Martin Greenfield has gone from Auschwitz inmate to business owner and legendary tailor over the past 70 years, and on Friday he shared the lessons from his storied life and career with an audience of interns and young professionals at the Young America’s Foundation’s headquarters in Reston, Va.
"We are all born alike, knowing nothing. Our job is simple. Parents have to bring you up, your teachers have to teach you. What do you have to do? You have to think for yourself," he said.
Greenfield, who has tailored suits for Hollywood stars, political figures, and professional athletes, spent 20 minutes speaking on hard work and the American dream.
"Rich people? They don’t win lotteries. They work hard," he said to applause.
At 86, he still works six days a week and continues to attract elite customers, including President Barack Obama and Colin Powell’s son. During their session, Powell remarked that while his military uniform only lasted four years, his twenty-two year-old Greenfield suit looks brand new.
Greenfield came to the United States in 1947 with no money; he had to be told five times that he was an American after receiving his green card to believe it. While attending night classes to learn basic reading and writing skills—his only education—Greenfield spent his days working at a suit manufacturer.
He began as a floor boy, but was soon asked to run factory operations. Success came with its own challenges: His boss informed him he would have to fire the man he was replacing. Greenfield accepted a pay cut to keep the unqualified man onboard.
When he received his first Social Security check, he tried to return it. After a long conversation with the bureaucrat he spoke to, he eventually accepted the check to his chagrin.
"I never took a penny from the government" prior to receiving that check, he said. "You are the luckiest people in the world. But if you don’t do anything with it, you’re wasting it. You’re wasting your life."
His life story and unique outlook inspired Wynton Hall, coauthor of Greenfield’s memoir, Measure of a Man, to reach out to him.
"I said I’ve got to go meet this man, he’s magical," Hall said. "He doesn’t just like to dwell on the darkness of the hell of the holocaust. He not just survived, he thrived. He came out of it and didn’t just say ‘okay I’m going to just now eke out the next years of my life, I’m going to build something amazing."
During the question and answer period following his event an intern asked him how to bring jobs back to America.
"Put me in charge," he said.