After a year and a half of renovations, the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center is reopening Wednesday.
Newly redesigned galleries mix photos, art and family heirlooms to tell the stories of those who were killed or survived the Holocaust.
Senior Vice President Zelley Szany says they are displaying 500 of the 35,000 objects in their collection, including a 1939 Western Union telegram.
She says the yellowed document was found by the heirs of Leo Edelmann, a German Jewish immigrant who helped bring a dozen families to Chicago by wiring money and offering jobs.
CEO Bernard Cherkasov welcomed VIPs back to the Illinois Holocaust Museum during a special ceremony Tuesday morning.
The event in the auditorium included staffers reading some of the stories of survivors like Ava Kadishson Schieber, who went into hiding in Belgrade.
The museum opened in 2009 in Skokie, just off the Edens Expressway.
Admission is free to veterans, activity duty members and their families on opening day, Veterans Day.
A satellite location opened in River North during the renovations will close on December 31st.
