Rival, Peter

Peter Rival was born in Bratislava in modern day Slovakia in the earliest days of World War Two. For almost 5 years, Peter and his mother lived as Roman Catholics, hiding their true identity from the Nazis. In April of 1944, he was sent to Theresienstadt Concentration Camp. While Peter’s extremely young age at the time prevented him from sharing many specific details regarding his time in the camp, he is able to vividly describe his experiences after, including immigrating- first to Israel and then to Canada. His story is a clear example of the hardships and difficulties that survivors endured in the years after the war. Peter sat down with his grandson, Owen Rival, to share his story in 2014.