How a Holocaust survivor and an Illinois teen struck up an unlikely friendship

Skokie, Illinois — If you ever ask 98-year-old Janine Oberrotman, a Holocaust survivor, how she stays so positive, especially after all she’s been through, she responds by singing “Que Sera, Sera.”

Once a week, Oberrotman brings her “que sera” mindset to this most somber setting, the Illinois Holocaust Museum in Skokie, Illinois.

Her attitude is made possible in part by her partner at the museum information booth, 14-year-old Dhilan Stanley.

She gets a big smile every time she sees Stanley.

“She does that every week,” Stanley said. “It makes me very happy.”

Oberrotman and Stanley met a little over a year ago. Oberrotman had been volunteering at the museum since it opened, and Stanley had just started volunteering to learn more about the Holocaust.

“It’s amazing to hear from someone who has witnessed it firsthand,” Stanley said.

When they sat together, it was friendship at first listen.

“It’s fascinating to learn about your stories,” Stanley told Oberrotman. “And we need to learn about your stories in order to prevent them from happening again.”

Stanley is now very familiar with Oberrotman’s stories — about her life in the Jewish ghettos in occupied Poland and then how she was taken to Germany by the Nazis and put into forced labor. And yet he’s always willing to listen once more.

Stanley never tells her that he’s already heard a story.

“Because she finds it…comforting to tell people her story,” Stanley said.

For Stanley, what started out as curiosity has evolved into compassion, ensuring that for these two, whatever will be, will be together.