For over 25 years, Janet has been involved in the Holocaust Survivors’ community in Boston…but really for her entire life. She is committed to honoring survivors, to learning their histories and ensuring that these eyewitness accounts are part of Holocaust education programs. 
 
The child of a Holocaust survivor Janet learned at a very early age what that meant, what her father had gone through during the war and what he had lost. As a “2G” second generation survivor/child of a survivor Janet realized that her father and all survivors deserved to be honored and recognized and appreciated for all that they went through. She also learned that it is the responsibility of 2Gs and 3Gs and generations yet to come to ensure that what happened to our families is not forgotten or allowed to be rewritten by others. Janet has been very involved in Holocaust education programs and Yom HaShoah observances. Janet was instrumental in arranging for a group of over 50 people survivors, 2gs and 3Gs to travel together to Washington DC to attend the 20th anniversary of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, fund raising every dollar needed to provide airfare, ground transportation, hotel accommodations and kosher food during the trip. Her feeling was that survivors should not have to pay to be there and that they should be treated as honored guests. Janet conducts several Holocaust survivor events each year and makes arrangements to transport those who need a ride to these events. She feels very strongly that survivors should not be charged to attend, and that no survivor should ever be turned away. 
 
Janet’s commitment to the survivors in our community is without hesitation, is genuine and is demonstrated in each address she makes and each program she coordinates. Janet is committed to  the survivors in our community, to listening to their histories to ensuring that these eyewitness accounts are part of Holocaust education programs and to sharing with not only their descendants but with future generations this historic information. Janet is well aware that the legacy of Holocaust survivors and their families is that those who perished during the Holocaust should not be forgotten and deserve to be remembered and that those who survived and those born after the war marched together into the living.
 
This transmission of history has been a driving force for Janet’s dedication to our survivor community and is the foundation upon which March of the Living was built.

About the Stephan Ross Excellence
in Holocaust Education Award


The Stephan Ross Excellence in Holocaust Education Award honors the legacy and lifetime achievements of Holocaust Survivor, Stephan Ross, and founder of the New England Holocaust Memorial.
 
Stephan survived 10 different concentration camps and was liberated from Dachau by American troops at age 14. He had one dream, one vision and one mission. He wanted to remember, with a memorial, his lost family members and all other innocent people who lost their lives in the Holocaust, those soldiers who liberated the concentration camps; and all the soldiers who helped end the war. He wanted this memorial to serve as a lesson to future generations. 
 
The New England Holocaust Memorial was dedicated on October 22, 1995 in a public ceremony on the steps of Boston City Hall Plaza.