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When the National Holocaust Monument opens to the public later this month, Laura Grosman will be there to mark the end of her long and unlikely campaign to see it built. 

The star-shaped monument to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust will be officially inaugurated at a Sept. 27 ceremony led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. 

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The $8.9-million memorial, which stands at Booth and Wellington streets opposite the Canadian War Museum, is the largest new monument to be built in the capital in more than 70 years. 

“It’s very emotional,” said Grosman, a driving force behind a project 10 years in the making. 

Hers is a story of unusual determination. 

In 2007, Grosman was an 18-year-old public administration student at the University of Ottawa.  She was also the granddaughter of a Polish-born Holocaust survivor, and as part of her attempt to understand that past, she enrolled in a Canadian Jewish Studies class taught by Prof. Rebecca Margolis.