Holocaust survivor wishes Tik Tok a Shabbat Shalom and gets spammed with antisemitic hate
(JTA) — Lily Ebert is 97. Her great-grandson, Dov Forman, helped her create a Tik Tok account so she could tell its youthful community about surviving Auschwitz.
On May 14, instead of one of her pithy recollections, Ebert had a simple message for 90,000 followers, delivered from her London home: “Wishing you a lovely, peaceful weekend,” she said, and repeated a similar wish in Hungarian, her native language. She added “Shabbat Shalom.”
Her account was flooded with hateful messages, many of them holding her responsible for the military conflict between Israel and Hamas that broke out May 9 and ended last week.
“Ask her if she thinks the treatment of Palestinians reminds her [of] the treatment she got in the camp,” one commenter said.
“Happy Holocaust,” said another.
“Over the past few days my great Grandmother (Auschwitz survivor) and I have continued to receive messages of hate on Tiktok and Twitter,” Forman said on Twitter on May 16. “We will not allow this to stop us from educating about the horrors of the past, and what hatred can lead to. Hate only breeds hate.”
Ebert and Forman have since persisted. On Monday Ebert posted two short videos to Tik Tok, one recalling the murder in Auschwitz of her little sister, Berta, and another explaining the use of tefillin, Jewish prayer phylacteries, and how some Jewish men in Auschwitz managed to fulfill the commandment of using them.
The messages more recently have been encouraging.
“I am grateful you are here,” said a commenter on the video about Ebert’s sister.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism so that we can be prepared for whatever news 2025 brings.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
