North Shore Towers resident Larry Wenig spoke about his second book, My Life of Turmoil, during a presentation in the VIP Room on Wednesday, September 30.
Wenig, a Holocaust survivor, published his first book, From Nazi Inferno to Soviet Hell, about seven years ago. It told the story of Wenig’s town in Poland being invaded by Hitler’s army in September of 1939 and what his family went through. This included being taken to Gulag 149 and being resettled in Uzbekistan, where they lived in a mudroom for two years.
“We suffered tremendously,” Wenig said.
The family eventually escaped in June of 1945 when they bribed the KGB. Even in 1945 and 1946, Wenig witnessed pogroms still being held against the Jewish people. Witnessing such things inspired Wenig to vow that he would devote his time to seeing the creation of a Jewish state.
Wenig and his family arrived in New York on June 13, 1946 with the help of his step-father’s brother.
In My Life of Turmoil, Wenig details his life in the United States. He said when he first arrived he was a skeleton and did not know English or own a jacket. His step-uncle gave the family a rent-free apartment in the Bronx, and gave Wenig’s step-father a job.
As people began to ask Wenig what he wanted to do for a living, he told them he wanted to be a lawyer. He said people thought he was crazy since, at that time, he was 22 years old, hadn’t finished high school, had no money and didn’t know the language.
“I am a very perseverant and determined individual,” Wenig told his neighbors. “It was difficult because everyone was against me.”
Wenig worked during the day and attended high school, college and law school in the evenings with the assistance of a Polish dictionary. He went on to have a very successful career as a lawyer and his own practice with an office in Manhattan.
For the last eight years, Wenig and his wife Selma have lived at North Shore Towers. They have two children and five grandchildren.
“I feel that I accomplished a great deal,” he said.
Wenig also spoke about studying he did to try to find out “why Jews are hated so much.” During his presentation in the Country Club, Wenig detailed what he found during his research and the history of anti-Semitism. He also talked about the history of the Muslim people.
