One of the darkest points in modern history ended with World War II and the surrender of Germany on May 7, 1945.

While Allies had taken control of and liberated many concentration camps, tragically more than 6 million Jewish people were killed by the German government.

The survivor’s stories are often the only way those who died are remembered. But for so many, there is little to remember their family members by.

Lily Ebert is a 99-year-old holocaust survivor who has gained notoriety on TikTok by sharing her story and information on the Holocaust. Her goal is to make sure that those atrocities will never happen again.

@lilyebert The lasting trauma after the end of the Holocaust 💔 #holocaustsurvivor #history #learnontiktok #99yearold #trauma ♬ Schindler’s List – Movie Theme – Michele Garruti

In a book she wrote, “Lily’s Promise,” she talks about her youngest brother, Bela Englman. 

Bela was taken to the concentration camp on July 9, 1944. He was only 13 years old, and he died that very same day alongside his mother and another sister.

The Book of Exodus once owned by Ebert’s youngest brother, Bela Englman. (ATV/Heti Naplo)

Lily, along with 3 other sisters and another brother, all survived the Holocaust. But they had no way to prove that Bela had ever existed. There were no photos, not a birth certificate, nothing to show that he had lived a life before the Nazis took him away. 

In an article Lily and Dov write for the Telegraph, Lily said, “On 9 July, the train suddenly slowed and stopped. [Outside was] an enormous colourless place with huge fences. You could see things moving but they didn’t seem human. Figures without hair, moving rocks. It looked like a madhouse. Suddenly a man [wearing] white gloves and a peaked hat gestured [at us] with his stick. My mother and Bela and Berta were sent left. I was sent right, René and Piri too. So fast we couldn’t exchange a single word. That was it. Over.”

The realization of what the three girls had just lost, took time to sink in, she said.

“I couldn’t tell you exactly when I knew for certain that I would never see my mother again. That Bela and Berta were lost to us forever. I never spoke of it with René or Piri. It was a slow and painful realisation.”

The pain was physical. And unspeakable.”

So they went on, trying their best to remember the good memories they had, which was all that was left of Bela and the others.

Until a Hungarian book collector changed everything.

Dov Forman, 19, shows his great-grandmother, Lily Ebert, 99, the Book of Exodus once owned by Ebert’s youngest brother, Bela Englman, who was murdered in the gas chambers at Auschwitz concentration camp in July 1944. Photo by ATV/Heti Naplo

Zsolt Brauer purchased books regularly, looking for artifacts. One particular box, gotten from a bookstore in Bonyhad, a small village, held something that was priceless: A Book of Exodus. Inside, the name Bela Englman was stamped in neat print.

So many might have missed that name, but Zsolt’s son, Teofil Brauer, had recently read a book: “Lily’s Promise.” He knew immediately who this relic had belonged to.

Because of Lily and her great-grandson, Dov Forman, posting their viral videos on TikTok, the book collectors were able to reach out to them and let them know what they found.

“(Teofil) sent me a picture of the book, and straight away, we knew it was Bela’s,”  Dov said. “That moment was just incredible.”

Lily was stunned.

“This is the only link I have to my youngest brother,” Lily said. “I am so emotional about this book.”

Dov, along with his mother, made their way to Bonyhad to pick up the book.

Actually putting his hands on the book for the first time, Dov said, “was both remarkable and very emotional.”

In 1944, Lily’s mother, Nina, along with Lily and her four siblings were sent to Auschwitz. Bela, Berta and Nina were killed in the gas chambers. Lily and her sisters, Renee and Piri, were sent to work, before liberated a year later.

Lily went on to have 10 grandchildren and 36 great-grandchildren.

The Nazis did not win,” she said.

Moved by the recovery of her brother’s book, Lily was grateful to have something of his once more.

“The fact that Bela’s name is stamped and is also written in his own handwriting is so special,” she said. “I am so happy to have this, 80 years after the Holocaust — the last time I saw Bela.”

Watch below for the heart-wrenching story of Lily Ebert.

Sources: Washington Post | Upworthy | The Telegraph