Located at The Shoppes at Grand Prairie in Peoria, the Peoria Holocaust Memorial contains 11 million buttons, each one representing a life lost during the Holocaust, one of the largest and most tragic persecutions in human history. Six million represent the Jews who perished and 5 million represent the “enemies of the state” who were murdered at the hands of the Nazis.
The memorial was the result of two years of work by a dedicated core of volunteers who coordinated the collection of buttons and the funds to build the unique display. Thousands of central Illinois residents and across the world responded. Buttons were selected because of their circular shape representing the cycle of life and how they hold things together like each person who tried to hold together his or her family. Buttons were a part of the clothes the victims left behind at the gates of the concentration camps.
Visit the site yourself to see the 18 glass Stars of David, which represent the Jews and the yellow stars they were forced to wear, in two rows of nine to symbolize the selection process. The number 18 translates in Hebrew to the word “Chai,” which means life.
The five million buttons representing the “enemies of the state” are in five glass triangles, symbolic of the badges that Roma gypsies, Catholics, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the handicapped, trade unionists, as well as political and religious leaders, were forced to wear.
Informational kiosks are also at the site, featuring a historical timeline as well as individual testimonials from Holocaust survivors and liberators. For more information, contact the Jewish Federation of Peoria at 309/689-0063.
