A new mural by artist Benzi Brofman depicting late Holocaust survivor and Jewish icon Lily Ebert has been unveiled in Golders Green.
It stands displayed on the high street, with her portrait featured on a blue background accompanied by the quote: “Where there is life, there is hope.”
Ebert (1923-2024) was born in Hungary and survived Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
Her memoir, Lily’s Promise: How I Survived Auschwitz and Found the Strength to Live, which she co-wrote with her great-grandson Dov Forman, is a five-time Sunday Times bestseller and includes a foreword by Prince Charles.
Brofman first came in contact with Forman on social media around Ebert’s 100th birthday, hoping to paint a mural then.
The timings initially didn’t work out, but after Ebert’s passing, Bronfman got back in touch.
Forman said: “My great-grandmother dedicated her life to ensuring that the horrors of the Holocaust, and her harrowing testimony, would never be forgotten.
“She fulfilled the promise that she made herself in Auschwitz, which was that if she survived, she would tell the ones what happened there.
“And she did that, and I know how proud she would be to see that mirror of herself there, and how happy she’d be that her story is being remembered in this way.”
In looking at the options of photographs to adapt for the mural, Forman was adamant he wanted something which encouraged positivity in difficult circumstances.
He said: “I think one thing which always jumped out to people was the life in the eyes of my good grandmother, and the way that when you looked at her, you saw that light and that life and that hope.”
The mural has been received exceptionally well by the mostly Jewish community in Golders Green, with many stopping to take pictures of it and sharing them on social media.
Forman said: “It’s so special for me, again, as a great-grandson, to be able to walk past to see that mural, and, to be able just to remember her in that way.
“I know how much she would have loved it, but also I now know that more people are going to stop and say ‘Who was this? What was her story?’.”
Feature image: Jocelin Weiss
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