Holocaust survivor Lily Ebert uses TikTok to make sure we never forget
Laura Kelly finds out more.
“For me, this word ‘promise’, it was a very special word.”
Two promises have shaped Lily Ebert’s life. The first was made in 1942, when she was just 18. Sitting at her father’s deathbed, in their hometown of Bonyhád, southwestern Hungary, this responsible girl – “a born leader” – promised to take care of her siblings when he was gone.
Days later, Ahron Engelman was dead, leaving behind his wife and six children to support each other through their grief. Lily carried her promise in her heart, but the family had no idea of the global events that would soon overwhelm them. Lily would come to feel that her father was lucky to die when he did.
“I promised my father that I will look after my siblings,” says Lily, speaking to The Big Issue over video call from her home in London. “The
