Lily's Promise: How I Survived Auschwitz and Found the Strength to Live

The incredibly moving and powerful memoir of an Auschwitz survivor who made headlines around the world. With a foreword by King Charles III, as Prince of Wales, this updated edition includes Lily being awarded the MBE, reaching her hundredth birthday, and the discovery of a long-lost book belonging to her murdered brother - the only tangible link to him that survived the Holocaust.


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’. Many decades later her great-grandson, Dov, decided to use social media to track down the family of the GI - and 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.

Review

Utterly compelling, heartbreaking, truthful and yet redemptive, a memoir of the Holocaust, a testimony of irrepressible spirit and an unforgettable family chronicle, written in lucid prose by a truly remarkable woman about her life from Hungary to Auschwitz, Israel to London. I couldn't stop reading it -- Simon Sebag Montefiore

We must never forget the horrors of the Holocaust; Lily is an incredible lady and an inspiration to us all -- Lord Alan Sugar

A stunningly moving book about the power of hope and love to overcome the very worst of mankind. We owe it to every Holocaust victim, and survivor like Lily, to educate new generations about the horrors of that atrocity so it can never be allowed to happen again -- Piers Morgan

Though Lily saw and experienced inhumanity at its lowest ebb, her reaction was not one of bitterness or cynicism, but of hope and compassion. Lily has dedicated her life to sharing her astonishing story so that the world would never again descend into such depths. Yet Lily’s Promise is only half of the battle. It falls to us to heed her words and to internalize and learn from them. This book calls every reader to action. Lily’s message of hope over despair is more necessary today than it has ever been -- Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis

Lily instantly touches everyone she meets with her immense warmth and caring nature. To use so much of her energy educating others about the darkest time in her life makes her both courageous and admirable – she’s a very special lady! -- Rachel Riley

Lily's Promise is an incredibly moving and powerful story of an Auschwitz survivor. Lily and her great-grandson Dov are an inspiration -- Matt Lucas

This is a book of immense importance. The beauty and optimism of Lily’s words are a light in a world that needs to hear her story now more than ever -- Robert Rinder MBE

Everyone should read Lily’s story, to understand the worst and the best of human nature. She is an inspiration and what was done to her and her family is a warning that we must never turn our backs on evil -- Robert Peston

Lily’s Promise is a remarkable account of Lily Ebert’s experiences during the Holocaust. The accuracy of dates and facts in her book about her time in the Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau contributes to the chorus of voices thanks to which we can get closer to the human experience in a world of utter dehumanization -- Pawel Sawicki, Auschwitz Memorial Museum

Unforgettable ― Daily Mail Published On: 2021-12-17

About the Author

Lily Ebert lived in London near her large and loving family, which includes thirty-four great-grandchildren. She was 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. Lily passed away in October 2024.

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.