Martin Greenfield / Maxmilian Grunfeld (M / Slovakia, 1928), Holocaust survivor
Martin Greenfield / Maxmilian Grunfeld (M / Slovakia, 1928), Holocaust survivor.
- KEYWORDS : <Slovakia> <Auschwitz> <Buchenwald> <Liberation of Buchenwald> -- <United States>
- MEMOIRS : Measure of a Man: From Auschwitz Survivor to Presidents' Tailor (2014)
Biography
NOTES : Maxmilian Grunfeld was born in Pavlovo, Slovakia (now Ukraine) on August 9, 1928. The family was deported to Auschwitz. He was then liberated in April 1945 while imprisoned at Buchenwald. After the war, in 1947, he emigrated to the United States, where he became one of the most successful and famous men’s tailors of America. In 2014 he authored a memoir.
Book : Measure of a Man (2014)
He's been called "America's greatest living tailor" and "the most interesting man in the world." Now, for the first time, Holocaust survivor Martin Greenfield tells his incredible life story. Taken from his Czechoslovakian home at age fifteen and transported to the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz with his family, Greenfield came face to face with "Angel of Death" Dr. Joseph Mengele and was divided forever from his parents, sisters, and baby brother.
In haunting, powerful prose, Greenfield remembers his desperation and fear as a teenager alone in the death camp—and how an SS soldier's shirt dramatically altered the course of his life. He learned how to sew; and when he began wearing the shirt under his prisoner uniform, he learned that clothes possess great power and could even help save his life.
Measure of a Man is the story of a man who suffered unimaginable horror and emerged with a dream of success. From sweeping floors at a New York clothing factory to founding America’s premier custom suit company, Greenfield built a fashion empire. Now 86 years old and working with his sons, Greenfield has dressed the famous and powerful of D.C. and Hollywood, including Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama, celebrities Paul Newman, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Jimmy Fallon, and the stars of Martin Scorsese's films.
Written with soul-baring honesty and, at times, a wry sense of humor, Measure of a Man is a memoir unlike any other—one that will inspire hope and renew faith in the resilience of man.