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In 1945, Lily Ebert, now 90, was liberated from a German munitions factory where she worked as slave labor after being transferred from the Auschwitz death camp.

A few weeks after being liberated, an American soldier shared some words of positivity with her, “The start to a new life. Good luck and happiness,” he wrote on a German banknote.

The simple gesture was life-changing for Ebert and the banknote became one of her most treasured keepsakes.

“This soldier was the first human being who was kind to us,” she told NBC News. “It was the first time after this terrible life that somebody was kind and I knew that somebody wants to help.”

Lily Ebert is the woman with the soldier’s arm around her.via Dov Forman / Twitter

Ebert’s mother, brother, and sister were all killed at Auschwitz. Her two younger sisters were liberated with her at the munitions factory. She believes that she survived the ordeal due to her responsibility to take care of her sisters.

“I promised myself that if I survived by some miracle, I would tell the world what happened there,” Ebert said. “The next generation and next generations should know the story so that something like that should not be repeated to any human being ever.”

Ebert kept the banknote in a photo album at her home in London where it was discovered by her great-grandson, 16-year-old Dov Forman. Forman had taken it upon himself to start documenting his great-grandmother’s stories as a survivor so they would never be forgotten.

“My great-grandma obviously isn’t going to be around forever and her story will eventually become my whole family’s responsibility to carry on,” Forman said.

Intrigued by the transcription on the banknote, Foreman tweeted out a photo of the bill along with photographs of the unknown soldier and Ebert taken a few days after liberation.

The only clue to the man’s identity was an inscription on the banknote that reads: “Assistant to Chaplain Schacter.”

The “Chaplain Schacter” eluded to on the bill was Chaplain Herschel Schacter, an American Orthodox rabbi who served as a chaplain in the Third Army’s VIII Corps. Schacter participated in the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp and helped relocate survivors, including Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel.

The tweet went viral and Forman received responses from all over the world. Eventually, he learned the identity of the solider, Private Hyman Shulman from New Jersey.

In late 1944, Shulman was removed from the front lines after being injured in the Battle of the Bulge and assigned to to serve as Assistant to the Jewish Chaplain to the US Army, Rabbi Herschel Schachter.

Unfortunately, Shulman died seven years ago at the age of 91.

However, Forman was able to locate and contact Schulman’s children in New York and bring the families together digitally through Zoom. “It was really special. It felt like we were family, we just clicked,” Forman said.

Image: Lilly Ebert and Dov Forman (right) hold a Zoom call with Arlene and Jason Schulman, descendants of the American GI that liberated Lilly during the war, along with Lilly’s daughter and husband Bilha and Julian Weider.via Dov Foreman

“I know that this soldier told his family, he wrote to his family every day the stories that he saw,” Ebert said. “With that, I feel some connection to them.”

Shulman wrote over 1100 letters home during the war. Some of them are archived at POBA.

The families re planning another Zoom call soon and have discussed meeting in person when coronavirus travel restrictions are lifted.

“I hope one day that I will meet them personally, I would very much like to have that,” Ebert said.

Jusuf Nurkić has been waiting for more than a year to get back in action on the court. The Portland Trail Blazers big man is ecstatic to make his return after a lengthy rehab from a compound leg fracture that sidelined him since March 2019. Nurkić originally was scheduled to make his season debut on March 15, 2020, but after the COVID-19 pandemic brought the NBA to a screeching halt, he had to wait a few more months for the league’s restart in Orlando.

Nurkić spoke to the media during a Zoom conference on Sunday to discuss finally returning to full-contact basketball in practice.

“It’s been blessed,” said Nurkić. “It’s [been] 14 months [to] play the first practice with the team, with the full squad, pretty much. Just that joy and excitement and passing, I feel like just learn the basketball is something I [was] really missing.”

Before going down due to the gruesome leg injury last season, the 7-foot center was having himself a career year, averaging career highs with 15.6 points and 10.4 rebounds, and 3.2 assists, finding a fit in Portland. His scoring and rebounding impact stands out to most, but new teammate Carmelo Anthony is especially impressed with Nurkić’s playmaking abilities.

“He’s a playmaker,” Anthony said during the same Zoom conference. “Anytime you have a playmaker up top controlling the offense, getting the ball out of Dame [Lillard] and CJ [McCollum]’s hands, and even my hands, that’s good, especially as a big. When you’re a big who can pass and make plays like that, it gives us another option.”

That playmaking comes naturally for Nurkić. “I think in Bosnia, or the Balkan region, we’ve been taught more to play team sports,” he said. “We don’t have the type of individual who can score 50 a game. The more people who touch the ball, the more happier. I think that’s the way I grew up. Assists make two people happy.”

Most importantly, Nurkić says he has no lingering issues from the leg fracture he suffered on March 25, 2019.

“It’s just bumps and hits, regular me, man,” the Bosnian native said. “It’s probably stronger, so everything is so far great. Continue to do my job and try to get as ready as possible with the team. As far as health, zero concerns, man.”

Portland’s other top big man Zach Collins also will be returning to the line up after a shoulder injury last October. The Blazers are tied for ninth place in the West with a record of 29–37 with the New Orleans Pelicans and the Sacramento Kings hot on their trails. All three teams are looking to unseat the Memphis Grizzlies who have a 3.5 game lead in the eighth spot in the West.

With the return of Nurkić and Collins, the Blazers have their inside presence back and are ready to make noise in Orlando, and all the other opponents should be listening.

The Brooklyn Nets enter the NBA bubble in Orlando with more questions than answers. Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant’s absences from the bubble were expected, but four other top players — Spencer Dinwiddie, DeAndre Jordan, Taurean Prince, and Wilson Chandler — also didn’t make the trip, with three of those players having tested positive for COVID-19 in recent weeks.

That’s left the Nets to fill out their bubble roster with substitute players, signing veterans Justin Anderson, Jamal Crawford, and Michael Beasley. They still have space on the roster to add more players, should they choose, but no matter what they are the team that has seen their roster change the most from when the season stopped to when it will restart. While few expected Brooklyn to factor much into the overall race for the East crown, now the question is whether they can hold on to their playoff spot despite entering the bubble in seventh.

ROSTER

Jarrett Allen
Justin Anderson
Michael Beasley
Chris Chiozza
Jamal Crawford
Joe Harris
Tyler Johnson
Rodions Kurucs
Caris LeVert
Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot
Dzanan Musa
Garrett Temple
Lance Thomas

SCHEDULE

Friday, July 31 – 2:30 p.m. ET – vs. Orlando Magic
Sunday, Aug. 2 – 2:00 p.m. ET – vs. Washington Wizards
Tuesday, Aug. 4 – 1:30 p.m. ET – vs. Milwaukee Bucks
Wednesday, Aug. 5 – 9:00 p.m. ET – vs. Boston Celtics
Friday, Aug. 7 – 5:00 p.m. ET – vs. Sacramento Kings
Sunday, Aug. 9 – 9:00 p.m. ET – vs. L.A. Clippers
Tuesday, Aug. 11 – 1:00 p.m. ET – vs. Orlando Magic
Thursday, Aug. 13 – TBD – vs. Portland Trail Blazers

STANDINGS

1. Milwaukee Bucks: 53-12
2. Toronto Raptors: 46-18 (6.5)
3. Boston Celtics: 43-21 (9.5)
4. Miami Heat: 41-24 (12.0)
5. Indiana Pacers: 39-26 (14.0)
6. Philadelphia 76ers: 39-26 (14.0)
7. Brooklyn Nets: 30-34 (22.5)
8. Orlando Magic: 30-35 (23.0)
9. Washington Wizards: 24-40 (28.5)

WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE?

Holding on to a playoff spot — and, if possible, avoiding a play-in situation with the Wizards — would have to be considered a success for this Nets team given how much roster turmoil they are dealing with. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone that doesn’t see this squad getting leapfrogged by the Magic and falling to the 8-seed, setting up a miserable first round matchup with the Bucks. More importantly, the Nets are going to want to see Caris LeVert, Joe Harris, and Jarrett Allen play well in this setting, even if the team as a whole struggles to keep up. Those are the three players that project as potential long-term pieces (with Harris a free agent this summer) on this roster when the Durant-Irving era begins next season, and seeing them to continue to take strides in the bubble is more important than what the team does.

X-FACTOR

We know what to expect from LeVert, Harris, and Allen, but Tyler Johnson is an intriguing player for the Nets in this restart. Johnson was highly coveted by the Nets back in 2016 when he inked a $50 million offer sheet with Brooklyn, only for Miami to match, and now he joins them looking to reassert his value in the league after being unable to find much of a role in Phoenix. If he can play well, it’d boost the Nets chances of dodging a play-in series with the Wizards and also maybe gives the Nets someone to look at retaining for guard depth this offseason, depending on where the market falls for his services.

Also, it would be very cool if Crawford and Beasley play well for the 8-12 games Brooklyn is in Orlando.

BIGGEST ON-COURT QUESTION

Will they be able to be competitive on either end of the floor? They weren’t a very good offensive team this year, and were downright disastrous on that end when Kyrie or Dinwiddie weren’t on the floor. Jamal Crawford and Michael Beasley were brought in specifically to help them on that end, but it’s been a long time since we’ve seen Crawford take on a significant role and be efficient in it. The Nets were a solid defensive group this season, but now they lose Jordan in the paint and length on the wing with Prince and Chandler out. Crawford and Beasley are decidedly not here to help on defense and with such a thin roster that now has to come together quickly, it’s hard not to see the defense taking a step back. They’ll need to be at least solid on one end of the floor to do much of anything in Orlando, but I’m not real confident in either unit.

If nothing below suits your sensibilities, check out our guide to What You Should Watch On Streaming Right Now.

Showbiz Kids (HBO Max documentary film) — Alex Winter (soon to be seen in Bill & Ted Face The Music) wrote and directed this film that explores the shared experiences of former child stars who beat the odds. Come for the interviews with Evan Rachel Wood, Jada Pinkett Smith, Milla Jovovich, Wil Wheaton, Mara Wilson, Todd Bridges, and more. Stay for an unvarnished glimpse of the risks and rewards of this business.

The Business of Drugs (Netflix documentary series) — With the War on Drugs showing no sign of ending, a former CIA officer takes a crew on a global journey — exploring the roots of Opioid crisis, the effects of legal weed, and the flow of meth — to dig deep into the drug trade’s darkest corners.

We Are One (Netflix documentary film) — Director Stéphane de Freitas retraces journeys of five activists (working against sexism, racism, and more) who wish to raise awareness to ensure a better, fairer world.

Here are a few options elsewhere on TV:

Stargirl (CW, 8:00 p.m.) — The JSA members are tense upon hearing Courtney’s plans for a new recruit, while Barbara’s unknowingly inviting over a hostile party for dinner.

Dirty John (USA 10:00 p.m.) — The Betty Broderick Story‘s dirtier turn than last year’s effort sees Betty turning empathy from strangers into a reason to avoid her misdeeds.

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert — Tom Hanks, Noah Cyrus, Billy Ray Cyrus

The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon — Eric Andre, Rema

The Late Late Show With James Corden — Colin Jost, Davido

Late Night With Seth Meyers — Demi Moore, Paul Scheer, KALEO

Idles dropped Joy As An Act Of Resistance in 2018, and the group is already prepared to follow that effort up. Last month, they announced that a new album, Ultra Mono, is on the way, and shared the lead single “Grounds.” Now they’re back with another new taste of the upcoming record, “A Hymn.” The visual for the track shows members of the band driving around with their parents, smiling and enjoying each other’s company before arriving at the grocery store.

The band’s Joe Talbot offered a colorful description of the song, saying in a statement, “‘A Hymn’ is a hymn that rejoices in the sinister flesh-eating virus of the pedestrian. It sings the tune of normal’s teeth sinking into your neck as you sleep stood up with your eyes open. Amen.” Some lyrics from the track include, “I want to be loved / Everybody does / I find shame in the crack-like corpse un-cadaver reign / I want to be loved / Everybody does / I find shame gripped tight like your withering fame / We made it / Shame.”

When the band announced Ultra Mono, they laid out a roadmap of what they’d be doing during their album release cycle. Set to follow “A Hymn” are videos for the singles “Model Village” on August 11, “Reigns” on September 8, and “War” on September 25. They will also be hosting livestream performances on August 29 and 30.

Watch the “A Hymn” video above.

Ultra Mono is out 9/25 via Partisan Records. Pre-order it here.

Professional athletes these days like to diversify their brands by venturing out into several other sectors. In terms of political engagement, sports stars are more visible now than perhaps they have ever been, with the recent nationwide protests for social justice offering an opportunity for them to lend their voices and influences to the ongoing fight for equality in America.

Their celebrity status also affords them access to all sorts of media platforms. Players today host their own podcasts and streaming shows, and some of the bigger stars host some of their own programs on major television networks — through production arms they themselves own. LeBron James, for instance, helms the highly-popular HBO series, The Shop, via his Uninterrupted.

Like LeBron, Kevin Durant has started his own media company, Thirty-Five Ventures, to develop various projects in film and television, although it suffered something of a setback this week as ESPN announced that it was cancelling his show, The Boardroom.

Via Andrew Marchand of The New York Post:

“The Boardroom,” featuring Durant, Jay Williams and Durant’s agent Rich Kleiman, will not be renewed after being on ESPN+ for two seasons. While there are no public metrics for shows on this platform, ESPN is able to internally identify engagement and its impact on the $4.99-per-month subscription-based service.

“The Boardroom is not being renewed following two seasons on ESPN+,” ESPN said in a statement to The Post. “Thirty Five Ventures are great partners and we look forward to continuing to discuss any future projects.”

The program was designed to offer a peak behind the curtain of how athletes develop their brands through various business ventures outside of the sports world but apparently had not found the audience that ESPN was hoping for. At this point, it remains unclear how Durant and his company’s partnership with the network will move forward in terms of producing future projects.

As he continues to rehab from injury, Durant has kept busy with plenty of other projects, serving as producer for the documentary Basketball County and becoming a minority owner in the MLS’s Philadelphia Union.

(The New York Post)

The creators of Glee have released a tribute for Naya Rivera, who was declared dead on Monday following a multi-day search for her body in California’s Lake Piru.

Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan praised the actress, who played breakout character Santana Lopez, for the “humor and humanity that she brought to Santana’s relationship with her best friend and eventual girlfriend/wife Brittany.” It was one of network television’s first depictions of a “openly lesbian, high school relationship,” and, they noted, “Naya always made sure that Santana’s love for Brittany was expressed with dignity, strength, and with pure intentions,” as seen in this performance of “Songbird.”

Rivera barely had any lines in Glee‘s pilot, which aired on May 19, 2009, but “it didn’t take more than an episode or two for us to realize that we had lucked into finding one of the most talented, special stars we would ever have the pleasure of working with,” the creators wrote. “She could move between being scary tough and deeply vulnerable with ease. She was a joy to write for, a joy to direct, and a joy to be around.”

Murphy, Falchuk, and Brennan also announced that they will create a college fund for Rivera’s four-year-old son Josey. You can read the entire tribute below.

We are heartbroken over the loss of our friend Naya Rivera.

Naya wasn’t a series regular when we cast her on Glee. She didn’t have more than a few lines in the pilot. But it didn’t take more than an episode or two for us to realize that we had lucked into finding one of the most talented, special stars we would ever have the pleasure of working with. Naya could act, she could dance, and she could sing (could she ever sing!) She could nail a joke as well as she could crush you with an emotional scene. She could move between being scary tough and deeply vulnerable with ease. She was a joy to write for, a joy to direct and a joy to be around.

Naya is responsible for numerous iconic Glee musical performances — the Adele Mash Up, “Valerie,” “Songbird” — but her greatest Glee legacy is probably the humor and humanity that she brought to Santana’s relationship with her best friend and eventual girlfriend/wife Brittany (played by Heather Morris). It was one of the first times an openly lesbian, high school relationship was seen on network television and Naya understood what “Brittana” meant to the many young women who were seeing themselves represented on television for the first time. Naya always made sure that Santana’s love for Brittany was expressed with dignity, strength and with pure intentions. Naya was always moved by the girls who reached out to her to tell her how much Santana and Brittany’s love affected them. Naya’s obligation to them- and to all of her fans- was obvious. She had the rare combination of humility and endless confidence in her talent.

Naya was a real pro. Always on time, always knew her lines (which wasn’t easy considering the giant mouthfuls of dialogue we often gave her), always kept everyone laughing on the set. She was warm and caring and fiercely protective of the rest of the cast. She was tough and demanding. She was fun. She was kind. She was generous. There were ups and downs during the wonderful and stressful years we spent making Glee. We disagreed, we fought, we made up, then we fought some more, than we made up again. The kinds of things that happen in a family. Naya was more than just an actor on our show- she was our friend.

Our hearts go out to her family, especially her mom, Yolanda, who was a big part of the Glee family and her son Josey. The three of us are currently in the process of creating a college fund for the beautiful son Naya loved most of all.

-Ryan, Ian and Brad

(Via Variety)

Irish rapper Rejjie Snow isn’t exactly a household name in the US just yet, but the burgeoning talent has steadily raised his profile since releasing his The Moon & You mixtape in 2017 and Dear Annie album in 2018. His growing resume includes collaborations with fellow left-of-center talents like Portland rapper Aminé, Brooklyn trendsetter Joey Badass, and Chicagoan singer-songwriter Jesse Boykins III, as well as lo-fi star Clairo on her 2018 EP Diary 001. Today Rejjie returned to the spotlight with the release of his new single, “Cookie Chips” and its accompanying video.

Featuring Chicago producer Cam O’bi — with whom Snow has collborated extensively in the past — and English underground rap icon MF Doom, the nostalgic “Cookie Chips” finds Snow pining for simpler times with “Pokémons in book bag.” Meanwhile, Doom contributes a characteristically gymnastic verse, reminiscing about his own youthful experiences with love and noting there’s “still a ray of hope to live happily ever after though” despite the fact that “Disaster’s what I asked her for.”

In the press release for the new track, Rejjie says, “I love making music and creating moments. It feels good to bring out this song in such an unaccustomed time and begin this new chapter in a solid and happy place.” It’s a safe bet that happy place is soon to generate even more heartfelt music from the Irish MC soon.

Watch Rejjie Snow’s “Cookie Chips” video featuring Cam O’bi and MF Doom above.

The Sacramento Kings are among the five teams in the Western Conference that will enter the NBA’s Orlando bubble needing to make up some significant ground in eight games if they are to earn a shot at a playoff berth in a play-in series.

Prior to their departure for Orlando, Buddy Hield, Jabari Parker, and Alex Len all announced they had tested positive for COVID-19, with Hield and Parker having recently joined the team at Disney after getting cleared. On Tuesday, we learned that another key player on the Kings was not with the team currently, as Harrison Barnes announced on Twitter that he is in quarantine following a positive test, but hopes to join the team in Orlando once cleared.

Like Russell Westbrook, who announced he had tested positive and was not with the Rockets on Monday, Barnes’ positive test came prior to his arrival in Orlando and as such he must clear quarantine protocol and two consecutive negative tests before he’s able to head to Disney to join the team. With just over two weeks to go until games begin, Barnes will not have much in the way of a camp to get ready for the season if he is able to get cleared and head to Orlando, but the Kings will hope he can join them for the playoff push as he’s one of four players on the team that appeared in all 64 games this season (starting all 64) and is their third-leading scorer at 14.7 points per game.

20-year-old Beabadoobee has built a lot of deserved buzz for herself over the past couple years, and it’s been on the strength of a handful of EPs. Now, though, she is ready for her debut album: Today, she shared a video for “Care,” the lead single from Fake It Flowers. On the nostalgically rocking track, she moves on from a relationship as she sings on the hook, “I don’t want your sympathy / Stop saying you give a sh*t / ’cause you don’t really / care, care, care, yeah.”

Beabadoobee said in a statement of the song and video, “This song has end-of-a-90s movie vibes, like you’re driving down a highway. It is pretty much me being angry at society, or people around me who I just don’t think know me and don’t care. I don’t want you to feel f*cking sorry for me. I just want you to understand what I’ve been through. I never expected to be making the first video from my album during a pandemic! I was so lucky to be locked down with the bedroom guys, it feels like it turned out as one of the most personal, real videos I’ve made. I’m so excited to share it!”

Fake It Flowers does not yet have an announced release date, but it is expected to be released later in 2020.

Last week, Beabadoobee offered fans an update on what she’s been up to, which included a status report on Fake It Flowers. She said in a video:

“I’ve been recording an album in this little studio in southwest London. It’s small but it reminds me of home. It’s just like really wholesome and warmly lit, and the couches are really comfy. It’s a bit dusty at times but it’s really pretty.

The first single on the album is called ‘Care.’ I remember it was one of the first songs I demo’d for the album, and I’m just really excited for it to come out. It kind of describes the sound I want to have as a whole. It’s like the best type of nostalgic and warm feelings I want when people listen to my music. For the guitar sounds, I wanted it to sound a bit jangly. We got a really cool guitarist to come in, to kind of find a good lead, guitary sound. […]

Writing this record was probably one of the easiest ones to do. There was a gap after Space Cadet where I could kind of just relax and live in the writer’s block and just kind of understand that I couldn’t write anything. […] The songs on this album are one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written so far. I spent so f*cking long, writing and like going through it emotionally, and it just means a lot to me, and I just can’t wait for people to see that side of my life, and for people to listen to the music, rock out to the music, and cry, and just kind of understand me more. Just really excited for it to come out.”

Aside from all that, it’s been a productive year for Beabadoobee so far. In June, Powfu’s “Death Bed,” on which Beabadoobee features, became the first track to top Billboard‘s new Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. Also last month, she recorded a new version of her song “If You Want To” for Soccer Mommy’s singles series. She was also set to open for The 1975 on tour this year, but, of course, those shows are no longer happening as planned.

Watch the “Care” video above, and check out Beabadoobee’s update clip below.