Stephan Ross

Stephan Ross (September 20, 1931 – February 24, 2020), also known as Steve Ross, was a Polish-American holocaust survivor who spearheaded the creation of the New England Holocaust Memorial.

Early life Ross was born Szmulek Rozental on September 20, 1931 near Łódź. He was the youngest of eight children. After the German Invasion of Poland, Ross' parents sent him to live with a Christian family. The family, however, feared punishment and sent Ross to live in the nearby woods.

Imprisonment during the Holocaust In 1940, Ross was taken by the Nazis to the labor camp at Budzyń; the first of ten labor or extermination camps he was imprisoned in. He was later sent to Krasnik, Radon, and Auschwitz. He was placed with the Jewish Family and Children's Service in Boston, who sent him to the Windsor Mountain School. Ross was drafted by the United States Army and served during the Korean War. After the war, he attended Goddard College on the GI Bill. While there, he helped found the Plainfield Fire Department. He graduated from Goddard in 1959 and went on to earn his master's degree in psychology from Boston University. As he did not have enough money for both tuition and rent, he lived in his car while attending BU. He later earned a doctorate from Northeastern University.

Ross became a licensed psychologist and worked for 40 years as a youth activities instructor and counselor for the city of Boston's Department of Community Schools. He also taught and counseled at Northeastern. In 2002, a Liberators' Monument, which was part of Ross' original vision for the memorial, was added. Ross resided in Newton, Massachusetts,

Ross spent decades trying to find an American soldier he met at Dachau who hugged him and gave him some food and an American flag.

In 2017, Etched in Glass: The Legacy of Steve Ross, a documentary about Ross' life, premiered at the Boston Jewish Film Festival.