporarily closed for renovations.

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Experience360 in downtown Chicago is now open!

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April 29th is Free Day!

Experience history like never before for FREE on Wednesday, 4/29 at Illinois Holocaust Museum presents Experience360. Our groundbreaking immersive exhibition brings powerful stories of survival, humanity, and hope to life through cutting-edge technology like VR, holograms, and first-person testimony. Don't miss this one-of-a-kind, no-cost experience.

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YOM HASHOAH COMMEMORATION

Join us for a special screening of Plunderer – The Life & times of a Nazi Art Thief about Bruno Lohse, an ambitious young dealer who rose from obscurity to become Hermann Göring’s personal art collector in occupied Paris, trading in stolen masterpieces for decades. He cultivated relationships with curators at America’s most prestigious museums, becoming an invisible hand in an art market built upon wartime tragedy.

The highlight of the afternoon is an in-depth discussion with Jonathan Petropoulos, the world’s leading expert on Nazi-looted art. Having spent five years unraveling Lohse’s web of complicity, Petropoulos will be joined in conversation with Museum Executive Board Member Rick Salomon.

This poignant afternoon will also include a candle-lighting ceremony featuring Survivors and descendants of Survivors, and memorial prayers by Rabbi Steven Lowenstein and Cantor Andrea Rae Markowicz of Am Shalom.

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Announcing our Survivor Speaker Series

Join us at Illinois Holocaust Museum presents Experience360 on select Tuesdays and Fridays from 12-1 PM to hear firsthand from Holocaust Survivors and their descendants, whose stories continue to inspire strength and resilience. Don't miss this moving opportunity to connect, reflect, and be inspired.

Pictured: Marion Deichmann, Ben Goldwater, Ida Kersz, Marguerite Mishkin, Steen Metz, and Ralph Rehbock.
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Education is key to learning from the lessons of the Holocaust and confronting antisemitism.

In Memoriam: Samuel R Harris (1935-2026)

It is with profound sadness and deep love that we share the passing of Samuel R. Harris, one of the youngest known survivors of the Holocaust, and the heart and soul behind Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center. After founding the Museum, Sam served as Museum President from 2002 to 2009 and continued as President Emeritus, serving on the Board of Directors and the Survivor Speakers’ Bureau.
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Upcoming Events

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Apr

12:00pm CDT

Virtual Book & Author: The Concentration Camp Brothel — Forced Sexual Labor Under Nazi Rule

Apr

2:00pm CDT

Yom HaShoah Commemoration: The Unfinished History of Nazi Plunder

Apr

6:30pm CDT

Book & Author: The Girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto — The True Story of Five Courageous Young Women Who Sparked an Uprising

May

6:00pm CDT

Virtual Book & Author : But I Live, Conversation with Editor Charlotte Schallié

Online Legacy Gift Shop

All purchases support the Museum’s mission: “Remember the Past, Transform the Future.” Visit the Shop

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Photo credits: Scott Edwards; Kathleen Hinkel; David Seide; Chris Strong; Sierra Wolff

Voice of the Museum

The Living Lessons of Auschwitz

On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we remember Auschwitz, the largest complex of German Nazi concentration camp and killing centers that represents the tragic culmination of years of escalating hatred. It was liberated on January 27, 1945, a date that now marks this solemn international observance. Auschwitz did not emerge out of a vacuum. It was… Read More

Memory and Warning: The Enduring Lessons of Kristallnacht

Remarks by Kelley Szany, Senior Vice President for Education and Exhibitions at the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center at the “Memory and Warning: A Kristallnacht Commemoration” held on November 10, 2025, at Am Shalom in Glenview. We gather tonight not merely to observe a historical date, but to bear witness – Beginning on the… Read More

Illinois Holocaust Museum presents Experience360, Opening on August 26 in Downtown Chicago

Chicago, IL—Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center announced today that they will open a satellite museum Illinois Holocaust Museum presents Experience360 on August 26 in the heart of downtown Chicago at 360 N. State St. Launching as the Skokie Museum undergoes renovations, the new location ensures the Museum’s vital mission continues at a time when… Read More

Responding to Hate with Hope

Dear IHMEC Community: I write to you today with a heavy heart. Yesterday’s tragic attack at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC—where two lives were senselessly taken—is a devastating reminder of the continued presence of antisemitism and hate in our society. Our thoughts are with the victims, their families, and the entire museum community… Read More

Museum Announces Renovations & New Chicago Location

The Museum is temporarily closed to upgrade our facilities. The renovations will modernize the Skokie structure and create a new lobby designed to hold vastly more guests of all ages and abilities, while serving as an engaging orientation to the Museum and its multiple exhibitions. Updates will include a new visitor welcome center, a redesigned… Read More

The Skokie Museum is temporarily closed for renovations.

Experience360 in downtown Chicago is now open!

April 29th is Free Day!

YOM HASHOAH COMMEMORATION

Announcing our Survivor Speaker Series

All Exhibitions

ITW Special Exhibition Gallery feat. Stories of Survival: Object. Image. Memory

Karkomi Family Foundation Gallery: Holocaust & World War II

Lillian & Larry Goodman Foundations Holography Theater

Northern Trust Virtual Reality Theater

The Holocaust in The Soviet Union

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising