Meet Gidon Lev
Rascal. Holocaust survivor. Optimist.
Gidon Lev’s extraordinary life has spanned the horrors of the Holocaust, the early years of Israel, fathering six children, milking cows on kibbutz, a late-in-life romance, the rise of TikTok and the unthinkable catastrophe of October 7th.
Together with his longtime partner, Julie Gray, Gidon has written two books: The True Adventures of Gidon Lev and Let’s Make Things Better. The documentary Follow Me, about their life together, debuts at the Newport Beach Film Festival in October 2026. In January 2027, Gidon will address the UN General Assembly.
Through it all, Gidon has become a symbol of hope and perseverance around the world. At 91, he is still very much a rascal.
Gidon's Story
Gidon Lev, born Peter Wolfgang Löw, was born in Carlsbad (now Karlovy Vary), Czechoslovakia, in 1935 in what is now Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic. In 1938, Nazi Germany annexed the Sudetenland, including his hometown. Before the war, Karlovy Vary’s Jewish community numbered about 2,600. Only 26 returned after the Holocaust.
In 1941, Gidon and his parents were deported to the Theresienstadt (Terezín) concentration camp, about 50 kilometers north of Prague.
Gidon spent the ages of six to ten in the concentration camp, from 1941 to 1945. He was severely malnourished and witnessed public executions, beatings, and torture. He saw his father only twice, being marched past, six abreast, among the prisoners forced by the Nazis to mine mica.
Gidon lost 26 family members in the Holocaust. They were murdered in Theresienstadt, Treblinka, Auschwitz, Maly Trostenets, Riga, Lodz, and Warsaw. Only Gidon and his mother, Doris, survived.
Gidon and his mother arrived in Toronto, Canada, in 1949. There, he became deeply involved with the Zionist youth organization HaShomer HaTzair. In 1959, he moved to Israel to fulfill his dream. A living part of Israeli history, Gidon served in the IDF, guarding Mount Scopus in 1962 and fighting in a combat unit during the Six-Day War and the War of Attrition.
Gidon has six children: a daughter and a son from his first marriage, and a daughter and three sons from his second marriage to Susan Kashman Lev.