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Lily Ebert

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The native form of thispersonal nameisEngelman Lívia.This article usesWestern name orderwhen mentioning individuals.

Lily Ebert
MBEBEM
Lily Ebert with her great-grandsonDov Formanin 2021
Born
Lívia Engelman

(1923-12-29)29 December 1923(age 100)
Bonyhád,Hungary
NationalityBritish (naturalised)
Known for
  • World War IIHolocaustsurvivor
  • Lily's Promise: How I Survived Auschwitz and Found the Strength to Livepublished with Dov Forman (forwarded byPrince Charles)
  • Media appearances and social media videos
RelativesDov Forman(great-grandson)

Lily EbertMBEBEM(bornLívia Engelman,[1]29 December 1923) is a Hungarian-born British writer andHolocaustsurvivor, who in recent years has become notable for her memoir and social media videos and media appearances documenting her life as a survivor of that campaign.

Early life

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Ebert was born inBonyhád,Hungary. She was the eldest daughter in a Jewish family of six children and currently resides inLondon,England.[2]

WWII years and the Holocaust

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TheNazisinvaded Hungaryin March 1944, and, in July 1944, when Ebert was 20 years old, she along with her mother, younger brother and three sisters were deported toAuschwitz-Birkenau.[2]Ebert's mother Nina, younger brother Bela, and younger sister Berta were immediately sent to thegas chambers,whilst Ebert and her two other sisters, Renee and Piri, were spared, as they were selected for work in the camp.[2]

Four months after arriving in the camp, Ebert and her two sisters were transferred to a munitions factory nearLeipzig,where they worked until liberation byAllied forcesfrom theDeath Marchin 1945.[2]

After she was liberated, Ebert travelled with her surviving sisters to Switzerland in order to start rebuilding their life. In 1953 Ebert was reunited with her other brother, who had also survived the Nazi camp and slave-labour system. The family emigrated to Israel where she married and had three children, before settling in London in 1967.[3]Ebert now has 10 grandchildren, 38 great grandchildren and 1 great-great grandchild.[4][5]

Memoirs

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In 2021, during theCOVID-19 pandemic,with her great grandsonDov Forman,Ebert co-authoredThe Sunday Times Best-SellerLily's Promise: How I Survived Auschwitz and Found the Strength to Live,which includes a foreword byPrince Charles.[6]Lily's Promiseis a five-time Sunday Times Best-Seller and was theWaterstonesbest history book of 2021.Lily's Promiseis also a three-timeNew York Times bestseller,debuting at number 2, and was chosen as the Costco US buyers' pick for May 2022.[7]

Also in 2021, Ebert and Forman usedTikTokthe video sharing platform, gaining more than a million followers for clips in which Ebert answered people's questions about surviving the Holocaust, when she was a prisoner at Auschwitz concentration camp.[8]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.[9]

Ebert and Forman have collaborated with variousdepartments of the UK Government(including theDepartment for Education,theForeign Office,theHome Officeand theDepartment for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities), and in November 2020, they spoke at theUK Parliamentin favour of theUK Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre.[10]Ebert and Forman have also appeared on international radio and television, giving interviews to over 180 news outlets in more than 35 countries.

Ebert's portrait was one of seven commissioned byPrince Charlesfor theRoyal Collectionto remember survivors of the Holocaust and as a tribute for the survivors who made their life in Britain. When the portraits were released in theQueen's GalleryatBuckingham PalaceEbert told Charles "Meeting you, it is for everyone who lost their lives." Charles touched her shoulder and replied: "But it is a greater privilege for me."[11]

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.[12]

In 2023 the volume of Shemot (Hebrew name for theBook 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.[13]

Honours and awards

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Ebert was awarded theBritish Empire Medal(BEM) in the2016 New Year Honoursfor services to Holocaust education and awareness.[14]She was appointedMember of the Order of the British Empire(MBE) in the2023 New Year Honoursfor services to Holocaust education.[15][16]On 31 January 2023, in an investiture ceremony atWindsor Castle,she received the award fromKing Charles III.[17]

Ebert's great grandsonDov Formanreceived the Points of Light award fromBoris Johnson,theUK Prime Ministerat10 Downing Street,in November 2021, in recognition of exceptional services to Holocaust education.[18][19]

Ebert and Forman were awarded with the community award by broadcasterAndrew Neilat theJewish CareandToplandbusiness lunch in March 2022, at theGrosvenor House Hotel.[20]

In April 2022, Ebert was awarded theKnight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary,one of Hungary's highest national honours, by Ambassador Ferenc Kumin of Hungary to the United Kingdom, on behalf of the President and the Hungarian government.[21][22]

In May 2022, Ebert was the winner of the inauguralSimon WiesenthalPrize. At a ceremony in theAustrian parliament,Ebert was given the award for civic engagement against antisemitism and for education about the Holocaust. The award was presented by theEuropean Commission’scoordinator on combating antisemitism. The commissioner praised Ebert for her decades-long engagement as a witness to the Holocaust and her recent turn toTikTok,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.[23]

On her100th birthdayon 29 December 2023, King Charles III sent her a personal letter congratulating her, praising her "extraordinary strength of spirit, resilience, and courage".[24]

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References

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  1. ^Spirk, József (18 January 2022)."Harmincötszörös dédnagymama lett Lily Ebert, a 98 éves magyar származású holokauszt-túlélő"[Lily Ebert, a 98-year-old Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor, becomes a great-grandmother for the 35th time]. Nagyvilág.24.hu(in Hungarian).Retrieved9 January2024.
  2. ^abcd"Lily Ebert BEM".het.org.uk.Retrieved14 August2021.
  3. ^"'Auschwitz was hell on earth. We must never forget its horrors'".standard.co.uk.2020.Retrieved14 August2021.
  4. ^Rosa, Joanne."Auschwitz survivor and great-grandson teach TikTok about realities of Holocaust".ABC News.Retrieved10 February2022.
  5. ^Forman, Dov (11 April 2024)."Dov Forman, great grandson's Twitter".Twitter.Retrieved12 April2024.
  6. ^"We must keep memories of the Holocaust alive".The Telegraph.27 August 2021.
  7. ^Egan, Elisabeth (26 May 2022)."Dov Forman Wants You to Know His Great-Grandmother's Holocaust Story".The New York Times.Retrieved29 May2022.
  8. ^"Nonagenarian TikTok star shares Ausschwitz experiences".dw.2021. Archived fromthe originalon 14 August 2021.Retrieved14 August2021.
  9. ^"A 98-year-old Holocaust survivor built a massive TikTok following to combat deniers: 'It happened'".Washington Post.Retrieved10 February2022.
  10. ^"Lily Ebert & Dov Forman speech".Westminster.gov.uk.UK Government.Retrieved10 February2022.
  11. ^"Holocaust Memorial Day: Portraits of last remaining UK survivors unveiled".BBC News.27 January 2022.Retrieved27 January2022.
  12. ^"How social media helped a great-grandmother find the family of the man who liberated her from Auschwitz".panmacmillan.
  13. ^How Dov Forman reunited Lily Ebert with her brother's lost book
  14. ^"Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood".thegazette.co.uk.2015.Retrieved8 August2021.
  15. ^"No. 63918".The London Gazette(Supplement). 31 December 2022. p. N18.
  16. ^Frazer, Jenni."Arise, Sir Ephraim! Chief Rabbi leads record-breaking honours list for the community".jewishnews.co.uk.Retrieved31 December2022.
  17. ^"99 year old Holocaust survivor Lily Ebert receives MBE from King Charles".thejc.The Jewish Chronicle. 2023.Retrieved1 February2023.
  18. ^"Lily's Promise; Dov Forman".Points Of Light.29 November 2021.Retrieved10 February2022.
  19. ^"Prime Minister honours teen who co-wrote great-grandmother's Auschwitz memoir".Jewish News UK. 1 December 2021.Retrieved10 February2022.
  20. ^Care, Jewish."JEWISH CARE HOSTS 34TH TOPLAND GROUP BUSINESS LUNCH".Jewish Care.Jewish Care website. Archived fromthe originalon 1 October 2022.Retrieved15 March2022.
  21. ^"Kitüntetést kapott a magyar állammtól a 98 éves holokauszttúlélő Lily Ebert – videó".Blikk-információ. 27 April 2022.Retrieved27 April2022.
  22. ^Ford, Lily (27 April 2022)."Holocaust survivor, 98, 'so touched' to receive Hungarian national honour".Evening Standard. PA.Retrieved27 April2022.
  23. ^Hore, Liam (12 May 2022)."Lily Ebert wins Austria's Simon Wiesenthal Prize".Jewish Chronicle. The Jewish Chronicle UK.Retrieved12 May2022.
  24. ^"Holocaust: King Charles' tribute to Auschwitz survivor who turns 100".29 December 2023.Retrieved29 December2023.
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