Illinois Holocaust Museum will close for renovations, with a temporary location opening downtown
The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Skokie has announced it will close this summer for renovations, with a partial reopening planned for early January 2026.
In the meantime, a satellite location will open with some of the museum's more popular exhibits at the former site of the Museum of Broadcast Communications (360 N. State St.) in Chicago's River North neighborhood.
The IHMEC first opened in Skokie in 2009 in a $45 million building designed by Chicago architect Stanley Tigerman — the project of what was the Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois, founded in 1981 in the wake of a threatened march by neo-Nazis in Skokie.
In Friday's announcement, the museum said the renovations will modernize the building and expand and upgrade its Welcome Center and auditorium. The museum remains fully open until June 2, at which time it will close for all but limited public programs by reservation only.
On July 1, the museum will fully close for construction, with the downtown satellite location opening that month. The online gift shop will continue to operate. A partial reopening in Skokie is projected for Jan. 2, 2026, with the satellite location remaining open, with a grand reopening in Skokie in the summer.
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'I felt for those soldiers': Veteran, 100, recalls D-Day 81 years later
The numbers are staggering: 160,000 Allied troops. Five thousand ships and 13,000 aircraft. All to take a heavily fortified 50-mile stretch of French shoreline, a herculean effort to reclaim a critical part of Europe from the Nazis and turn the tide of the most horrific war the world had ever seen. On June 6, 1944 − D-Day − World War II's invasion of Normandy, codenamed Operation Overlord, got underway. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, told the men as they mobilized for battle: "The eyes of the world are upon you. ... The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you." Tolley Fletcher, at the time a 19-year-old Navy gunner's mate, remembered the rough seas and the treacherous landing troops at Utah Beach had to make in 3- to 4-foot waves, each carrying about 60 pounds of gear on their backs and descending on rope ladders from larger ships onto smaller landing crafts. "I felt for those soldiers," Fletcher, now 100 years old, told USA TODAY. "In my mind, that was the worst part, other than people getting hurt." Fletcher, who joined the Navy at 17 in late December 1941, said he and his shipmates were fortunate to be mostly out of the line of fire. "There was some shelling, not really a lot, and luckily we didn't get hit. "Maybe halfway in, we started seeing lots of bodies in the water," said Fletcher, who now lives in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, area. "I was asked (later) what we did about it. We didn't do anything about it − we had a job: to escort those troops to the beach." On D-Day, "that's what these guys faced," said Peter Donovan Crean Sr., vice president for education and access at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. "They knew they were in the presence of history. Soldiers, sailors, Marines − they knew what they were doing was going to go down in history, which also meant they knew the danger involved. "Guys who were 18, 19, 20 years old were faced with the possibility of their death, but they did it anyway." As we mark the 81st anniversary of D-Day, here is a look at what happened on the beaches of Normandy, the men who fought knowing they might not survive to see victory and the way it affected the Allies' fight to defeat fascism, genocide and tyranny. In order to defeat the Nazis in Europe, the Allies knew they'd have to take France, under German occupation since 1940. Operation Overlord saw a mobilization of 2,876,000 Allied troops in Southern England, as well as hundreds of ships and airplanes, in preparation for a ground invasion, the largest the world had seen. Weighing conditions including the weather, disagreements among other military leaders and strategic uncertainty, Eisenhower gave the go-ahead for the operation to begin before dawn on June 5, 1944. If things didn't go well for the Allies, Eisenhower wrote a note accepting responsibility. The following day, nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed along the 50-mile stretch of French shoreline. More than 9,000 Allied troops were killed or wounded, and 100,000 troops would continue the slow, bloody journey to Berlin, the center of German power. According to the U.S. Army, D-Day was "simply an alliteration, as in H-Hour." Some believe the first "D" also stands for "day," a code designation, while the French say the "D" stands for "disembarkation." The Army's website says that "the more poetic insist D-Day is short for 'day of decision.'" Asked in 1964, Eisenhower instructed his assistant Brig. Gen. Robert Schultz, to answer. Schultz wrote that "any amphibious operation has a 'departed date'; therefore the shortened term 'D-Day' is used.' D-Day was not the only decisive battle of the European theater, Crean said. "It was a crucial battle but there were more ahead," he said. "They had 700 miles of tough road ahead to get to Berlin." The Battle of the Bulge, waged over 41 days in December 1944 and January 1945, required 700,000 Allied troops. "It was a tough slog for another 11 months," Crean said. Victory in Europe − V-E Day − would come on May 8, 1945, nearly a year after D-Day. The war wouldn't end until the Japanese surrendered on Sept. 2, 1945. There are about 66,000 surviving World War II veterans in the United States, Crean said, and while that may sound like a lot, it's a tiny fraction of the 16.4 million who served their country in the conflict. "So to be able to talk to and thank one veteran now is a gift for any of us," Crean said. The National World War II Museum's mission "is more critical than ever ... so more people will understand what they did and continue to be inspired by their sacrifices," added Crean, a retired colonel with 30 years' service in the Army. The museum has had oral historians travel the country to record more than 12,000 personal stories from World War II veterans. They've conducted extensive interviews with veterans, Holocaust survivors and homefront workers and, using artificial intelligence, created a way for visitors to have "conversations" with them and ask questions to learn about the war effort. And they offer virtual programming, teacher training and a student leadership award. Fletcher, the Navy gunner's mate, said he's uncomfortable with the idea of being considered a hero. Asked about his role in history, he said, "I really didn't think about it then, and I don't think about it now, though it's been impressed upon me quite a bit. "When I think about what I went through, and what all the Army and the other men who were mixed up in really tough situations, it makes me feel a little bit guilty." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Remembering D-Day: Veteran, 100, offers first-hand account of D-Day
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101-year-old vet recalls 'fight for civilization' 80 years after V-E Day
For Jack Appel, 101, the Allies' victory in Europe − made official on May 8, 1945 − wasn't just vital because otherwise, as he said, "we'd all be speaking German now." "World War II was a major, major fight for civilization," the World War II veteran told USA TODAY this week as the globe marks the 80th anniversary of V-E Day. "Civilization" is no casual choice of words for Appel, a Brooklyn native now living in Boca Raton, Florida. He was among the first Americans to see the Buchenwald concentration camp, abandoned by the Nazis as the Allies closed in. Appel, who served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps in Europe during the war, is Jewish. "Seeing the ovens, it was just unbelievable that any civilization could ..." his voice trailed, then he continued, "it was 11 million people total, 6 million of them Jews, and the others political enemies, homosexuals, gypsies." Appel, who also told his story in an oral history video for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2015, knew just what he and others had been fighting for. After being drafted, a friend advised him not to say he was Jewish because "if the Nazis capture you, they'll shoot you." Instead, he said he was Catholic, his girlfriend's religion. During a nearly fatal bout with meningitis early in his deployment that cost him his hearing in one ear, he woke to hear a priest administering Last Rites. That, he believes, helped in what he calls "a relatively charmed life," one that kept him otherwise safe during the war. Appel, one of a dwindling number of U.S. World War II veterans who helped liberate Europe and the world from the grip of Nazism, fascism and genocidal hatred, was humble as he reflected on the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day. "There's hardly a day that goes by without someone saying to me, 'Thank you for your service,'" he said. "And I am very grateful for that. We knew we were fighting for a purpose." V-E Day marks the day Germans, reeling from military defeats and the death by suicide just days before of their leader, Adolf Hitler, surrendered unconditionally to the Allied Forces. The Allies − the United States, United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and China, among others − fought the Axis Powers − Germany, Italy and Japan. The war was fought in primarily in two theaters, the European (which also included parts of the Middle East and North Africa) and the Pacific. V-E Day was the day the European campaign came to an end. Even though the Germans had surrendered, the Japanese had not, and so the war in the Pacific theater was still ongoing and would continue into the summer of 1945. The war, which broke out in 1939, had been costly in Europe, decimating cities and leaving much of the continent in ruins. There were massive military and civilian casualties. And the Nazis murdered 6 million Jews as well as others the Third Reich deemed "undesirable," including LGBTQ+ people, ethnic minorities and disabled people, in the Holocaust. Bloody battles on Iwo Jima and Okinawa over the winter and spring of 1945 had resulted in heavy losses among American and Japanese forces, but war in the Pacific continued. It wasn't until the United States used atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, killing a combined 165,000 people, that the Japanese relented. "There was a sense of unfinished business," Peter Donovan Crean Sr., vice president for education and access at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, told USA TODAY. "But it was also a moment of joy and elation and hope," and a "signal to the world that dawn was beginning to break." World War II officially ended on Sept. 2, 1945. As many as 80 million people, about 3% of the world's population at the time, were killed (including 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust). According to the U.S. Department of Defense, 250,000 American troops were killed in Europe during World War II. Notable battles involving U.S. forces included the invasion of Normandy, France, later called D-Day, on June 6, 1944; and the Battle of the Bulge in Northern France, Luxembourg and Belgium on Dec. 16, 1944. More than 16 million Americans served in uniform during World War II. More than 400,000 Americans lost their lives in the war. According to the National World War II Museum in New Orleans (which cites the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs), there are 66,143 WWII veterans still alive in the United States. Most are 90 years old or older. "We are at a critical time where we need to take advantage of being able to hear these stories," said Crean, a retired colonel with 30 years' service in the U.S. Army. "In the not-too-distant future we will not be able to have that luxury." The museum's Voices from the Front project captures the voices and memories of a host of people involved in World War II, including veterans, Holocaust survivors and people who were working on the homefront, for an interactive exhibit for visitors to ask questions, get answers and "talk" with those people, even after they're gone. "It's so important that we capture their stories now so future generations can learn those lessons and understand the context of the world you're living in," Crean said. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: V-E Day 80 year anniversary: Vet recalls a 'fight for civilization'
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'We had a job' to do: Humble veteran, 100, recalls D-Day 81 years later
The numbers are staggering: 160,000 Allied troops. Five thousand ships and 13,000 aircraft. All to take a heavily fortified 50-mile stretch of French shoreline, a herculean effort to reclaim a critical part of Europe from the Nazis and turn the tide of the most horrific war the world had ever seen. On June 6, 1944 − D-Day − World War II's invasion of Normandy, codenamed Operation Overlord, got underway. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, told the men as they mobilized for battle: "The eyes of the world are upon you. ... The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you." Tolley Fletcher, at the time a 19-year-old Navy gunner's mate, remembered the rough seas and the treacherous landing troops at Utah Beach had to make in 3- to 4-foot waves, each carrying about 60 pounds of gear on their backs and descending on rope ladders from larger ships onto smaller landing crafts. "I felt for those soldiers," Fletcher, now 100 years old, told USA TODAY. "In my mind, that was the worst part, other than people getting hurt." Fletcher, who joined the Navy at 17 in late December 1941, said he and his shipmates were fortunate to be mostly out of the line of fire. "There was some shelling, not really a lot, and luckily we didn't get hit. "Maybe halfway in, we started seeing lots of bodies in the water," said Fletcher, who now lives in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, area. "I was asked (later) what we did about it. We didn't do anything about it − we had a job: to escort those troops to the beach." On D-Day, "that's what these guys faced," said Peter Donovan Crean Sr., vice president for education and access at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. "They knew they were in the presence of history. Soldiers, sailors, Marines − they knew what they were doing was going to go down in history, which also meant they knew the danger involved. "Guys who were 18, 19, 20 years old were faced with the possibility of their death, but they did it anyway." As we mark the 81st anniversary of D-Day, here is a look at what happened on the beaches of Normandy, the men who fought knowing they might not survive to see victory and the way it affected the Allies' fight to defeat fascism, genocide and tyranny. In order to defeat the Nazis in Europe, the Allies knew they'd have to take France, under German occupation since 1940. Operation Overlord saw a mobilization of 2,876,000 Allied troops in Southern England, as well as hundreds of ships and airplanes, in preparation for a ground invasion, the largest the world had seen. Weighing conditions including the weather, disagreements among other military leaders and strategic uncertainty, Eisenhower gave the go-ahead for the operation to begin before dawn on June 5, 1944. If things didn't go well for the Allies, Eisenhower wrote a note accepting responsibility. The following day, nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed along the 50-mile stretch of French shoreline. More than 9,000 Allied troops were killed or wounded, and 100,000 troops would continue the slow, bloody journey to Berlin, the center of German power. According to the U.S. Army, D-Day was "simply an alliteration, as in H-Hour." Some believe the first "D" also stands for "day," a code designation, while the French say the "D" stands for "disembarkation." The Army's website says that "the more poetic insist D-Day is short for 'day of decision.'" Asked in 1964, Eisenhower instructed his assistant Brig. Gen. Robert Schultz, to answer. Schultz wrote that "any amphibious operation has a 'departed date'; therefore the shortened term 'D-Day' is used.' D-Day was not the only decisive battle of the European theater, Crean said. "It was a crucial battle but there were more ahead," he said. "They had 700 miles of tough road ahead to get to Berlin." The Battle of the Bulge, waged over 41 days in December 1944 and January 1945, required 700,000 Allied troops. "It was a tough slog for another 11 months," Crean said. Victory in Europe − V-E Day − would come on May 8, 1945, nearly a year after D-Day. The war wouldn't end until the Japanese surrendered on Sept. 2, 1945. There are about 66,000 surviving World War II veterans in the United States, Crean said, and while that may sound like a lot, it's a tiny fraction of the 16.4 million who served their country in the conflict. "So to be able to talk to and thank one veteran now is a gift for any of us," Crean said. The National World War II Museum's mission "is more critical than ever ... so more people will understand what they did and continue to be inspired by their sacrifices," added Crean, a retired colonel with 30 years' service in the Army. The museum has had oral historians travel the country to record more than 12,000 personal stories from World War II veterans. They've conducted extensive interviews with veterans, Holocaust survivors and homefront workers and, using artificial intelligence, created a way for visitors to have "conversations" with them and ask questions to learn about the war effort. And they offer virtual programming, teacher training and a student leadership award. Fletcher, the Navy gunner's mate, said he's uncomfortable with the idea of being considered a hero. Asked about his role in history, he said, "I really didn't think about it then, and I don't think about it now, though it's been impressed upon me quite a bit. "When I think about what I went through, and what all the Army and the other men who were mixed up in really tough situations, it makes me feel a little bit guilty." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Remembering D-Day: Veteran, 100, offers first-hand account of D-Day
