History through personal stories

Shalom Chicago is part of a series exploring how various communities shaped the city.

Now on exhibit at the Chicago History Museum is Shalom Chicago, which explores Chicago’s diverse Jewish community from the 1840s to today. Using personal stories, more than 300 artifacts, as well as multimedia programs, the exhibition explores how a small but dynamic community helped shape modern Chicago.

Shalom Chicago comes after the exhibit Catholic Chicago in a museum series focusing on the religious communities that have contributed to the city’s traditions and its development as a major urban centre.

“As we continue the tradition of exploring faiths that have been so important to the city’s evolution, we understand the challenge of doing justice to such an expansive subject in just one exhibition,” said Gary T. Johnson, museum president, in a release. “These personal biographies of known and not-so-well-known Jewish Chicagoans offered us the opportunity to tell a dynamic story that is unique to Chicago.”

The exhibition is presented in three themed sections, beginning with “The Early Community,” which examines the small group of Jewish settlers that came to Chicago in the 1840s from Germany and other Central European countries. Personal stories of immigrants such as Abraham Kohn are highlighted to explore the origins of Chicago’s Jewish experience. Kohn, who immigrated to the United States in the 1840s, became a pioneer for his faith by establishing Chicago’s first Jewish congregation, as well as joining the abolitionist movement and serving as city clerk of Chicago. Kohn’s story is one of many in the exhibition that follows a common theme of Jewish immigrants and migrants coming to Chicago seeking greater freedom and economic opportunity.

Next, visitors are welcomed to “At Home in Chicago,” focusing on some of the differences and similarities within Chicago’s collective Jewish community. In this section, biographies of families and individuals are used to illustrate two very different Jewish experiences in Chicago.

“German and eastern European Jews were really worlds apart when they arrived in Chicago,” said exhibition curator Libby Mahoney. “The German Jews immigrated to Chicago with generally more education and better financial resources and had adapted to American society by the time the eastern European Jews arrived. Conversely, the eastern European immigrants came with less, but they also successfully adapted and became an integral part of Chicago history.”

“At Home in Chicago” uses interactive elements to explore the differences in Jewish faith, working trades and arts and culture. Maxwell Street is recreated in the exhibit to represent the eastern European Jewish community that sprang up on the city’s West Side during the first part of the 20th century. The Mandel family, of the Mandel Brothers Department Store, is depicted in this section as a pillar of the German Jewish community on Chicago’s South Side. Also featured are many other prominent business, civic, religious and cultural leaders from both communities who made significant contributions to the city’s growth and development.

In the final section, visitors explore “New Challenges and Opportunities.” Starting with video footage of Chicago Jews staging a protest march in 1933, this section examines how Chicago Jews responded to the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany. Visitors then move through the turbulent and tragic times of the Second World War and the Holocaust, exploring how Chicago Jews rose to the challenge and responded by serving their country and community.

Shalom Chicago concludes with a look at postwar Chicago, when the Jewish community experienced great changes with a shift to the suburbs and the arrival of thousands of Soviet Jews who, like the earlier immigrants, came to the city seeking a new life of freedom and opportunity. Finally, visitors can watch a video about Jewish Chicago today, as told by members of the contemporary community.

Running until Sept. 2, Shalom Chicago is presented in collaboration with Spertus: A Centre for Jewish Learning and Culture. The exhibit is supported by DePaul University, Mr. and Mrs. Newton Minow, the Crown Family Foundation, the Jacob and Rosaline Cohn Foundation, Manfred Steinfeld, and Nell Minow, Martha Minow and Mary Minow in honor of Jo and Newton Minow.

The Chicago History Museum is located at 1601 North Clark St. Admission is $14 US and $12 US seniors/students with audio tour, and free for children 12 years and younger. General admission is free on Mondays. For more information, call 1-312-642-4600 or visit chicagohistory.org.

– Courtesy of Chicago History Museum

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