Israeli Actress Gal Gadot Says Her Holocaust Survivor Grandfather Helped Her Relate to the Values ‘Wonder Woman’ Stands For
Israeli actress Gal Gadot had an easy time relating to what Wonder Woman — the superhero she plays on the big screen — stands for because of what her late Holocaust survivor grandfather taught her, she told Rolling Stone magazine in its latest issue.
Gadot’s grandfather was 13 when Nazis invaded his native country of Czechoslovakia. His father died in the army while the rest of his family was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where his mother and brother died in the gas chambers. After the war, Gadot’s grandfather traveled alone to Israel.
“His entire family was murdered — it’s unthinkable,” Gadot told Rolling Stone. “He affected me a lot. After all the horrors he’d seen, he was like this damaged bird, but he was always hopeful and positive and full of love. If I was raised in a place where these values were not so strong, things would be different. It was very easy for me to relate to everything that Wonder Woman stands for.”
She added that the Amazonian superhero represented “love and hope and acceptance and fighting evil.”
Gadot shared a photo of her grandfather and a tribute to him on Instagram in April in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day.
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