"Stories of Survival: Object, Image, Memory" showcases items brought to America by survivors of Holocaust, other genocides

A simple object can symbolize both despair and promise. That's just what happened for survivors of the holocaust and other genocides, who brought pieces of their past to America.

They left their homes with little or next to nothing, but found ways to keep the connection.

"It's unbelievable that people had kept these things," said Holocaust survivor Ralph Rehbock.

They fled unspeakable horror through sheer will. Now, 60 survivors of the Holocaust and other genocides are sharing some of their most prized possessions.

They are in the exhibition "Stories of Survival: Object, Image, Memory" at the Illinois Holocaust Museum presents Experience360 at 360 N. State St. in Chicago.

It features objects that survivors were able to bring with them when they started their new lives in America.

Kelley Szany, VP of education and exhibitions at the museum, gave a tour of the exhibit.

"To me, the stories that stand out are the basic everyday items like teacups, a teddy bear, or wedding announcement that might seem like a mundane everyday object but really have these profound personal stories," she said.

There are actual objects, like a suitcase belonging to a man who served in the Belgian underground in World War II, a uniform donated by a man who survived four concentration camps. Airline tickets saved by an Iraqi refugee symbolize his freedom.

There are also images of objects created by photographer Jim Lommasson.

Prisoners wrote recipes in secret during the war in Bosnia in hopes that imagining food would ease their hunger.

A son got a Russian towel from his parents, who were later burned alive by Nazis. Some items were smuggled out.

"There is a coin in the exhibition from an Armenian genocide survivor who brought the coin sewed into the seam of her dress," Szany said.

Other objects, like the teddy bear, were kept safe thanks to the kindness of others.

"Before this family left, they actually turned objects over to their non-Jewish neighbors, who were able to bury them during the Holocaust. Luckily, the family survived, and they were able to come back and retrieve their items," Szany said.

Still other possessions were sent ahead to relatives already in the U.S.

Rehbock, now 91, was just four when his father bought this electric train set for him. It was 1938, and German Jews were square in Adolph Hitler's line of fire.

"The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 took away our citizenship, and my parents decided it was time to leave Germany for America," he said.

So, Ralph's father shipped the train set to his cousins in Chicago. It was waiting for Ralph when he arrived. In time, it became part of the Rehbock family story.

"It was a great toy which was appreciated by me, and my children, and my grandchildren through the years," he said.

Each image in the collection includes a story written by hand, either by the survivor or a family member.

There's a wedding announcement of a man who fled Austria to escape the Nazis and the Chicago woman he married in 1948. Years later, they added the handprints of their children and grandchildren.

"Because of this uniting and marriage, look at the generations that were able to happen," Szany said.

Dresses that are also on display belonged to the daughters of a woman named Immaculee, who survived the genocide in Rwanda. Her husband and their daughters did not.

"And the only way she was able to identify her young daughters was by their clothing," Szany said.

Whether it be an urn from Cambodia or a prayer book that made it to the promised land, all of the objects and images send a message.

"There are several ways to keep memories alive. This is another step," Rehbock said.

"No matter our background, no matter our religion or our race, whatever our story is, there is still something that unites us as human beings," Szany said.

That, she said, is love, hope, and the need to tell these stories.

"Stories of Survival: Object, Image, Memory" will be on display through June.