Fritzie Fritzshall

Fritzie Fritzshall (1931 - 2021) was a young teenager when the Nazis invaded her Czechoslovakian town and deported the Jews to Auschwitz. Her mother and brothers were murdered but Fritzshall survived and was finally liberated. After the war she immigrated to the US, settled in Chicago, became a hairdresser and married an American veteran who had been a Japanese POW.

Fritzshall first became involved in activism in the late 1970’s when a neo-Nazi group planned a march in Skokie, Illinois (a town where, at the time, 1 in 10 residents were Holocaust survivors). As a founding member of the Holocaust Memorial Foundation, she helped make Illinois the first state to require teaching of the Holocaust in public schools. Fritzshall was a force in establishing the Illinois Holocaust Museum which she served as its president.

Why this stop? Dempster/Skokie is the northernmost Yellow Line station and is about 2 miles south of the Illinois Holocaust Museum.

Learn about the Illinois Holocaust Museum, understannd the importance of teaching young students about the Holocaust and view Fritzshall’s hologram answering questions about her experience.

Connect—Visit the Illinois Holocaust Museum whose mission is to “Remember the Past, Transform the Future.”

Photo by Chris Strong; Courtesy of the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center