Visitors enter a gallery in the dark wing of the Museum where they are greeted by a film orienting them to the Holocaust’s historical context and its relationship to other acts of genocide and hatred. More important than the information provided are the questions given visitors to guide their museum experience.
Continuing on, the dark wing immerses patrons into the vibrancy of pre-war European Jewish life. Then the physical space shifts dramatically with increasing Nazi restrictions primarily targeting Jews, but also affecting Gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the physically and mentally handicapped, trade unionists and homosexuals. Visitors experience how restriction and confiscation were transformed into mass violence with the choreographed anti-Jewish demonstrations of Kristallnacht.
The Museum guests’ labyrinthian descent into darkness continues with the eastward Nazi Blitzkrieg. Jewish ghettoization is demonstrated, along with explanations of world recognition and inaction, and the 1942 Wannsee conference at which Nazi goals expanded to include the orchestrated extermination of millions of European and Soviet Jews.
Visitors eventually ascend through the lighter wing, where they experience stories of liberation, displaced persons camps, immigration and rebirth in North America, Israel and elsewhere. Upon conclusion of their journey, guests enter the Hall of Reflection, where they may engage in personal contemplation.
In the cleave of the building - between the dark and the light sections - will stand the anchor artifact, an early twentieth century German rail car. Of the type used by the Nazis to transport millions of Jews to concentration camps and ultimately, their deaths, the freight car symbolizes the horrific end for so many who were taken from their homes and mass murdered in camps and ghettos. Visitors will pass the car and may enter if they choose.
On the second floor of the building there is permanent gallery space dedicated to the Legacy of Absence. This gallery space will be home to a permanent collection of visual artworks that reflect on historical violence and feature the work of distinguished contemporary artists from around the world. This gallery will bring a fresh perspective and opportunity for understanding the global effects of genocide and acts of violence, thereby enhancing the learning experience for visitors to the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center.
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