Local History

Investigate your Jewish Chicago roots by attending the screening of the film "Maxwell Street: A Living Memory" at 2pm on Sunday, Nov. 22 at Temple Beth Israel, 3601 W. Dempster St., Skokie.  Facilities will open at 12:30pm to accommodate anyone wanting to ask for genealogical assitance provided by the Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois.  Call 312.666.0100 or visit the JGSI site for more information.

Historical research has become a passion for many African Americans and genealogy has become a fulltime hobby for many Americans. Individual research and pointers on how to use the Internet will be shared by the individual doing the family research. This group will meet on the second and fourth Monday evenings of each month at 7pm in the Levy Center, Evanston. There is no charge for this program.

Skokie Veteran Irv Abramson will make his second emotional trip to the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, Sept. 9th as a guest of Honor Flight Chicago, an organization dedicated to thanking America's vets.

The Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center has officially dedicated its "Miller Family Youth Exhibition," designed especially for students from 8 to 11 years old.

By Alfred S. Nathan

This new, periodic, column will contain the title, ideas and goals of my Comcast cable TV program, Skokie People Speak, which ended December, 2008, afer a 15-year run and 251 shows. The articles will be about Skokie Village government, Park District, Library, Schools, and non-government organizations and, especially important, the people in charge.

The bronze memorial called “Holocaust” stands at the Skokie Public Library’s east end. At fourteen feet tall, it’s quite conspicuous, so most newcomers pause for a closer look at it before they enter the building. It’s the uplifted arms of the partisan that fascinate them first. Turned outwards, as if to ask “Why was this necessary?” they tower over the three other statues in the group – a mother mourning over her dead baby, and a panic-stricken little boy clinging to his grandfather.