The Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center is a project of the Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois. This new world-class museum is dedicated to preserving the memories of those lost in the Holocaust and teaching current generations about the need to fight hatred, indifference and genocide in today’s world.

Since 1981, the organization has educated school and community groups through its speakers’ bureau and existing museum. About 30,000 students visited the original site in Skokie in 2005. The new facility, located just west of the Edens Expressway, will serve more than 250,000 annual visitors, reaching a significant portion of the nearly 2.5 million Illinois school children.

The organization is also proud of its efforts to secure the passage of the Holocaust Education Mandate. In 1990, Illinois became the first state to require Holocaust Education in public schools. In 2005, the organization was again influential in the expansion of this mandate, creating the Holocaust and Genocide Education Mandate, which requires Illinois schools to teach about all genocides.