Joshua M. Greene is the author of "Unstoppable"
"Unstoppable," by Joshua M. Greene, Insight Editions (distributed by Simon & Schuster), 2021
None of us can imagine the horror of being in a concentration camp, being worked to death and abused daily by unrepentant sadists with the end goal of annihilation of the mind, spirit, and body. Holocaust survivors are a unique group of human beings. Surviving in the face of all this horror and that some not only survived but excelled, succeeded in life beyond all expectation, is a wonder.
That wonder is explored here, in the life of Siggi Wiltzig, born Siegbert Wilzig in the town of Krojanke in West Prussia, Germany, who did just that: survived and succeeded, excelling in whatever he turned his clever mind and hands to, eventually taking over two multi-million dollar corporations, one an oil and gas company and the other a bank, without ever having had any experience in either business.
Joshua M. Greene, who has written a great deal about Holocaust survivors, admits that Siggi Wilzig was one of a kind, and his biography of Wilzig goes into great detail about his road to success, success in the face of interminable obstacles often fraught with danger. With the loss of so many survivors of the Holocaust, it behooves us to know more about these individuals and to understand how these few overcame so much. One does not have to be Jewish to appreciate courage and applaud those who made it out of those death camps.
Siggi made it out of Auschwitz, surviving two death marches, and was liberated, finally, by the U.S. Army. He then worked with other Holocaust survivors with the United States Counter Intelligence Corps and that amazing and long-unknown-to-the-general-public group of soldiers dubbed the Ritchie Boys – German-speaking Americans (many of them Jewish) who landed at Normandy to investigate and locate Nazi war criminals. They were profiled in the recent CBS "60 Minutes" piece shown on May 7. His work with the CIC got him a passport to America and he arrived at Ellis Island in 1947.
He was 21, having spent two years – while just a teenager – first in a forced labor camp and then two more years in Auschwitz. He had no marketable skills save fluency in language and an innate ability to survive under any circumstance. From taking menial jobs such as shoveling snow, scrubbing toilets, working in sweatshops and becoming a traveling salesman – going up the work ladder little by little he went on to become the corporate executive at Wilshire Oil and Gas and also a bank, the Trust Company of New Jersey. A remarkable journey.
Along this journey he met and married Naomi Sisselman, the daughter of a well-to-do New Jersey family – who were horrified that their child had married so far (in their estimation) beneath her. His success in business was to prove them wrong. During his lifetime Siggi Wilzig was honored by many civic and public groups and was a member of the board that set up the U.S. Holocaust Memorial. He lectured widely on the Holocaust for many years and was interviewed by the Shoah Foundation.
And why is this one individual –- as unique as he was – of particular interest to readers of the miamiartzine? What is the Miami/Miami Beach connection? There is one. Wilzig was the husband of Naomi Wilzig, nee Sisselman, who founded the World Erotic Art Museum on Washington Avenue, one of Miami Beach’s more interesting tourist attractions. The Wilzig wealth brought to this museum a bevy of art objects having to do with erotic art and it is nationally renowned. Conde Nast Traveler encourages people to visit, saying that "it's not just a museum, it's a library, research center, and educational institution dedicated to the history of fine erotic art."
It continues by talking about the more than 4,000 pieces in the collection. "Sculptures, drawings, paintings, and photographs among them—that date back to 300 BCE. The collection includes some (NSFW) pieces by such masters as Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Robert Mapplethorpe, Helmut Newton, and Bunny Yeager, which all offer a fascinating way to understand the history of the world through the intersection of sex and art."
Naomi Wilzig passed away in 2015; Siggi Wilzig predeceased her by twelve years. The museum on Washington Avenue is a testament to her; this book, a testament to him and his extraordinary life.
FIU/CARTA’s Dean Brian Schriner and Books & Books Owner and President Mitchell Kaplan will host one of the first major in-person book launch events since COVID at the Miami Beach Botanical Garden on Tuesday, May 18, 2021, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. The event will begin with welcoming remarks from Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber, followed by remarks from the hosts, and close with a screening of the documentary short film "I’m Still in Auschwitz." Covid-19 safety protocols will be enforced.
