An Auschwitz survivor who "never thought she'd have another birthday" is thriving in her hundredth year after turning 99 - and began it by receiving an MBE Lily Ebert celebrated her 99th birthday on December 29 with her family, enjoying cake and a trip to the seaside - proving “the Nazis did not win.” Two days later she learned she would receive an MBE on the New Year Honours List. Her life's mission has been based on a promise she made herself in the death camp - if, against all odds, she survived, she would tell the truth of what happened for herself and those who did not survive. With the help of her 19-year-old great grandson Dov Forman, the energetic woman has a TikTok account with nearly two million followers and published a New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller. She and Dov co-authored Lily’s Promise: How I Survived Auschwitz and Found the Strength to Live which details her childhood in Hungary, the death of her mother and two youngest siblings in Auschwitz Birkenau, and what it was like surviving the concentration camp. King Charles III wrote the foreword. Lily and Dov's shared TikTok account 'Lily Ebert & Dov Forman' provides another outlet for her to heroically inform the world of the Nazis’ crimes during the Holocaust. In one, she recounts the dehumanisation of the guards tattooing her number on her arm. Speaking from a sunny garden, she said: "My number is A-10572, that is what I was. I was not my name, we were not humans, we were only a number." "Most woman had not the period in the camp, because our body was so weak that we could not get our period. "It was not normal life in the camp, nothing was normal, the food was not normal, the sleeping was not sleeping. It was an artificial life." Among the educational videos are others celebrating her phenomenal accomplishments, one of which is turning 99. Another is the amount of the loved ones she has and Dov described her as the “Queen of the family." Lily gave birth to two daughters, one of whom has since died, and a son, and they gave her 10 grandchildren. Dov is one of her 36 great grandchildren - she is reportedly very close with each. In a viral birthday Tweet featuring a picture of Lily grinning on Bournemouth beach, Dov quoted his great grandmother saying: "I never thought I would survive Auschwitz and have another birthday. "At 99, I celebrate to show that the Nazis did not win." His great grandmother was in awe of the public’s response to the post, which received almost 200,000 likes and over 10,000 comments. In addition to the litany of social media well-wishes, Lily received around 3,000 emails to an account set up for the day. Dov makes sure the big celebrations keep coming - last year 5,000 cards came through the letterbox with kind words from members of the royal family, the prime minister, celebrities, as well as members of the public. Beyond the birthday, Lily has been overawed by people’s general response to her life story. Dov said: “When it comes to these special milestones like birthdays I always try and do something special, because as my great grandmother said, she never thought she would celebrate another birthday. “Now she does, surrounded by 10 grandchildren and 36 great grandchildren. “It’s really so incredible to see that she not only survived but she thrived, she really is the Queen of the family. “We’re all incredibly close, the whole family, she really is close with every single child, grandchild and great grandchild. “I think she has an incredible bond with every single one of us and there’s so much you can learn from Holocaust survivors in general, and also my great grandmother. “There’s so much that I’ve learned from and gained from her.” Dov has become particularly close with his great grandmother over the past two years, by writing the book together about her life. On December 29 1923 Lily was born in Bonyhád, a small, suburban village in Hungary, as the eldest of six siblings. There she had a happy childhood until 1942. That year - when she was 20 - her father died. Shortly after, she, her mother, her younger brother, and three younger sisters were deported to Auschwitz. The eldest of the younger brothers was deported to a slave labour camp. They arrived on July 9 that year on one of the last transports from Hungary. Lily’s mother, younger brother, and younger sister were taken straight to the gas chambers and murdered. She and two of her other sisters were taken to slave labour inside Auschwitz Birkenau. For four months they were seamstresses, before being taken to an ammunition factory on October 1944. They would stay there until they were taken on a death march in April 1945 and eventually liberated by American soldiers. Once the war ended she stayed in Germany for a few months, then travelled to Switzerland, and to Israel in 1946 where she resided for over two decades. In 1967 she moved to the UK, and Dov said she often praises the UK because they: “Really welcomed he