Peoria Academy eighth-graders Jradon Smith (right) and Anna Hsu sort buttons with a group of classmates in a volunteer project for the Peoria Holocaust Museum. The Jewish Federation of Peoria is asking for more community groups to help sort the millions of buttons, each of which represents a life lost in the Holocaust, as the memorial is being refurbished. (Photo courtesy of Jen Smith)

In the nearly 13 years that the Peoria Holocaust Memorial has stood at the Shoppes at Grand Prairie, it’s been a visual reminder to never forget the millions of innocent Jews who were killed by the Nazis and to never let anything like it happen again.

With renovation of the memorial now underway, the Jewish Federation of Peoria is seeking help from the community to sort through the memorial’s 11 million buttons that each represents a life lost in the Holocaust.

“We have certainly had some great help from the community, but we could use more help from groups, such as Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, church groups, social service clubs, Key Clubs and other school groups,” said Susan Katz, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Peoria. “It’s a very labor intensive project.”

About 100 volunteers have helped so far, sorting through barrels of buttons to remove ones that are cracked or broken since they don’t distribute their weight as well within the containers. Most volunteers have been individuals, but a few groups have stepped up, including church groups, the multi-cultural club from Dunlap High School and a group of Peoria Academy students, parents, and teachers.

“Not only does it help us when groups come in, I also think it raises awareness and it can be educational,” Katz said. “When people come in and they see how many buttons there are and that all those buttons represent a life lost, they begin to comprehend the magnitude of the Holocaust.”

Jen Smith, who coordinated a volunteer team of Peoria Academy eighth graders in December, called it a “memorable and humbling experience.” Smith said many of the eighth-graders had seen the memorial at the Shoppes at Grand Prairie.

“They were very moved by the vast amounts of buttons, and how each one was a representation of someone’s life: a mother, father, sister, brother, friend or loved one. One of the students even fashioned a pile of buttons into a heart shape because he felt so moved by each one that passed through his hands,” Smith said.

The Holocaust Memorial has been located at the Shoppes at Grand Prairie since 2003 but likely will have a new home when the refurbishing project is finished, hopefully by March 2017. Talks are underway to place the memorial outside the Riverfront Museum in downtown Peoria.

“We’re excited about the opportunity to partner with the Riverfront Museum,” said Katz, who’s been working with museum CEO Sam Gappmayer. “School groups come to the museum to see the exhibits, so they can also go out to see the memorial. We hope to have educational materials that teachers can use to educate their kids about the Holocaust.”

She added, “We’re pretty optimistic about it, and we hope to finalize it soon. I definitely think it got a lot of exposure (at the Shoppes). But I think this will be a good phase two for us.”

Of the 11 million buttons in the memorial, six million represent the Jews who were murdered by the Nazis, and five million represent the “enemies of the state” who were also killed, including gypsies, the handicapped and political and religious leaders.

Peoria Academy eighth-grader Liam Janda fashioned buttons from the Peoria Holocaust Museum into this heart shape after feeling moved by each one that passed through his hands. Janda and a group of classmates helped sort buttons for the memorial, which is being refurbished. (Photo courtesy of Jen Smith)

Buttons were chosen to represent each life in part because their shape represents the circle of life and buttons were part of the clothing left behind at the gates of the concentration camps. The Jewish Federation of Peoria collected the buttons over an 18-month period in 2001-2002 from 48 states and six countries, Katz said.

“What’s happened over the years is some of the buttons have gotten broken, and we had some structural issues in the stars that we’re working on. As a result of that, we had some debris in there that we have to sort out,” Katz explained. “So the volunteers are going through and pulling out broken buttons and really heavily corroded ones and pieces of cardboard and debris we find in there. And then we’re washing them.”

She said the process is not quite halfway finished. Sorting the buttons is something anyone can do. Volunteers wear gloves and sit at tables to do the sorting in an empty storefront at the Shoppes at Grand Prairie.

“We’ve seen all ages so far,” Katz said. “With kids, we like them to be over the age of 12. We’ve had seniors, retirees, high school students and college students. What we’re hearing from them is they are really finding it meaningful, and many of them have come back again and again to help.”

The memorial’s ultimate purpose is two-fold: to remember the victims of the Holocaust and to educate people so we don’t repeat the same mistakes, Katz said.

“If we don’t learn from our history, we’re doomed to repeat it,” she noted. “What we see now is a world that has become very divided, and we see the same kind of hatred being voiced among certain people against certain people. If good people stand by and do nothing, we’ve seen from the Holocaust what can happen. So it’s important for people to stand up and be heard and fight against this kind of bigotry. And the memorial is a standing lesson to that.”

Any group that would like to volunteer should call Katz at (309) 689-0063 or email her at sue@jewishpeoria.org. Individuals can sign up for open slots at www.jewishpeoria.org.

Once the sorting is complete, Katz said buttons will be needed to replace the broken ones.

“We haven’t put out a massive call the way we did before, but if there are people in the area who have buttons they want to contribute, we would be happy to take them,” she said. “We’re going to have to replace some, and we would like to replace them with some new and diverse buttons.”

— Simple buttons at Peoria museum offer moving reminder of Holocaust victims —