In May 2022, Ebert was the winner of the inaugural Simon Wiesenthal Prize. At a ceremony in the Austrian parliament, Ebert was given the award for civic engagement against antisemitism and for education about the Holocaust. The award was presented by the European Commission’s coordinator on combating antisemitism. The commissioner praised Mrs Ebert for her decades-long engagement as a witness to the Holocaust and her recent turn to TikTok, a platform on which she and her great-grandson Dov Forman have amassed over 1.9 million followers and brought her life story to a whole new audience. [21] External links [ edit ] Ebert and Forman have collaborated with various departments of the UK Government (including the Department for Education, the Foreign Office, the Home Office and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) and in November 2020, they spoke at the UK Parliament in favour of the UK Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre. [8] Ebert and Forman have also appeared on international radio and television, giving interviews to over 180 news outlets in more than 35 countries. You have to do your best to survive. Of course. But it’s hard to survive alone. Your best chance of life come from working together. How social media helped a great-grandmother find the family of the man who liberated her from Auschwitz". www.panmacmillan.com. While other teenagers played video games and FaceTimed with friends, Forman recorded his great-grandmother’s stories — of hiding a beloved pendant in a piece of bread stashed in her armpit; of receiving a telegram from her long-lost older brother; of holding her first baby and missing her mother, who bravely lit candles in a field during their last Sabbath together.

Lily Ebert MBE BEM (born 29 December 1923) is a Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor, living in London. As a Holocaust survivor, Lily has experienced the worst of humanity. Still, there is not a single line in the book where it feels like she has expressed any kind of hatred or malice against any country or religion. Forgive, but don’t forget—that’s the message she gave through her story. Ford, Lily (27 April 2022). "Holocaust survivor, 98, 'so touched' to receive Hungarian national honour". Evening Standard. PA . Retrieved 27 April 2022. The Holocaust survivors have lit their own lights,” Forman said. “They shone that light on the world for so many years. Now it’s our responsibility to continue to relight that candle.” Ebert was born in Bonyhád, Hungary. She was the eldest daughter in a family of six children. [1] The Holocaust [ edit ]The Nazis invaded Hungary in March 1944, and, in July 1944, when Ebert was 20 years old, she along with her mother, younger brother and three sisters were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. [1] Ebert's mother Nina, younger brother Bela, and younger sister Berta were immediately sent to the gas chambers, whilst Ebert and her two other sisters, Renee and Piri, were selected for work in the camp. [1] We can interpret ‘One Day’, the theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2022, in a number of ways. For example, it can prompt us to think about one day in the future and how we can empower future generations to carry forward the lessons we must learn from the Holocaust and the testimony of survivors. Ebert's great grandson Dov Forman received the Points of Light award from the UK Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street, in November 2021, in recognition of exceptional services to Holocaust education. [16] [17] Reading about the Holocaust reminds us that in this jungle of humanity, humans are the worst when it comes to inflicting pain on each other. The Holocaust not only killed the people who died during the war, more people than the mind can take in, but also killed something in everybody who lived through it.

The pain and the trauma sometimes make a person silent. And in that phase, it’s really hard for that human to share his or her ordeal with anyone else. The same happened with Lily Ebert. That’s why she took her time to tell the world her story. In 2023 the volume of Shemot (Hebrew name for the Book of Exodus) with the signature of Lily Ebert's younger brother Bela, who was murdered in Auschwitz, was found. It remained in Eberts’ hometown of Bonyhád for decades and someone whose father had an antique shop recognised the surname, bought the book, and got in touch with Lily's great-grandson Dov Forman. Dov Forman travelled to Bonyhád and brought the book to London. [11] Honours and awards [ edit ] In fact, the book’s title, Lily’s Promise, refers to a promise Lily made to herself on Yom Kippur in 1944: if she survived the Nazis’ brutality, she would not only tell the world her story. But she would also ensure that whatever happened to them wouldn’t happen to anyone again.A 98-year-old Holocaust survivor built a massive TikTok following to combat deniers: 'It happened' ". Washington Post . Retrieved 10 February 2022. Family and loyal friends are highly significant to a person who has suffered a lot in life. They allow him the necessary space that he needs for himself because they are not shoving him up against the wall. It would be impossible for that human to survive otherwise. Also, Lily Ebert’s family never forced her to tell them her story against her will.

Kitüntetést kapott a magyar állammtól a 98 éves holokauszttúlélő Lily Ebert – videó". Blikk-információ. 27 April 2022 . Retrieved 27 April 2022. When Ebert was liberated in 1945, she met US soldier Hayman Shulman. With no paper to hand, he scribbled a message of hope onto a German banknote and gave it to Lily. In 2022, after a viral social media campaign, the family of Private Shulman were located, resulting in the meeting between Lily and the children of the soldier who liberated her. [10] Jews like Lily were only numbers to the Nazis. They consequently had a number inked on their arm. They used it as a strategy to make individuals feel less human. On her left forearm, Lily Engelman (her pre-marriage name) has the tattoo with the number A-10572. Four months after arriving in the camp, Ebert and her two sisters were transferred to a munitions factory near Leipzig, where they worked until liberation by Allied forces from the Death March in 1945. [1] Post-Holocaust [ edit ]Also in 2021, Ebert and Forman used the TikTok video sharing platform, gaining more than a million followers for clips in which Ebert answers people's questions about surviving the Holocaust, when she was a prisoner at Auschwitz concentration camp. [6] Ebert and Forman's account has over 1.7 million followers, it has received over 25 million ‘likes’ and their top 5 most popular videos have collectively been viewed by over 50 million people. [7] Holocaust Memorial Day: Portraits of last remaining UK survivors unveiled". BBC News. 27 January 2022 . Retrieved 27 January 2022. The phrase “Together we stand, divided we fall.” This sentence best describes how Lily and her two sisters managed to survive the cruel Nazi concentration camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau and Buchenwald.