— Dov Forman (@DovForman)
April 11, 2024
In the photos, Ebert, who marked her centenary on 29 December, can be seen beaming as she cradles the new baby, supported by other family members.
Attending the brit millah, an “emotional” Ebert gave a “moving” speech expressing her joy at living to meet the first in a new generation of her family.
"The whole family are excited my great-grandmother was able to meet him, it was very special for her,” Forman said. “She gave a speech at the brit which was very moving, she was so emotional.”
Born in Bonyhád in 1923, Ebert was the eldest daughter in a family of six children. In July 1944, after the Nazis invaded Hungary, Ebert, then aged 20, was deported to Auschwitz along with her mother Nina, brother Bela and three sisters, Berta, Renee and Piri. Nina, Bela and Berta were immediately sent to the gas chambers whilst Lily, Renee and Piri were selected for work in the camp.
Four months after arriving in the camp, the three sisters were transferred to a munitions factory near Leipzig in Germany where they worked until liberation by Allied forces in 1945.
After she was liberated, Ebert travelled with her surviving sisters to Switzerland, and in 1953 she was reunited with her eldest brother, who had survived the Nazi camp system, and the family relocated to Israel. Ebert and her husband Samuel moved to London with their three children in 1967.
She has devoted the past 70 years to Holocaust education but in 2022 gained greater prominence with the publication of her memoir, co-written with Forman, Lily’s Promise.
Last year, she was awarded an MBE by King Charles for services to Holocaust Education. The King was also among the many well-wishers to offer her birthday greetings when she turned 100, sending her a letter and a bouquet of flowers.
The letter acknowledged the “terrible suffering” Ebert and her family endured and praised the educator for making it her “life’s work” to “remind our generation of the depths of depravity and evil to which humankind can descend, when reason, humanity and truth are abandoned”.
The King added: “By continuing to remind the world of the unimaginable atrocities which you witnessed, you have lived your life positively, with true nobility and without hatred, in a way that is an example to us all.
“Your extraordinary strength of spirit, resilience and courage is admired more than I can possibly say.”
Since the publication of her book, Ebert has amassed a large social media fanbase with more than two million followers on TikTok.
