Joshua M. Greene
Auteur van My Survival: A Girl on Schindler's List
Over de Auteur
Fotografie: Joshua M. Greene. Photo by Daniel Goodrich
Werken van Joshua M. Greene
Unstoppable: The Incredible Journey of Siggi B. Wilzig, the Auschwitz Survivor Who Overcame All Odds and Became a Wall… (2021) 64 exemplaren
Krishna and the Mystery of the Stolen Calves: A Mandala Classic (Mandala Classics) (2013) 5 exemplaren
Unstoppable: Siggi B. Wilzig's Astonishing Journey from Auschwitz Survivor and Penniless Immigrant to Wall Street… (2021) 4 exemplaren
Girl Who Fought Back: Vladka Meed and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (Scholastic Focus) (2024) 2 exemplaren
The Songs of Bhaktivinoda Thakura 1 exemplaar
Gerelateerde werken
Rasa Yatra : A pilgrimage into the heart of India (2017) — Medewerker, sommige edities — 2 exemplaren
Tagged
Algemene kennis
- Pseudoniemen en naamsvarianten
- Yogeśvara Dāsa, 1950-
- Geboortedatum
- 1950-06-04
- Geslacht
- male
- Nationaliteit
- USA
- Woonplaatsen
- Long Island, New York, USA
- Beroepen
- writer
filmmaker - Organisaties
- Jivamukti Yoga School
Integral Yoga Institute
United Nations Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders - Korte biografie
- The New York Times describes Joshua M. Greene as “a storyteller…who traces journeys to enlightenment.” In 1982, after living thirteen years in ashrams of India and Europe, he returned to his native New York City and produced a series of Emmy award-nominated children’s films for The Disney Channel and PBS. In 1995 he became Director of Programming for Cablevision, the nation’s fifth largest cable provider. From 1999 to 2002 he served as Senior Vice President at Ruder Finn, New York’s largest public relations firm, where he advised faith communities on their role in peacekeeping initiatives.
In 2000 Mr. Greene was appointed Director of Strategic Planning for the United Nations Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders. That year his book Witness: Voices from the Holocaust was produced as a feature film for PBS. His next book, Justice at Dachau, revealed the story of the largest yet least known series of war crimes trials in history. His editorials on tribunals in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay appeared in the Los Angeles Times and the International Herald Tribune.
In 2005 he returned to his roots in India’s yoga culture and began teaching Bhakti-Yoga at Jivamukti Yoga School and the Integral Yoga Institute. His books on paths to enlightenment include Here Comes the Sun: The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison and Gita Wisdom: An Introduction to India’s Essential Yoga Text. Mr. Greene is a frequent lecturer and has spoken at the Pentagon, the World Economic Forum, the New York Public Library Distinguished Author series, and numerous universities.
He serves on the boards of several non-profits and provides volunteer family mediation services. He is the father of two and lives with his wife on Long Island.
http://www.atma.org/biography/
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My Survival: A Girl on Schindler's List: A Girl on… door Joshua M. Greene
This is a very good book for children to learn about the Holocaust. I knew about how it would turn out, but it was nice to hear the perspective of one who was a young teen at the time.
3 1/2 stars: Good
From the back cover: Like his fellow Beatles, George escaped from the gritty streets of working class Liverpool, survived a tough musical apprenticeship in underground clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg, and became one of the most famous and successful musical artists in history. Before long, though, disillusioned with both the price and the rewards of celebrity and content to let Lennon and McCartney bask in the limelight, he began the journey that would transform his music and redefine the rest of his life. Here Comes the Sun traces George's exploration of Eastern religion - from his first visions in the mid sixties to his increasingly important meditation practice to his studies and lasting friendship with Ravi Shankar, who showed him the harmonious link between music and spirit, to the profound devotion of his later years.
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As the description states, this is a book about a specific aspect of George Harrison's life, from someone who was present for part of it. I did learn some things in the book, and I appreciated the description of the Hamburg days which I don't often hear much about.
Some quotes I liked:
"To George, nothing mattered anymore, what day it was, where he was. It had all merged together, a gray blur obscuring the once colorful canvas of his life. It was obvious to him now, although he would not have anticipated it before: he had loved the image of success but the reality made him ill.
A wall of illusion separates us from each other, he sang. We believe the illusion real, which only turns our love for one another cold. Peace will come when we learn to see past the illusion of differences and come to know that we are one - life is everywhere, within and without.
George himself is no mystery, John said. But the mystery inside George is immense. Its watching him uncover it all little by little that's so damn interesting. [ why the Beatles agreed to the India trip].
Prudence Farrow ... spent so many hours in meditation in deep trance that it worried George and John, who lived in bungalows next to hers. One of these prolonged absences prompted John to pick up his guitar and write an invitation for her to come out. Dear Prudence, the day is beautiful and so are you. Won't you come out and play?
Rishikesh ended John's interest in spiritual matters. "There is no guru. You have to believe in yourself."
"Part of George's charm is that he always felt so inadequate to repay the world for what the world had given him. Acts of kindness have become an art with him."
The Beatles survived, to some extent, because they had one another to deal with the mania. They had each other to keep them grounded. I'm sure that George's whole religious thing was, in a sense, his way of keeping himself grounded while having to be on his own. He didn't have his friends with him anymore. On his solo tours, he was the boss and that can be a lonely position. By the time the Beatles broke up, he just wanted to be back in the human race.
"There are a lot of people I know who are really great but don't have any desire for knowledge or realization. Its good to boogie once in awhile, but when you boogie all your life away its just a waste of life and of what we've been given. I can get high like the rest of them, but its actually low. The more dope you take, the lower you get, really. Having done that, I can say that from experience." - George Harrison.… (meer)
From the back cover: Like his fellow Beatles, George escaped from the gritty streets of working class Liverpool, survived a tough musical apprenticeship in underground clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg, and became one of the most famous and successful musical artists in history. Before long, though, disillusioned with both the price and the rewards of celebrity and content to let Lennon and McCartney bask in the limelight, he began the journey that would transform his music and redefine the rest of his life. Here Comes the Sun traces George's exploration of Eastern religion - from his first visions in the mid sixties to his increasingly important meditation practice to his studies and lasting friendship with Ravi Shankar, who showed him the harmonious link between music and spirit, to the profound devotion of his later years.
---------------
As the description states, this is a book about a specific aspect of George Harrison's life, from someone who was present for part of it. I did learn some things in the book, and I appreciated the description of the Hamburg days which I don't often hear much about.
Some quotes I liked:
"To George, nothing mattered anymore, what day it was, where he was. It had all merged together, a gray blur obscuring the once colorful canvas of his life. It was obvious to him now, although he would not have anticipated it before: he had loved the image of success but the reality made him ill.
A wall of illusion separates us from each other, he sang. We believe the illusion real, which only turns our love for one another cold. Peace will come when we learn to see past the illusion of differences and come to know that we are one - life is everywhere, within and without.
George himself is no mystery, John said. But the mystery inside George is immense. Its watching him uncover it all little by little that's so damn interesting. [ why the Beatles agreed to the India trip].
Prudence Farrow ... spent so many hours in meditation in deep trance that it worried George and John, who lived in bungalows next to hers. One of these prolonged absences prompted John to pick up his guitar and write an invitation for her to come out. Dear Prudence, the day is beautiful and so are you. Won't you come out and play?
Rishikesh ended John's interest in spiritual matters. "There is no guru. You have to believe in yourself."
"Part of George's charm is that he always felt so inadequate to repay the world for what the world had given him. Acts of kindness have become an art with him."
The Beatles survived, to some extent, because they had one another to deal with the mania. They had each other to keep them grounded. I'm sure that George's whole religious thing was, in a sense, his way of keeping himself grounded while having to be on his own. He didn't have his friends with him anymore. On his solo tours, he was the boss and that can be a lonely position. By the time the Beatles broke up, he just wanted to be back in the human race.
"There are a lot of people I know who are really great but don't have any desire for knowledge or realization. Its good to boogie once in awhile, but when you boogie all your life away its just a waste of life and of what we've been given. I can get high like the rest of them, but its actually low. The more dope you take, the lower you get, really. Having done that, I can say that from experience." - George Harrison.… (meer)
***Received as an ARC from the publisher.
I’ve read a lot of Holocaust memoires, survivor testimonials, and biographies, but this exploration of the life of Siggi B. Wilzig is something else - and definitely worth a read. Wilzig is a survivor of Auschwitz, but by the time we hit chapter 5 he has been liberated and is making his way to America to begin his life anew. Like all Auschwitz survivors his experience was horrific, and important to chronicle, but Greene’s choice to refocus instead on Wilzig’s unique journey to become one of the most successful businessmen in America makes this book stand out. I honestly couldn’t care less about the realm of banking and business (especially in the U.S.), but Greene makes careful effort to ensure that Wilzig’s determined character shines through the narrative to keep us engaged in his story. From his unexpected marriage and building of his family legacy, to his tireless efforts to memorialize the Holocaust and his dedication to helping other survivors through his own success, Greene rarely gets bogged down in the minute details of Siggi’s business deals, even though they are an obviously integral feature of his success. By the time I reached the finale, I felt like I knew Siggi - maybe not entirely, as he was clearly a man with many facets of his personality - but enough that I felt it was worth reading his unique story as part of my greater understanding of the events of the Holocaust. Yes, countless individuals died, but their remembrance is carried on by the tireless individuals (Siggi among them) who fought for the memorials, told their stories of survival, and continued striving to live to ensure that Hitler’s goal of wiping out the Jewish population were defeated.… (meer)
I’ve read a lot of Holocaust memoires, survivor testimonials, and biographies, but this exploration of the life of Siggi B. Wilzig is something else - and definitely worth a read. Wilzig is a survivor of Auschwitz, but by the time we hit chapter 5 he has been liberated and is making his way to America to begin his life anew. Like all Auschwitz survivors his experience was horrific, and important to chronicle, but Greene’s choice to refocus instead on Wilzig’s unique journey to become one of the most successful businessmen in America makes this book stand out. I honestly couldn’t care less about the realm of banking and business (especially in the U.S.), but Greene makes careful effort to ensure that Wilzig’s determined character shines through the narrative to keep us engaged in his story. From his unexpected marriage and building of his family legacy, to his tireless efforts to memorialize the Holocaust and his dedication to helping other survivors through his own success, Greene rarely gets bogged down in the minute details of Siggi’s business deals, even though they are an obviously integral feature of his success. By the time I reached the finale, I felt like I knew Siggi - maybe not entirely, as he was clearly a man with many facets of his personality - but enough that I felt it was worth reading his unique story as part of my greater understanding of the events of the Holocaust. Yes, countless individuals died, but their remembrance is carried on by the tireless individuals (Siggi among them) who fought for the memorials, told their stories of survival, and continued striving to live to ensure that Hitler’s goal of wiping out the Jewish population were defeated.… (meer)
Summary: The biography of Siggi Wilzig, an Auschwitz Holocaust survivor who arrived in the U.S. with $240 and built a fortune in both the oil and banking industries while speaking out against the Holocaust.
His mother immediately went to the gas chamber. His father was beaten to death. In all, he lost 57 extended family members in the Holocaust. He survived by his wits, and he believes, the hand of God. This biography tells the story of Siggi Wilzig, who was not stopped by the brutalities of Auschwitz and a forced march to Mauthausen. Starvation did not stop him. He was not stopped by having only a couple of hundred dollars to his name and sweatshop labor. Nor was he stopped by the anti-Semitic character of both the oil and banking industries through which he made his fortune. He did not let the Fed stop him.
He made three vows. This biography describes how he fulfilled them. He vowed never again to starve. He vowed to raise healthy, productive Jewish children and help his people. And he vowed to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive.
When he arrived, his first job was to shovel snow in front of a Jewish store front. In the late 40’s and 1950’s he worked in sweatshops and various traveling sales jobs. He figured out how to sell anything. He started investing in stocks, including Wilshire Oil. At a party, he met Sol Diamond, another Wilshire investor, and together they hatched a plan to take over the company with Siggi as president. They eventually acquired a significant enough share to influence the board, which accepted Siggi’s proposals to turn around the company. This began the company’s meteoric rise and a subsequent purchase of an East coast electronics firm. The challenge was to find adequate cash without exorbitant loans to fund the continued growth of the oil company.
The solution that presented itself was to acquire a bank and “upstream” the profits. His chosen target was the Trust Company of New Jersey (TCNJ). It was a small but profitable bank in which Wilshire eventually acquired an 87 percent interest. Some of the most fascinating aspects of this book are the accounts of how Wilzig ran the bank. He personally courted customers alternately wooing and cudgeling them to bring all their business to him. Much was highly unconventional, and woe to the person, even a family member, who crossed him! A portrait develops of a highly driven man relentlessly pursuing success, unwilling to take no for an answer. He eventually built a bank with $100 million in assets to one with $4 billion. When the Fed tells him that Wilshire must divest of the bank, he takes them to court. Forced to divest, he develops a scheme where his daughter runs the oil company with his “advice” and he runs the bank.
This brings us to family, and particularly his three children. Sherry is most like him in business savvy, and at 23 runs the oil company. Ivan, who Siggi wants to become a lawyer for the bank, and heir apparent, wants nothing of it, but submerges his desire for a music career for twenty years in the bank. Eventually he achieves his dream with a Billboard hit and second career on Broadway, finally making his peace with his father. Third son Alan eventually takes over the bank. Naomi never breaks with Siggi, although she is distant from a man married first to his work. What all understand and struggle with is the survivor who is never truly free of Auschwitz, plagued with nightmares and traumatic memories.
Finally, Wilzig was devoted to perpetuating the memory of the Holocaust. He was the first survivor to speak to West Point Cadets. He was named to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum Council during Jimmy Carter’s presidency and helped the Council work through a thicket of issues before the Museum was finally opened in 1993. He spoke forcefully against Reagan’s visit to the SS cemetery at Bitburg and Reagan’s unintended equating of the German soldiers there with the Jews who died in the Holocaust. Dying of multiple myeloma, through the special efforts of Ivan, he records testimony of his Holocaust experience.
Nothing stopped him from keeping his vows. Joshua Greene renders a complex, multi-faceted person. His genuine interest in customers, his ability to crack one liners one minute, only to launch into a tirade the next, his shrewd ability to assess a balance sheet, his love of his children and grandchildren, his loyalty to friends and employees like partner in survival Larry Martel, and his effort to utterly control their destinies, and his undying commitment to keep alive the memory of the Holocaust all combine in this man who was small of stature, with thick, coiffed hair. This is a fascinating biography of a man I’d never heard of who carried the trauma of the Holocaust but was never stopped by it. Greene’s biography also succeeds in doing what Siggi himself sought to do, keeping alive the memory of the Holocaust as the survivors pass into blessed memory.
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.… (meer)
His mother immediately went to the gas chamber. His father was beaten to death. In all, he lost 57 extended family members in the Holocaust. He survived by his wits, and he believes, the hand of God. This biography tells the story of Siggi Wilzig, who was not stopped by the brutalities of Auschwitz and a forced march to Mauthausen. Starvation did not stop him. He was not stopped by having only a couple of hundred dollars to his name and sweatshop labor. Nor was he stopped by the anti-Semitic character of both the oil and banking industries through which he made his fortune. He did not let the Fed stop him.
He made three vows. This biography describes how he fulfilled them. He vowed never again to starve. He vowed to raise healthy, productive Jewish children and help his people. And he vowed to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive.
When he arrived, his first job was to shovel snow in front of a Jewish store front. In the late 40’s and 1950’s he worked in sweatshops and various traveling sales jobs. He figured out how to sell anything. He started investing in stocks, including Wilshire Oil. At a party, he met Sol Diamond, another Wilshire investor, and together they hatched a plan to take over the company with Siggi as president. They eventually acquired a significant enough share to influence the board, which accepted Siggi’s proposals to turn around the company. This began the company’s meteoric rise and a subsequent purchase of an East coast electronics firm. The challenge was to find adequate cash without exorbitant loans to fund the continued growth of the oil company.
The solution that presented itself was to acquire a bank and “upstream” the profits. His chosen target was the Trust Company of New Jersey (TCNJ). It was a small but profitable bank in which Wilshire eventually acquired an 87 percent interest. Some of the most fascinating aspects of this book are the accounts of how Wilzig ran the bank. He personally courted customers alternately wooing and cudgeling them to bring all their business to him. Much was highly unconventional, and woe to the person, even a family member, who crossed him! A portrait develops of a highly driven man relentlessly pursuing success, unwilling to take no for an answer. He eventually built a bank with $100 million in assets to one with $4 billion. When the Fed tells him that Wilshire must divest of the bank, he takes them to court. Forced to divest, he develops a scheme where his daughter runs the oil company with his “advice” and he runs the bank.
This brings us to family, and particularly his three children. Sherry is most like him in business savvy, and at 23 runs the oil company. Ivan, who Siggi wants to become a lawyer for the bank, and heir apparent, wants nothing of it, but submerges his desire for a music career for twenty years in the bank. Eventually he achieves his dream with a Billboard hit and second career on Broadway, finally making his peace with his father. Third son Alan eventually takes over the bank. Naomi never breaks with Siggi, although she is distant from a man married first to his work. What all understand and struggle with is the survivor who is never truly free of Auschwitz, plagued with nightmares and traumatic memories.
Finally, Wilzig was devoted to perpetuating the memory of the Holocaust. He was the first survivor to speak to West Point Cadets. He was named to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum Council during Jimmy Carter’s presidency and helped the Council work through a thicket of issues before the Museum was finally opened in 1993. He spoke forcefully against Reagan’s visit to the SS cemetery at Bitburg and Reagan’s unintended equating of the German soldiers there with the Jews who died in the Holocaust. Dying of multiple myeloma, through the special efforts of Ivan, he records testimony of his Holocaust experience.
Nothing stopped him from keeping his vows. Joshua Greene renders a complex, multi-faceted person. His genuine interest in customers, his ability to crack one liners one minute, only to launch into a tirade the next, his shrewd ability to assess a balance sheet, his love of his children and grandchildren, his loyalty to friends and employees like partner in survival Larry Martel, and his effort to utterly control their destinies, and his undying commitment to keep alive the memory of the Holocaust all combine in this man who was small of stature, with thick, coiffed hair. This is a fascinating biography of a man I’d never heard of who carried the trauma of the Holocaust but was never stopped by it. Greene’s biography also succeeds in doing what Siggi himself sought to do, keeping alive the memory of the Holocaust as the survivors pass into blessed memory.
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.… (meer)
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