Just finished reading “Unstoppable: Siggi B. Wilzig’s Astonishing Journey from Auschwitz Survivor and Penniless Immigrant to Wall Street Legend Hardcover”, an amazing must-read book. Its captivating throughout, reading like a movie.
It is the story of Siggi Wilzig, a Holocaust survivor who lived through concentration camps Auschwitz and Mauthausen, and who went on to build a business empire in the oil and banking world in America – after arriving in this country with $240 in his pocket. While the book starts with dark tales of the Holocaust, told in a manner where the reader truly feels they are there, “Unstoppable” is really about so many things besides the Holocaust.
This is a great book about taking chances, about never losing your sense of humor, about doing the right thing, about succeeding in spite of all odds. In an era where so many people today look for shortcuts, we learned that Wilzig cleaned toilets, was a door to door salesman, shoveled snow and so many other things before eventually taking over a bank and running it in a very successful manner. This book shared so many inspirational and relevant tales for all people today interested in learning, interested in growth.
He created a bank which he called “The Bank with Heart”, where he had personal relationships with all of his major customers. His life was always related back to the atrocity of the camps – he felt taking personal care of others and doing the right thing justified having survived the camps. It gave his life purpose and meaning. So many executives today could learn these lessons – of a man who gave charity, of an executive who was honest, decent, charitable and hard-working.
At a Israel Bonds dinner he was honored at in 1975 he said, ‘I am still in Auschwitz every day. I never gave up my belief in the Almighty. He may have created rats and snakes and Nazis, but he also created beautiful birds and butterflies – and for Jews the greatest miracle of all: Israel, a homeland for the Jewish people.”
“Unstoppable – The Incredible Journey of Siggi B. Wilzig, the Auschwitz Survivor Who Overcame All Odds and Became a Wall Street Legend” is a must-read book. As the grandson of Holocaust survivors, as an entrepreneur, as a Jew, as a human-being I loved it. Get it today – you will benefit.
Ronn Torossian is an entrepreneur and philanthropist.
