A 100-year-old Holocaust survivor who’s viral story enraptured millions around the world, including King Charles, has died, according to reports.
Lily Ebert, who was 20-years-old when she and her family were taken from Hungary to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in 1944, died near her home in London, the BBC said Thursday.
While Ebert, managed to survive, her mother, brothers, and sister died in that camp.
Her story went viral after her great-grandson, Dov Forman, then 16, publicized her search for the American soldier who liberated her from Auschwitz in 1945.
The search garnered her millions of well-wishers from around the globe, including King Charles, who would award her with the honor Member of the Order of the British Empire.
“As a survivor of the unmentionable horrors of the Holocaust,” the King wrote, “I am so proud that she later found a home in Britain where she continued to tell the world of the horrendous atrocities she had witnessed, as a permanent reminder of the depths of depravity and evil to which humankind can fall when reason, compassion and truth are abandoned.”
Lily’s noble search began when she showed her grandson, Dov, a banknote that an American soldier gifted her while she was being liberated from Auschwitz-Birkenau. On it the soldier wrote, “A start to a new life. Good luck and happiness. Assistant to Chaplain Schacter.”
Dov posted a photo of the note onto X and her grandson did in fact track down the descendants of Private Hyman Schuler who rescued her from the death camp 75-years earlier.
“A start to a new life. Good luck and happiness. Assistant to Chaplain Schacter,” the inscription on the banknote read. With the help of internet do-gooders Dov was able to track down the descendants of a Private Hyman Schulman, who was the assistant to Rabbi Herschel Schachter, within just a few hours.
That led to a video meeting between Ebert and the family of Schulman, who died in 2011 in New York.
In the call, Lily thanked his family and said the note was “something special” that she would look to over the years. Schulman’s family said they had no idea that he had done such a significant mitzvah.
His son Jason Schulman said of the revelation at the time, “I was shaken, because suddenly he wasn’t my father and all of the history we had had together. Instead, he was this young man in the throes of war doing something extremely kind for somebody.”
He added, “Somehow the moist emotion of the moment was brought back and it was actually overwhelming.”
“Lily was the epitome of strength and determination,” said Karen Pollock of the Holocaust Educational Trust. “She will be remembered for her incredible story, her unparalleled tenacity and her zest for life,” adding, “She belongs in the list of Jewish heroines.”
Ms. Ebert would have turned 101 on December 29th. She is survived by a daughter and a son, 10 grandchildren, 38 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. Her funeral will be held in London, but Lily will be buried in Israel.
