Holocaust Remembrance: Students visit Illinois Holocaust Museum on 75th anniversary of Auschwitz liberation

SKOKIE, Ill. (WLS) -- Students visiting the Illinois Holocaust Museum in Skokie Monday for Holocaust Remembrance Day got a special lesson on the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps.

"I think it is important that people never forget how many lives it affected and how many lives it ended," said Mari Wolkstein, eighth grader.

"I think it's really important for all these kids to see that it really affected so many lives and continues to do so," said Deb Wolkstein, parent.

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Students hard the history directly from survivors, including George Brent. He was only 14 when his family arrived at the death camp, and only he and his father would survive.

"My mother and brother were killed immediately," he recalled. "My brother was only 10 years old."

Most visitors end their tour of the museum in the Upstanders Gallery, which inspires guests to speak out about intolerance, injustice and inequality.

"You want to stand up for the people who were innocent back then," said Magaly Ibarra, eighth grader. "Since in the USA we have the First Amendment, our voices are heard, more heard here."

And you, too, can be an upstander; the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center is open every day.