Holocaust Exhibit Premieres in Champaign, Bringing Museum Experience to Visitors

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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) – In a significant collaborative effort, three organizations came together at the Market Place Shopping Center on Monday to unveil a poignant testament to history. The Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Champaign-Urbana Jewish Federation, and the Holocaust Education Center proudly inaugurated the “Courage to Remember” exhibit with a ceremonial ribbon-cutting.

Alex Lyon, an influential board member of the Jewish Federation and a dedicated participant on the Holocaust Education Center Committee, emphasized a growing concern that students today lack a comprehensive understanding of the Holocaust’s profound impact.

“This is an invaluable chance to reflect on our role in society,” Lyon remarked. “We must strive for a more equitable world by drawing lessons from past missteps.”

The exhibit meticulously chronicles the harrowing events of the Holocaust from 1933 to 1945, featuring over 40 panels brimming with historical data and evocative images from that era.

Among the voices of experience, Dr. William Gingold, himself a survivor of the Holocaust, expressed hope that the exhibit will serve as an educational beacon, enlightening visitors about this dark chapter in history.

“I think we need to educate each other on what hate is,” Gingold said. “Our human effort at this time is to try to prevent hate if possible and if it happens to fight it as hard as we can.”

The Courage to Remember volunteers said the exhibit displays some difficult images with themes of invasions and death camps.

Alison Pure-Slovin, Simon Wiesenthal Center director of social action and partnerships, explains why it was important for the display to be in the mall.

“Not everybody can get to museums,” Pure-Slovin said. “We do have wonderful museums in Illinois but not everybody has the ability to go learn from those museums so this is like a museum that came to you.”

The exhibit will be available at the mall until Nov. 1.