Holocaust survivor slams TikTok anti-vaxxer who made Shoah comparison

By Lauren Hakimi January 4, 2022

A Holocaust survivor is using TikTok to push back against anti-vaxxers who compare vaccine mandates to the genocide.

86-year-old Gidon Lev made waves with a post in response to a user who posted a video of herself with a buzz cut, saying it was her “first day at an unvaccinated camp.”

“Shame on you,” Lev said, using TikTok’s duet function. “Are you trying to look like a Holocaust survivor because you don’t want to be vaccinated?”

“I was four years in a concentration camp,” Lev said, holding up a six-pointed yellow felt star blazoned with the word “Jude.”

“Have the day you deserve,” the Israeli octogenarian concluded.

@thetrueadventures
##duet with @Carollynn Xavier ##holocaustsurvivor ##stopantisemitism ##foryoupage ##fypシ ##fyp ##shoah ##antivaxxer ##comeon ##notfunny

♬ GOOD VIBES – Ellen Once Again

Lev’s retort to the anti-vaxxer, Carollynn Xavier, had been viewed more than four million times as of press time. Xavier, who posted the video to which Lev responded under the username @carollynnthechristian, has since made her TikTok account private.

Born in the former Czech Republic, Lev was imprisoned in the Theresienstadt concentration camp between 1941 and 1945, when he was between 6 and 10 years old, according to his website. He lost 26 family members in the Holocaust, including his father and grandparents.

On TikTok, Lev posts videos aiming to combat antisemitism and misinformation about the Holocaust. He shares the account with his partner, Julie Gray, who helped write his memoir, “The True Adventures of Gidon Lev.”

And although his subject matter can be serious, he takes it on with a smile. His TikTok bio? “Holocaust Survivor & Rascal.”

Lauren Hakimi is a digital reporting and writing intern at The Forward. Email her at hakimi@forward.com and find her on Twitter @lauren_hakimi.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO