Skokie, Illinois – Samuel R. Harris, a Holocaust survivor who endured Nazi persecution as a child and later transformed that experience into a lifelong mission of education across Illinois, has died at age 90.
According to the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, Harris was born in 1935 in Dęblin, Poland, and was just four years old when Nazi Germany invaded. Within years, his family was torn apart by deportations to Treblinka, where many were killed. Harris survived by hiding and later performing forced labor near the Częstochowa concentration camp, witnessing firsthand the brutality of the Nazi regime before being liberated in 1945 at age nine.
After immigrating to the United States in 1947, Harris rebuilt his life in the Chicago suburbs. But decades later, he chose to confront his past publicly, becoming one of Illinois’ most influential Holocaust educators. Beginning in the late 1970s, he spoke to thousands of students, offering direct testimony about Nazi atrocities and the consequences of hatred and indifference.
His message was clear and urgent: understanding the Holocaust was essential to preventing future genocide. That belief helped drive his role in establishing the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center in Skokie, where he later served as president and remained a guiding voice for decades.
Harris also pushed for Holocaust education in Illinois schools, ensuring his experiences—and those of millions who did not survive—would be taught to future generations. His recorded testimony remains part of the museum’s exhibits, continuing to educate long after his passing.
Leaders say his legacy is defined not only by survival, but by his determination to make sure the horrors of Nazi persecution are never forgotten.
