Prime Minister honours teen who co-wrote great-grandmother’s Auschwitz memoir
'This is the signal for me and Lily to keep going, and to spread Lily’s messages and Holocaust testimony even further', said Dov Forman, 17
A teenage author who co-wrote his Auschwitz-surviving great-grandmother’s memoir has been honoured by the Prime Minister.
Dov Forman, 17, was awarded the Points of Light Award by Boris Johnson at Downing Street during a Chanukah reception this week.
The great-grandson of Lily Ebert, 97, has used social media during the pandemic to share her story, with a million followers on TikTok and thousands on Twitter.
When the nonagenarian contracted coronavirus last year, Forman became determined to record her story, co-writing ‘Lily’s Promise’ when she recovered. The book is now a Sunday Times Best Seller with a foreword by HRH The Prince of Wales.
After being presented with the accolade by Boris Johnson, Dov said: “I am honoured to have received the aptly named ‘Points of Light’ award from the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street. This is the signal for me and Lily to keep going, and to spread Lily’s messages and Holocaust testimony even further. The world is seeing Lily, and recognising the light she emanates.”
Karen Pollock, Chief Executive, Holocaust Educational Trust, said: “Dov is a tour de force, which is no wonder given he is the great grandson of the indomitable and indefatigable Lily Ebert BEM. He has created a whole new method of awareness raising, using the tools of the twenty-first century, such as amassing millions of followers on TikTok.
“His drive and commitment to sharing his family’s story is inspirational. He is unstoppable and could not be more deserving of this Points of Light award. We are very proud! Mazel tov Dov!”
‘Lily’s Promise’ tells the survivor’s story of growing up in Hungary and her harrowing ordeal being deported and imprisoned at Auschwitz in 1944 at the age of 20 .
The book also covers how the duo tracked down the family of a former American soldier who liberated Lily from Buchenwald, handing her a bank note with a message of good luck. Relatives of American GI private Hayman Shulman, who was Jewish, held a virtual call with Forman and Ebert last year.
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