Jerzy Ros
, 1919 - 1997
Jerzy Ros (1919–1997) was a Polish journalist, reporter, traveller, writer, translator and diplomat. Ros was born in Warsaw in a Jewish family, Rosenberg, decimated during WWII; his parents and sisters died as victims of Nazi genocide. He participated in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943, and later was imprisoned in ten Nazi forced labour or concentration camps, including Majdanek, Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen, and Dachau. On the day of victory, in a state of extreme starvation, he was taken from an evacuation transport to a hospital. He later became the press spokesman and head of the press office for the first Polish-German judicial site inspection at the site of the former Nazi concentration camp in Auschwitz, which was ordered there by the Frankfurt am Main court and attended by dozens of foreign journalists, including some from Israel.
After the war, Ros worked as a journalist for several newspapers (e.g., Życie Warszawy) and magazines (mainly Dookoła świata) until 1956. Subsequently, he worked at the Polish embassy in Washington as cultural and press attaché (1956–1960) and after his return to Poland, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since 1965, he left the Ministry and devoted himself full-time to journalism and writing. He authored many short stories on topics related to concentration camps, as well as historical books, adventure novels for children and young adults, and travel books. He gained popularity with his collection of reportages Indyjskie wędrówki [Indian Wanderings], as well as Heroje Północy [Heroes of the North] – stories based on Scandinavian mythology – and volumes of adventure stories and fairy tales from around the world. In 1969, he emigrated with his family to Israel, and eventually, to the United States.
His books include: Indyjskie wędrówki (1957), Kalif tak chce. Bajki z 1001 dnia [The caliph wills it. Fairy tales of 1001 days] (1957), Tajemnice arrasowego skarbu [Secrets of the tapestry treasure] (1963), Podróże z Abrakadabrą [Travels with Abracadabra] (1965), Rafa trzech szkieletów [The reef of three skeletons] (1967), Heroje Północy (1969), Uśmiech rekina [Shark’s smile] (1989).
Sources:
[Kosmalska, Agata], Dookoła Świata Nr 1/1954 at Dookoła świata official website (accessed: March 17, 2026).
[Polskie Radio], “Niemcom nie przebaczamy”. Ta nagonka zaczęła się 60 lat temu and the audio file [PR1] PR1 (mp3) 22 listopad 2015 06_14_32.cz1.mp3 part 1 (accessed: March 17, 2026).
[Ros, Jerzy], Relacje Ros Jerzy [Testimony of Jerzy Ros], 301/43, Centralna Biblioteka Judaistyczna, and Delet portal, Żydowski Instytut Historyczny (The Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute), (accessed: March 17, 2026).
[Ros, Jerzy], Testimony of Jerzy Rosenberg Ros, born in Warsaw, Poland, 1919, regarding his experiences in the Warsaw Ghetto, Poniatowa, Majdanek, Starachowice and other places, Yad Vashem testimonies 3440 (accessed: March, 17, 2026).
Bio prepared by Marta Pszczolińska, University of Warsaw, m.pszczolinska@al.uw.edu.pl
Records in database:
