Janine Oberrotman

Her Story:

In 1925, Janine Oberrotman (née Janina Binder) was born in Lvov, Poland. She was an only child. In 1941, at fifteen years old, Janine and her family were forced to move into the ghetto. Janine’s father was captured while re-entering the ghetto with food to feed his family, and was deported to Janowska Concentration Camp where he was killed. Using papers obtained from her non-Jewish friend, Janine was able to travel to Ponikwa, where her maternal uncle and grandmother were hiding as Catholics. Janine’s mother was killed in the liquidation of the Lvov ghetto. In 1944, Janine was arrested on suspicion of being Jewish. The Gestapo lacked evidence of her origins and she was sent to Stuttgart as a Polish forced laborer. She spent the rest of the war pretending to be Catholic and was liberated by the French army in Spring 1945. Janine met fellow Survivor Joseph Oberrotman, and they married in 1950. Janine, her husband, and her first son moved to the United States where they settled in Chicago. The family had two more sons. Janine raised her family, and worked as a French teacher and as a vocational counselor helping new immigrants to the United States.

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CBS News On the Road with Steve Hartman Janine’s Story: How I Survived the Holocaust USHMM testimony part 1 USHMM testimony part 2

Survivor Profiles: Janine Oberrotman

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