Origins: The Button Project

In 2001 in central Illinois plans were initiated to encourage a better understanding of the indelible lessons created by the horrors and magnitude of the number of lives lost during the Holocaust.

How could we visually teach our children and future generations about this dark chapter in human history? How does one show the staggering numbers of 6 million Jews exterminated and 5 million enemies of the state who lost their lives?

Undaunted by such an immense undertaking, a diverse group of people united to form

The Peoria Holocaust Memorial Button Project: A Prevention, Education, and Awareness Project.

The visual image selected: The simple button.

These would represent each life lost in the Holocaust. Thus was born The Button Project: “Joining Our Past to Our Future.”

WHY BUTTONS?

Each button is unique — like each person.

• Buttons hold things together, an analogy to each individual who helped hold together their family, their community, and their society.
• Buttons once opened, left the people vulnerable.
• Buttons were a part of all the clothes left behind at the gates of the concentration camps, ghettos, and slave camps.
• Buttons are enduring — they last long after garments have faded and unraveled to remind us of the lessons of the Holocaust.
• Buttons are round and symbolize the cycle of life.
• Buttons are symbolic of “Joining Our Past to Our Future.”

Rebirth

After more than 10 years at The Shoppes at Grand Prairie, the Peoria Holocaust Memorial was taken down for needed repairs and cleaning. During this work, an opportunity arose to move the Memorial to a new location at the Peoria Riverfront Museum. We successfully raised funds to refurbish & move the Memorial and to support ongoing educational programming at the Holocaust Memorial’s new location.

Our greater Peoria community was again faced with the opportunity and responsibility to show that we will not stand by and forget the vital lessons of the past, as we readily accept the need and moral duty to enhance the lives of future generations.

After two years of cleaning, fundraising, and designing, on April 23, 2017 the Peoria Holocaust Memorial was reborn at its new location at the Peoria Riverfront Museum. In its first year at the new location hundreds of students were given docent-led tours of the Memorial through the Every Student Initiative, and in the years to come hundreds more will have the same opportunity.

Our Yom HaShoah 2018 observance saw the premiere of the Memorial’s first promotional video, created by Kristina Kliver in collaboration with Bradley University. In the summer of 2018 regular Sunday docent-led tours also began, so the wider public could have access to the expertise of the Peoria Jewish community, making the experience of visitors to the Peoria Holocaust Memorial even more meaningful.

Peoria Holocaust Memorial Rebirth Video

The future of the Peoria Holocaust Memorial is bright, with plans for exhibits in collaboration with the Peoria Riverfront Museum, expanded tours and education programs, and the greater visibility provided by our location and collaboration with the Museum.