SURVIVOR......Hava
Hershkovitz, 79, (2nd right), a Holocaust survivor and winner of a beauty
contest for survivors of the Nazi genocide, stands with other contestants
during a contest in the northern Israeli city of Haifa June 28, 2012.
JERUSALEM : A beauty contest
for Holocaust survivors stirred deep emotions in Israel today, with organisers
hailing it an affirmation of life and detractors calling it a macabre
spectacle.
Fourteen women who survived
the Nazi genocide took the pageant stage before a packed hall in the city of
Haifa. Each of the contestants shared a bit of their personal stories before
the capacity crowd.
The event touched a raw
nerve with some Israelis who saw it as cheapening the memory of the six million
Jews killed in the Holocaust during World War Two.
Others said it was a
self-image boost for aging survivors, some of whom have fallen into poverty.
Shimon Sabag, director of
Helping Hand, a private group that aids thousands of the estimated 200,000
Holocaust survivors living in Israel, said the contest held yesterday had been
so successful he may hold a similar event next year.
“There were 1,000 survivors
there who enjoyed the event,” Sabag told Reuters. “People don’t have to see
Holocaust survivors mainly as a group of wheelchair-bound victims.”
Former Israeli lawmaker
Colette Avital, who heads a survivors’ organisation, was quoted by local media
as denouncing the competition as “macabre”.
The contest winner,
silver-haired Romanian-born Hava Hershkovitz, 79, regaled with a blue and white
sash as a tiara was placed on her head. She said the victory was “her revenge,
showing how despite the horrors her family went through, her beauty and
personality have endured,” according to Shabag.
“We should never forgive and
forget what they went through, but I find this a very constructive way to show
these people remain beautiful,” he added.
Hershkovitz, one of hundreds
of survivors in an assisted living facility sponsored by Sabag’s group, won a
family weekend at a resort and all 100 contestants were issued with electronic
distress buttons. (Reuters)
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