Exhibition Opening - Spagat Family Voices of Genocide Exhibition 

Opened May 1, 2024, Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center’s groundbreaking “Spagat Family Voices of Genocide Exhibition” explores how and why genocide continues to occur across geography and time. Learn from survivors and descendants of genocides in Armenia, Guatemala, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rwanda, and Burma, about the common conditions that can lead to genocide and how recognizing these factors helps determine efforts toward intervention and prevention.
A first-of-its-kind exhibition, revolutionizing the field of genocide memory and education, the “Spagat Family Voices of Genocide Exhibition” will expand awareness, foster compassion and empathy, and empower our visitors to consider the actions they can take to make “never again” a mandate for today.
The exhibition's opening program featured Mark Akgulian, descendant of four Armenian genocide survivors, Irma Alicia Velásquez Nimatuj, Maya Kich’e’ survivor of the Guatemalan genocide, Kizito Kalima, Tutsi survivor of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, and Amina, Rohingya survivor of the ongoing genocide in Burma. This powerful conversation was moderated by Kelley Szany, Senior Vice President of Education & Exhibitions for the Museum.