"To me, hard times are like hide-and-seek: where is the solution, where is the hope? We can never give up looking for these things because they are just waiting to be found."
Gidon Lev, an 89-year-old Holocaust survivor, has lived an extraordinary life. At the age of six, he was imprisoned in the concentration camp of Theresienstadt. Liberated when he was ten, he lost at least 26 members of his family, including his father and grandfather.
But Gidon's life is extraordinary not only because he is one of the few living survivors remaining but because of his lessons learned over nearly a century. His enduring message is of hope and opportunity – to make things better. By sharing his timeless simple belief and truths, Gidon reminds us that we have the power to incrementally improve what is in front of us and leave something better behind us.
His life is a lesson of how to do it, even in the face of astonishing adversity, and Let's Make Things Better is the calling card of an indomitable spirit.
'By sharing his inspiring life story, Holocaust survivor Gidon Lev reminds us that the human spirit is larger than even the most severe and unjust trauma. Through one of history's darkest nights, he preserved his brightness and warmth' – David Von Drehl, author of the New York Times bestseller The Book of Charlie
Gidon Lev was born Petr Wolfgang Löw in 1935 in Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad) in the Czech Republic. He was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp north of Prague in 1941 at the age of 6, and remained in the camp until liberation in May 1945. Married twice, Gidon is the father of six with fifteen grandchildren and two great-granddaughters. He now lives in Northern Israel with his life partner of many years, Julie Gray.
Julie Gray is a writer and native Californian whose work can be found in the Times of Israel, Moment Magazine, the Huffington Post, the Jewish Journal the NY Post and many other publications. She has spoken and taught about storytelling techniques at Warner Bros. Studios, Cal Arts, the London Screenwriter's Festival, The Haifa International Film Festival as well as the Weitzman Institute and the IDC in Israel. Julie has volunteered with the Middle East Peace Initiative, Kids for Peace, Amnesty International and Combatants for Peace. Let's Make Things Better is Gidon Lev's deeply moving story - and the hard-earned life lessons - of Holocaust survival, as well as the joy, hope and tolerance that can still blossom from within.
