Unstoppable

Siggi B. Wilzig’s Astonishing Journey from Auschwitz Survivor and Penniless Immigrant to Wall Street Legend

By: Joshua M. Greene

Narrated by: Michael Orenstein

Winner of Best of Los Angeles Award "Best Holocaust Book - 2021"

“A must-read that hopefully will be adapted for the screen. Greene lets Wilzig’s effervescent spirit shine through, and his story will appear to a wide variety of readers.” (Library Journal)

Unstoppable is the ultimate immigrant story and an epic David-and-Goliath adventure. While American teens were socializing in ice cream parlors, Siggi was suffering beatings by Nazi hoodlums for being a Jew and was soon deported along with his family to the darkest place the world has ever known: Auschwitz. Siggi used his wits to stay alive, pretending to have trade skills the Nazis could exploit to run the camp. After two death marches and near starvation, he was liberated from camp Mauthausen and went to work for the US Army hunting Nazis, a service that earned him a visa to America. On arrival, he made three vows: to never go hungry again, to support the Jewish people, and to speak out against injustice. He earned his first dollar shoveling snow after a fierce blizzard. His next job was laboring in toxic sweatshops. From these humble beginnings, he became president, chairman, and CEO of a New York Stock Exchange-listed oil company and grew a full-service commercial bank to more than four billion dollars in assets.

Siggi’s ascent from the darkest of yesterdays to the brightest of tomorrows holds sway over the imagination in this riveting narrative of grit, cunning, luck, and the determination to live life to the fullest.

©2021 Insight Editions (P)2021 Insight Editions

Remarkable life

I am very glad my bookclub chose this book. Siggy’s story is umpiring many levels. I’m glad to know about him & his family’s philanthropy

Must listen

This is an amazing book. Don’t pass it up. A true gem. A wonderful man.

Ode to Joy

A remarkable biography of someone I never heard of but will remain in my heart . I thought I had read enough Holocaust books but seeing this advertisement in Saturday Book Review of NYT l ordered it from audible . You won’t want to put it down , even the first part which is all Holocaust memories , the narrator is superb & stimulates u on .
Highly recommend this to listen or read , u won’t be disappointed & adds to the saying Never Forget !!

This is the most remarkable biography I have ever read.

I have read many books about the Holocaust and grew up among many survivor families, but Siggy is the survivor I feel that I know the best and we never met. His remarkable skills in business were astounding. The book is very well written and the performance was perfect. I am so glad that I listened to this audible book.

never forget

never forget or belittle events from our history. the holocaust did happen, WWII was horrendous. Remember lest we repeat.

Incredible!

Listening to this story and what this man achieved, despite every setback, is both amazing and inspiring ~ excellent story well worth listening to! Great performance by the reader as well.

Inspirational

Amazing how someone who was so close to death not only survived with just the shirt on his back was able to become a great success. Also a tribute to the American dream

Inspirational

Makes me understand survival on a different aspect. Best book I’ve read for awhile and sparked an inspiration to achieve greatness.

No one can be "all good" or "all bad"

(As posted in Goodreads)
Overall, I liked this book, but it brought a lot of uncomfortable realizations to mind. I really had mixed feelings about the main character – you know, Siggi B. Wilzig. On the one hand, he did have horrible beginning, and living through the Holocaust and concentration camp evil gave him on lot to deal with. On the other hand, although I feel horrible saying it, I wish he'd been able to get over it. In some ways, his not getting over it did good for the Jewish people, But in many ways, he was a horrible person. In our book club discussion, it was brought up that, other than the violence, he was like a mob boss: you showed loyalty to him no matter what, and he did his best to move mountains for you.
His association with the Ellie Wiesel was interesting, and it was appreciated, as was his involvement with the US Holocaust Museum.
Overall, it was well written and reminded us of the evil of the Holocaust without getting into the gore per se. He truly had full and interesting life.

What an incredible story!

A very well spoken story about a Holocaust survivor. About all aspects of his life in the concentration camp in his life afterwards. Greatly tolled. Not a second boring. I had tears in my eyes most of the time. Basically a must to listen to for everyone age hmm let’s say 16 and older.