Woman, 96, given a German banknote by a US soldier who liberated her from Auschwitz and wrote 'good luck and happiness' on it is set to meet the late GI's family via video call after her her great-grandson's Twitter search went viral
A woman who was handed a German banknote by an American soldier who wrote 'good luck and happiness' on it after she was liberated from Auschwitz 75 years ago is set to chat via video call to his family next weekend.
Holocaust survivor, Lily Ebert, 96, found the item while going through her possessions with her great-grandson, Dov Forman, 16 - who took to Twitter in a bid to find her US liberator.
The words of hope written on the banknote dated April 1945, read: 'A start to a new life… good luck and happiness.'
Now, Lily is set to speak with the family of the US soldier Private Shulman - who died seven ago - after her great-grandson's search went viral.
Speaking of how much the note meant to her, she told Sky News: 'We had not a piece of paper, we had nothing, you cannot know that, you cannot explain it, especially today.'
Lily Ebert, 96, was handed a German banknote by an American soldier who wrote 'good luck and happiness' on it after she was liberated from Auschwitz 75 years ago. Pictured, with her great-grandson, Dov Forman, 16
The words written on the banknote dated April 1945 read: 'A start to a new life… good luck and happiness' (pictured)
She continued: 'People cannot understand humans being without anything - you had the rug that you had on your body and that was it.'
Private Shulman liberated Lily along with her two sisters, from a death march when she was just 16-years-old. Taking to Twitter to try and track down the US solider, Doc shared a selection of photos of the note and penned: 'Yesterday my great-grandma showed me this bank note – given to her as a gift by a soldier who liberated her.
Inscribed, it says 'a start to a new life. Good luck and happiness," Later on, she met up with those who freed her'.
Lily Ebert (pictured second from right) was just 16-years-old when she was liberated from a death march
Speaking to the publication, Dov explained: 'I thought it was just amazing and that I would share it with the world. I joked with my great-grandma that I'd be able to find the soldier in 24 hours.
'Lo and behold with the help of Twitter, we managed to.'
The post was retweeted by the Auschwitz Museum's account which has over one million followers, and went on to receive over 14.5 thousand ‘likes’ - before the US solider's identity was finally revealed.
It was learned that the note was given to his great-grandmother by Private Hayman Shulman from New Jersey.
He was an American soldier and assistant to Rabbi Herschel Schacter, who was the first US Army Chaplain to participate in the liberation of Buchenwald concentration in April 1945,
Dov took to Twitter in a bid to try and reveal the US solider who liberated his great-grandmother (pictured)
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