Prince Charles ‘humbled’ to help launch survivor Lily Ebert’s memoir

Prince Charles has paid tribute to the great grandson of Holocaust survivor Lily Ebert for his “engaging and effective use of social media” in sharing her story.

In a deeply personal foreword, the heir to the throne praised the book, ‘Lily’s Promise: How I Survived Auschwitz and Found the Strength to Live’,   written by Lily Ebert, 97 and Dov Forman, 17.

Prince Charles recalled lighting memorial candles in 2015 alongside Lily, saying that by co-writing the book, she “lit her own candle, and recognised the urgent necessity of passing both its light and the responsibility of remembrance between generations.”

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He said Dov, who thanks to Lily has more than 1,000,000 followers on Tik Tok, has “shown himself more than capable of carrying forward” the task of remembrance.

Dov has gone viral on Twitter while sharing his great-grandmother’s story, including posting a bank note signed by a solder who liberated her. A tweet sent by Dov helped reunite Lily with the solder’s family within eight hours. 

“Through his engaging and effective use of social media, Dov has demonstrated a determination to share his great grandmother’s story with a global audience.”

At the start of the book, Dov reflects on an article published by Jewish News focussing on how Holocaust testimony continued during the pandemic.

Dov Forman with his great-grandma Lily Ebert

The Prince of Wales drew on teachings of former Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks who “spoke about the profound difference between history and memory.  

“History is information. Memory, by contrast, is about identity… history is about the past. Memory is about the present,” he wrote.

“It is the Holocaust survivors who help us transform history into memory by their ability to humanise the inhumane. It is them and their words that make the past present.”

Lily’s promise (Macmillan)

The heir to the throne also writes that he considers it “a singular privilege to have met so many survivors” through his patronage of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.

“I have witnessed, and been greatly moved by, their harrowing testimony. I have drawn personal inspiration from the many Righteous Among the Nations, who, like my dear grandmother, Princess Alice of Greece, put their own lives at immense risk to save Jewish men, women and children from certain death.”

Calling Lily’s story “as profoundly moving as she is inspirational”, he says he was “humbled” to contribute to to the book. 

The book is published on 2 September. You can order it by clicking here.