‘Miss Holocaust Survivor’: Beauty Pageant for Women Who Survived Hitler’s Genocidal Rampage Sparks Controversy
- Posted on June 29, 2012 at 11:18am by
Billy Hallowell
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Critics are saying that it trivializes the Holocaust, while supporters are backing it as a positive ceremony that remembers the genocidal horrors that unfolded decades ago. There’s no shortage of debate surrounding “Miss Holocaust Survivor,” a beauty pageant that was recently held for Holocaust survivors in Haifa, Israel. Yes, you read that right.
According to the Jewish Forward, 14 contestants ranging from 74-years-of-age to 97 participated in the festivities. These women, all survivors of Adolf Hitler’s murderous rampage, participated in some of the more traditional pageant acts, like walking down a red carpet and getting dolled-up. However, they also tackled some more emotional ground, as they shared their plights during and following World War II.
Mania Herman, a Holocaust survivor participates in a "Miss Holocaust Survivor" beauty pageant, in the northern Israeli city of Haifa. (AP)
The contest, part of Helping Hand’s (a group that helps Holocaust survivors in need) annual “cultural” night, included a lavish dinner and music at a Haifa reception hall. Some 600 people attended, including two Cabinet ministers, Moshe Kahlon and Yossi Peled, himself a Holocaust survivor.
In the end, Romanian native Hava Hershkovitz, 78, won. The contestants were chosen from a pool of hundreds of applications, explains Shimon Sabag, the Director of Helping Hand who organized the event. The women were chosen based on their personal stories and the roles that they held in their communities in Israel.
Hershkovitz was banished from her home in Romania in 1941 and sent to a detention camp in the Soviet Union for three years. Today, she lives in an assisted living home run by Helping Hand. A four-judge panel consisting of three former beauty queens and a geriatric psychiatrist who specializes in treating Holocaust survivors chose the winner.
“This place is full of survivors. It puts us at the center of attention so people will care. It’s not easy at this age to be in a beauty contest, but we‘re all doing it to show that we’re still here,” the silver-haired Hershkovitz said.
“I have the privilege to show the world that Hitler wanted to exterminate us and we are alive. We are also enjoying life. Thank God it’s that way,” added Esther Libber, a 74-year-old runner-up who fled her home in Poland as a child, hid in a forest and was rescued by a Polish woman. She said she lost her entire immediate family.
Winner Hava Hershkovitz (AP)
But at the center of the debate was the notion that judging women on the basis of physical appearance — individuals who had suffered so much at the hands of the Nazis — was inappropriate.
“It sounds totally macabre to me,” said Colette Avital, chairwoman of Israel‘s leading Holocaust survivors’ umbrella group. “I am in favor of enriching lives, but a one-time pageant masquerading (survivors) with beautiful clothes is not what is going to make their lives more meaningful.”
Sabag, though, rejected the criticism, saying the winners were chosen based on their personal stories of survival and rebuilding their lives after the war, and physical beauty was only a tiny part of the competition.
“They feel good together. They are having a good time and laughing in the rehearsals,” said Sabag. ”The fact that so many wanted to participate proves that it’s a good idea.”
What do you think? Let us know in the comments section, below.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Comments (59)
riker01
Posted on June 30, 2012 at 10:29amGod Bless these beautiful ladies.
Report Post »Tracker3
Posted on June 30, 2012 at 6:09pmYes God bless and keep them. Few of us could imagine going through what they have gone through. The fact that they had the courage to survive is awesome. So many (six million) didn’t make it. These women are winners in every way.
Report Post »db321
Posted on July 1, 2012 at 1:13amEveryone of these Ladies are special and truly the “Apple of God’s Eye.” I wish I could sit down with any of them for an hour or two, just to her their story. God Bless each and everyone of them, God Bless Israel and I pray for the peace of Jerusalem every day.
Please keep you spirit and smiles shining bright – don’t give that Goose Stepping Hitler one moment of victory over your life.
Report Post »Tim Upham
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 5:06pmI think this is very poor taste. If they want to have a beauty pageant for senior women, there is nothing wrong with that. For senior women can dress nicely, and have nice hairstyles. But to have a MIss Holocaust Survivor beauty pageant, just makes these women into nothing more than freaks. These elderly women can be doing public speaking about their experiences. For that can really make them into something beautiful to cherish.
Report Post »firemouth7
Posted on June 30, 2012 at 12:10amseriously. these woman have went through hell in their lives, give them a moment and thank the good lord you were not there during those times. show a little respect and let them have their brief moment.
Report Post »FenrisAmarok
Posted on July 1, 2012 at 12:30amIf this is so distasteful and disrespectful… why did so many wish to participate? Obviously they didn’t find it distasteful. How about you let people choose for themselves what they want to do? If this thing flopped because not enough contestants came forward, then we wouldn’t have heard about it. How do you know how it must feel for them? Maybe they want a chance to feel glamorous again, maybe they never have and this gives them that chance. If it was me, doing public speaking would be a HELLUVA lot more depressing than this. Let them decide for themselves instead of talking like they‘re all senile and can’t choose what’s distasteful.
Report Post »PhantomsPhorever
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 4:52pmDual citizenship, S. Florida Debbie Wasserman Shultz voters all.
Report Post »Holocaust = Never Forget….. U.S.S. Liberty…..Huh?
From Virginia
Posted on June 30, 2012 at 11:29pmStow it. How would YOU like it if our allies threw in our face all our “friendly fire” incidents at every opportunity to call us evil? I assure you we have more than the Israelis do.
Report Post »Truthbeliever2
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 4:10pm“Trivializes the Holocaust!”
This is another reminder of what happened in the Holocaust. Without reminders like this most people would look at the Holocaust as ancient history instead of something that happened to people who are still alive to this day.
Those coming out against this want the Holocaust to be forgotten.
Report Post »THX-1138
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 3:02pmThey‘re all beautiful and they’re all winners.
Report Post »Elena2010
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 2:48pmI think it’s great! It’s a celebration of life — more than just survival.
Report Post »Annika2011
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 10:57pmI agree completely!
Report Post »jackact
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 1:38pmAll voting for Obama I am certain.
Report Post »Truthbeliever2
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 4:11pmhehehe good one! :)
Report Post »Jennifer_D
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 12:59pmAll of these women are WINNERS for what they endured! The fact that they can come out on the other end of a terrible ordeal still living life to the fullest is remarkable.
Report Post »DRed
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 1:11pmI agree!
Report Post »rickc34
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 2:02pmYes and not all Jewish people lean left, they just do not trust Christians , Hitler like Obama claimed to be a Christian, not much difference between the 2, so much in common …
Report Post »Elena2010
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 2:53pmJerk — because we Christians have been hostile to Jews and their culture.
I have wonderful relations w/my many Jewish friends in large measure because I can share some of their cultural history in the OT. As a Christian, I can participate in Passover and Hanukkah, just as my Lord Jesus did.
Without Judaism, Christianity would simply not be. Celebrate that! Affirm that! Then share a Jewish Jesus and let the Holy Spirit do the conversion.
Christians should act more like the grafted in 13th Tribe than an elite, separate from group.
Report Post »MountainJac
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 12:52pmI can’t believe there are people that are so high on themselves that they would criticize something that made a group of woman who survived a horrific ordeal laugh and have fun and be happy together before the end of their lives. None of these woman probably experienced anything close to a normal youth and young adulthood, and so what if they chose a beauty pageant to reclaim some of there stolen youth. People sit around there t.v.‘s and give toddlers and tiara’s ratings but this is wrong because they are holocaust victims or elderly or whatever? Sheesh, grow up.
Report Post »DRed
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 1:10pmAmen!
Report Post »momrules
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 1:32pmAgree.
Report Post »The_Jerk
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 1:39pmIt’s the setting, the theme, “Miss Holocaust Survivor.” Twisted little sisters using a deplorable event for self-promotion, gratification. It’s so Jewish, capitalize on anything!
Finkelstein has it absolutely correct.
Report Post »OneTermPresident
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 12:45pmIn other words… NEVER FORGET
Report Post »DRed
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 12:37pmTHEIR feelings about this are the ONLY ones that matter! They seem to have been extremely blessed by this, so who are any of us to say anything about it? Let them have their time feeling LOVELY and appreciated. Excellent!
Report Post »The_Jerk
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 12:31pm“The Holocaust Industry” as laid out by Norman Finkelstein. I wish that they would do a Jewish expose on the three Jewish Supreme Court Justices who are always voting to make our nation part of the international kibbutz, commune.
Report Post »Perry Stalsis
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 12:54pmAnyone who approvingly cites that self-hating b*astard Fink must be a Jew-hater!
Report Post »The_Jerk
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 1:36pmThat’s always the modus operandi when you can not stand up against the objective truth. Who are the real Jew-haters? People like you who deny the truth, or people like Norman who speak the truth? In the end, what you really fear is the truth.
Jews have a love of profiling when the profiling is complementary or beneficial. Jews have an aversion to profiling when it is neither. Those practicing the former are the chosen. Those practicing the later are either antisemitic or self-hating. This is the Jewish history.
Report Post »The_Jerk
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 2:15pmThe word would be, ‘complimentary.’
Report Post »ISRAEL_IS_NOT_THE_51ST_STATE_AND_SPIES_ARE_NOT_ALLIES
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 11:38pmThousands upon thousands upon thousands upon thousands of survivors left after the war?? Have you ever known the Germans to be that inefficient at anything? http://www.onethirdoftheholocaust.com/
Report Post »walkandtalk
Posted on June 30, 2012 at 6:51pmI have read your posts there is so much hate in them. What ever happened to you to make you see so much negative in life?
Report Post »tzion
Posted on June 30, 2012 at 11:08pm51st
Report Post »You point to thousands out of millions as inefficient? If 60,000 Jews survived that mean the mortality rate of living under Nazi rule as a Jew was about 99%. That’s seems pretty damn efficient to me. Besides, Schindler alone is credited with saving over a thousand Jews and he’s just one person. The Bielskis (the ones depicted in the recent movie “Defiance”) saved even more. Is it really that hard to believe?
ISRAEL_IS_NOT_THE_51ST_STATE_AND_SPIES_ARE_NOT_ALLIES
Posted on July 1, 2012 at 10:44amTZIONIST:
By “Thousands upon thousands upon thousands upon thousand”, I was implying in a colorful way: millions.
“I‘ve checked out Churchill’s Second World War and the statement is quite correct” not a single mention of Nazi ‘gas chambers,‘ a ’genocide’ of the Jews, or of ‘six million’ Jewish victims of the war. This is astonishing. How can it be explained? Eisenhower’s Crusade in Europe is a book of 559 pages; the six volumes of Churchill’s Second World War total 4,448 pages; and de Gaulle’s three-volume memoires de guerre is 2,054 pages. In this mass of writing, which altogether totals 7,061 pages (not including the introductory parts), published from 1948 to 1959, one will find no mention either of Nazi ‘gas chambers,‘ a ’genocide’ of the Jews, or of ‘six million’ Jewish victims of the war.”
Richard Lynn, Professor Emeritus,
Report Post »University of Ulster, December 5, 2005
randy
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 12:00pmImagine when they outlaw the abortion and they have a “I survived my progressive parents wishes to murder me” pageant.
Or I survived the “Obama Nightmare” Pageant.
or “Everyone told me I was gay, but didn’t really feel gay” pageant.
Report Post »SamIamTwo
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 12:31pmBAN all pageants and then there will be equality. LMAO
Report Post »thegreatcarnac
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 11:57amI salute anyone who lived through the Holocaust….but….a beauty contest? And some of them don’t look quite old enough to have been through it. Oh well…have at it.
Report Post »abbygirl1994
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 11:55amGood for these women and those who support it, the only ones who object it are those who deny it happened.. those who have guilty consciences! They all are beautiful women! God bless them all!
Report Post »MRMANN
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 12:26pmYes, they are truly beautiful, inside & outside.
Report Post »charlanakelly
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 1:10pmYES! Beautiful and courageous.
Report Post »SamIamTwo
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 11:46amTheir lives were ruined under Hitler…Imagine how long it takes to get over it, eh?
I have no issue with is…too much media. TMM.
Report Post »MBA
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 11:44amAnything that keeps the Holocaust in our history is not trivial. My first thought was how could you pick just one when all of them are beautiful just for surviving such horror and making a life after what they went though. If they are able to come together 60 years later and commemorate those who were lost good for them. Ok, Blaze, what was Hava Herskovitz story?
Report Post »Leader1776
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 11:43amCongratulations ladies …………. YOU ARE ALL WINNERS!!
Report Post »RightPolitically
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 11:36amA contest to far!
Report Post »momrules
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 11:35amI see nothing wrong with it. These are beautiful, courageous survivors of a terrible time in human history.
They have stories to tell that all could learn from. There is no way that this contest can trivialize the Holocaust. The only ones who have ever trivialized it are the ones who either claim it never happened or the ones who have blamed the Jewish people for it.
Report Post »thegreatcarnac
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 11:34amOh…c’mon…..next there will be a Miss Slavery contest and all of the contestants will claim to have excaped from plantations.
Report Post »littlefish
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 11:56amAll who were slaves passed generations ago . . . .there are no survivors . . .
Report Post »These ladies are some of the precious few who remain witness the evils that some humans
deem appropriate in the name of a progressive lie . . .someday they all will be gone . . .
And if trends continue the history books will not even mention their heroic suffering . . .and the mass murdering progressive will be the victim . . .
They should be shouting from the roof tops ” It’s Happening AGAIN !” . . .
as our president takes another victory lap . . . .
Vote . . .VOTE . . .V O T E !!!!
macpappy
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 11:33amThis is what strength in a woman looks like. Strength in a woman is beautiful.
Report Post »G-WHIZ
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 11:51amAll who survived this horror, are beautifull. Their moral strength is their beauty. When I was much younger, I met some people, who had small numbers tattoed on their arms. I asked if was [ok] to teach me what happened when they said they survived the NAZIS consentration camp. They teared-up as they told me what happened. This I will NEVER FORGET!
Report Post »rosegrower
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 11:32amThere is something stomach-turning about this event. It does seem tasteless to hold a “beauty” pageant in order to celebrate the lives of those who survived genocide. Just because these women chose to participate doesn’t whitewash the event, but it may demonstrate how little regard these elderly heroines have received during their lives. Perhaps its a reminder to all of us to take some time and pay attention to our older friends and relatives so they don’t feel compelled to participate in events such as this.
Report Post »walkandtalk
Posted on June 30, 2012 at 6:34pmBeauty has many meanings. Beauty is the human soul. Beauty is greeting each day with hope. Beauty is being alive. Celebrating the lives of these women is a beautiful thing. So many do not want to see the real faces of the Holocaust. It is healing for these women to have a time celebrating them. They have suffered so much. Do not diminish the joy these ladies share. You can honor them by learning more about them. Do good to another in need. Look around you there are opportunities for good deeds every day.
Report Post »hi
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 11:26am“They feel good together. They are having a good time and laughing in the rehearsals,” said Sabag. ”The fact that so many wanted to participate proves that it’s a good idea.”
Report Post »CatB
Posted on June 29, 2012 at 11:25amWell done ladies … just because some try to deny the Holocast these women LIVED it … and survived … they are ALL winners. Would they feel better if it was called a “scholarship program” ;-)
“saying the winners were chosen based on their personal stories of survival and rebuilding their lives after the war, and physical beauty was only a tiny part of the competition.”
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