Untitled

by Joshua M. Greene, Michael Berenbaum (Foreword)

Here is a new model of American Siggi B. Wilzig, an uneducated, penniless refugee who rose from the inferno of Auschwitz to the heights of oil and banking.

Siggi's War explores the extraordinary life and career of Siggi B. Wilzig, a man who arrived in New York penniless at age twenty-one after surviving four years in forced labor and concentration camps during the Holocaust, and who eventually became one of the most successful businessmen in postwar America.

Wilzig was less than five and a half feet tall, but his personality was enormous. With sheer bravado and bluster, he rose to the heights of the oil and commercial banking industries, which were virulently anti-Semitic in the 1950s and ’60s. With survival skills honed in Auschwitz and Mauthausen, Wilzig transformed nightmares of torture and starvation into the drive and cunning needed to build an empire from scratch.

From his humble origins in a small West Prussian village, Wilzig went on to become a maker of political careers, an advisor to US presidents, a co-founder the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, and a leading voice for the cause of Holocaust remembrance. Part survival story, part historical document, and part memorial, Siggi’s War is the tale of a man who faced down incredible odds—twice—and won.

368 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication December 31, 2030

About the author

Joshua M. Greene earned his M.A. at Hofstra University, where he taught Hinduism and Holocaust history until his retirement in 2013. His books on war crimes trials and survivor testimony have been published in six languages. He has spoken at the Pentagon, the Judge Advocates College, the New York Public Library Distinguished Author series, and lectures frequently before state bar associations. In 1969, he was initiated as Yogesvara Das by HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and spent 13 years in Krishna temples, serving as director of ISKCON’s European publishing office. His books on spirituality include Here Comes the Sun: The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison and Gita Wisdom: An Introduction to India’s Essential Yoga Text. His most recent book is a biography of Srila Prabhupada, titled Swami in a Strange Land: How Krishna Came to the West. Greene is also a filmmaker whose Holocaust documentaries have aired on PBS, The Disney Channel, and Discovery.