Lily's Promise by Lily Ebert and Dov Forman - #BookReview

 

3rd July 2020 - North London

"Let's do something, Dov!"

My great-grandmother is restless. Ninety-six years old, Lily's used to spending her days in schools, talking to children about her experiences in Auschwitz, or campaigning at public events. She hates being stuck in her flat alone.

Pandemic lockdown rules have eased at last - at least for the time being. After too many shouted conversations through a window while we stood in the garden, my family can finally spend Sabbath with Lily again, as we always used to...

It's Friday night, and we're gathered in our bubble round the table. We're all so happy to be with each other again, lighting the Shabbat candles together, blessing the bread. Such a special evening. Lily's fully of energy.

When Holocaust survivor Lily Ebert was liberated in 1945, a Jewish-American soldier gave her a banknote on which he'd written 'Good luck and happiness'. And when her great-grandson, Dov, decided to use social media to track down the family of the GI, 96-year-old Lily found herself making headlines round the world. Lily had promised herself that if she survived Auschwitz she would tell everyone the truth about the camp. Now was her chance.

In Lily's Promise she writes movingly about her happy childhood in Hungary, the death of her mother and two youngest siblings on their arrival at Auschwitz in 1944 and her determination to keep her two other sisters safe. She describes the inhumanity of the camp and the small acts of defiance that gave her strength. From there she and her sisters became slave labour in a munitions factory, and then faced a death march that they barely survived.

Lily lost so much, but she built a new life for herself and her family, first in Israel and then in London. It wasn't easy; the pain of her past was always with her, but this extraordinary woman found the strength to speak out in the hope that such evil would never happen again.

***

I know it is not correct English to use the same word twice in a sentence but I hope you will forgive me in this instance because the word is so appropriate. Having read this book I am struck by two things; Lily Ebert is a remarkable woman and her great grandson, Dov Forman, is also a very remarkable young man.

I found the book to be completely compelling and I could not put it down. Lily's life story is both captivating and heart breaking. Beginning with her evocative descriptions of the Hungary of her childhood, the reader glimpses her strength of character that will ultimately lead to her survival in the death camps.

The atrocities that she both suffered and witnessed in Auschwitz do not make for comfortable reading. However, I admire Lily hugely for finding the courage she needed to tell her story. She made a promise to herself during her time in the camp: 

"... I promised myself I would tell the world what had happened. Not just to me, but to all the people who could not tell their stories. And on the day I made that promise, I thought the world would listen. I thought I could do it single-handedly. Perhaps I was a little optimistic. A little naive. But I really believed it."

Hers is a story that deserves to be told. The inhumanity of the death camps is something that should never be forgotten and relating her experiences came at personal cost to Lily. To be able to tell her story was painful in the extreme for her, and it was with help and support that she was able to talk about it later in her life.

What emerges in this book is an account of an incredible woman who witnessed the utter dehumanisation of ordinary people whilst in the Auschwitz-Birkanau concentration camp. Lily demonstrates enormous strength in the writing of this book.

Dedicating her life to the retelling of her story makes her an inspiration to us all. It would have been so understandable for Lily to go through life with bitterness and pessimism. Instead she embraces life with warmth, hope and genuine optimism.

The hype surrounding the release of this book is justly deserved. I feel privileged to have been able to read it and it will remain with me for a very long time.

ISBN: 978 1529073409

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Format: Hardback, e-book and audio

No. of pages: 320 (hardback)

About the Authors:

Lily Ebert lives in London near her large and loving family, which includes thirty four great-grandchildren. She is a founder member of the Holocaust Survivors Centre and was awarded the British Empire Medal for services to Holocaust education. Lily's Promise is her powerful memoir.

Dov Forman is Lily's great-grandson. At the age of sixteen he was separated from her during the Covid pandemic for the first time, and became determined to record her story for posterity.