© Margarete Marks estate

Sir Barnett Stross (1899 Strasberg, Poland – 1967 London, England) was a British-Jewish doctor, born in Poland, who came to England with his family as a child and was raised in Leeds. He practised medicine in Stoke, North Staffordshire, and also served as a Labour Member of Parliament for 20 years, championing the rights of industry workers, and famously led the humanitarian campaign, 'Lidice Shall Live' to rebuild the Czech village destroyed by the Nazis in 1942. He served as a council member at Ben Uri Art Society in 1949–52. Stross was at the centre of the Stoke émigré network, to which the artist Grete Marks and her husband, Harold, were also drawn. Marks also created a charcoal portrait of Stross' wife, Olive.