The first MISS HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR !

[GostHacked]

http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/28/12465576-miss-holocaust-survivor-crowned-in-israel?lite

I just don't have words for this. This is an insult to holocaust survivors on the whole.

The Associated Press reports — Fourteen women who lived through the horrors of World War II paraded on stage Thursday night in an unusual pageant, vying for the honor of Israel's first 'Miss Holocaust Survivor'. The unusual event was hosted by an Israeli group that aids Holocaust survivors. Around 20 women, all in their 80s and 90s, told the audience their life stories.

"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," said 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.

Billed by organizers as a celebration of life, the event also stirred controversy. In a country where millions have been touched by the Holocaust, many argued that judging aging women who had suffered so much on physical appearance was inappropriate, and even offensive.

Not sure if this is the right way to honour the survivors or victims.

[DogOnPorch]

Indeed....very strange. Beats blowing up the marketplace, though.

[bleeding heart]

Indeed....very strange. Beats blowing up the marketplace, though.

OK...no choice but to give you points for that one.

[DogOnPorch]

Well, it is pretty weird. But, they do similar things at the Old Folks Home.

[Guest Peeves]

Obviously there will be those finding on both sides. Personally I find it macabre, but, they went through 'it', so I give them the edge for the courage of their convictions.

Certainly better than Iran's choice to have a Holocaust cartoon competition to denigrate the shoah with prizes.

So a rather unusual beauty pageant in Israel this week has caused some controversy. Fourteen women, aged between 74 and 97, competed for the title of “Miss Holocaust Survivor”. Whittled down from 300 entrants, each of the women had survived the horrors of World War II.

Certainly, it jars to think of judging ageing women who have endured so much on the basis of their appearance. Critics said that the contest was macabre and offensive, while the cosmetics company recruited to dress the women for the pageant was accused of using the survivors for a cheap marketing stunt. Pageant organisers Shimon Sabag responded that it was a “celebration of life” and that just ten per cent depended on appearance, with women being judged also on their stories of survival and their contribution to their local communities.

The strange disjunction of the event is illustrated by its judging panel – three former beauty queens, and a psychiatrist specialising in Holocaust trauma. There is something about it which sounds like dystopic satire.

Yet for the participants, it clearly meant something. The winner was 79-year-old Hava Hershkovitz, who was forced to leave her home in Romania in 1941. She said: "This place is full of survivors. It puts us at the centre 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."

Esther Libber, a 74-year-old runner up who fled Poland as a child, hiding in a forest before being rescued by a Polish woman, echoed this sentiment: "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.”

[The_Squid]

Extremely distasteful.

And claiming that Muslims do worse things is not an argument in favour, nor does it make it any better. Whoever put this event on is a low-life.

[Canuckistani]

...

Edited June 29, 2012 by Canuckistani

[Guest American Woman]

Why can any other segment of society have a "Miss whatever" pageant and that's to be respected - yet this isn't? I see it as no more tasteful/distasteful than any other beauty pageant.

[Guest Peeves]

Why can any other segment of society have a "Miss whatever" pageant and that's to be respected - yet this isn't? I see it as no more tasteful/distasteful than any other beauty pageant.

That puts 'it' in proper context perhaps.

I guess they are as entitled to celebrate the joie de vivre more than most.

[Melanie_]

Certainly, it jars to think of judging ageing women who have endured so much on the basis of their appearance. Critics said that the contest was macabre and offensive, while the cosmetics company recruited to dress the women for the pageant was accused of using the survivors for a cheap marketing stunt. Pageant organisers Shimon Sabag responded that it was a “celebration of life” and that just ten per cent depended on appearance, with women being judged also on their stories of survival and their contribution to their local communities.

Was there also a Mr. Holocaust Survivor? You know, who was judged on his own story of survival?

And on another note...

How do you compare people's stories of loss, chaos, dehumanization and eventual pure luck, and declare one to be a winner? I can't imagine an entire competition premised on who suffered the greatest, as if it were a badge of honour. In this situation, I'd rather see it be about their appearance than their victimization.

[Guest Peeves]

Was there also a Mr. Holocaust Survivor? You know, who was judged on his own story of survival?

And on another note...

How do you compare people's stories of loss, chaos, dehumanization and eventual pure luck, and declare one to be a winner? I can't imagine an entire competition premised on who suffered the greatest, as if it were a badge of honour. In this situation, I'd rather see it be about their appearance than their victimization.

Perhaps, just perhaps, they made a point?

Pageant organizer Shimon Sabag 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, director of Yad Ezer L'Haver, or Helping Hand, which assists needy Holocaust survivors and organized the pageant.

"The fact that so many wanted to participate proves that it's a good idea."

Nearly 300 women from across Israel registered for the competition and contestants were whittled down to the 14 finalists who appeared Thursday.

The contest, part of Helping Hand's 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.

The women, ranging in age from 74 to 97, clearly enjoyed themselves. Wearing black dresses, earrings and necklaces, and sporting blue-and-white numbered sashes, they grinned and waved as they were introduced to the adoring audience. Music played as the contestants walked along a red carpet, introduced themselves and described their memories of World War II.

"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," said 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.

A four-judge panel consisting of three former beauty queens and a geriatric psychiatrist who specializes in treating Holocaust survivors chose the winner. Hava Hershkovitz, a soon-to-be 79-year-old, 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.

"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.

[Melanie_]

I think the point can be made without turning it into a competition, to see whose survival story is "best". All victims of the Holocaust have important stories to tell, and they should all be given equal respect. Assigning greater or lesser value to their experiences does a disservice to them all.

[bud]

ms. auschwitz crowned ms. gas chamber 2012

[Jack Weber]

ms. auschwitz crowned ms. gas chamber 2012

Classin' it up,eh?

[DogOnPorch]

Classin' it up,eh?

T'is the scorpion's nature.

[bud]

i would say the class award goes to whoever thought of the contest:

Some criticized the celebration for trivializing a tragedy, a reminder that in Israel the Holocaust is both omnipresent and ever-contentious.

Ze’ev Bar-Ilan of Beersheba, himself a survivor, wrote a letter to the newspaper Yediot Aharonot decrying the event as “an attempt to harness and exploit the harshest blood bath in human history for the purposes of entertainment.” Colette Avital, a former Knesset member who was elected on Thursday to head the umbrella group of 54 survivors’ organizations said in an interview, “If it was up to me, I wouldn’t even dream of it.”

Such dissent demonstrates the constant struggle over how the Holocaust is handled. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been lampooned for comparing the Iranian nuclear threat to 1939. This week, three ultra-Orthodox men were arrested for tagging Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum, with graffiti saying, “Hitler, the Zionist movement thanks you.” And a great debate erupted six months ago when, during a performance of Yehoshua Sobol’s play “Ghetto,” some high school students cheered on the actor playing a Nazi officer beating a Jew.

Avrum Burg, author of the 2009 book “The Holocaust Is Over: We Must Rise From Its Ashes,” said in an interview that “what you see in Haifa is a struggle over the strategy of the memory.”

“Will it be permanently victimizing ourselves, and whining, whining, whining? Or will it be something else: the something else is the syntax of life, the vocabulary and the lexicon of the Holocaust survivors saying, ‘Remember us positively.’ ”

link

[Guest American Woman]

I think the point can be made without turning it into a competition, to see whose survival story is "best". All victims of the Holocaust have important stories to tell, and they should all be given equal respect. Assigning greater or lesser value to their experiences does a disservice to them all.

I would say that's up to the participants to decide. Who knows what they may have gotten out of it? It's not for us to say, so I don't see why this pageant should be criticized any more or less than any other.

[Guest Peeves]

i would say the class award goes to whoever thought of the contest:

Your position noted.

[kraychik]

Extremely distasteful.

And claiming that Muslims do worse things is not an argument in favour, nor does it make it any better. Whoever put this event on is a low-life.

So all of the women participants are low-lives for choosing to participate? The moral grandstanding from someone with no stake in the events of the Holocaust is quite rich. Obviously these women and the organizers of the event are doing it to spread awareness of the Holocaust and to give these women another chance to share their stories, while celebrating their survival and enduring beauty. As DogOnPorch said, it's weird. Let's leave it at that.

[kraychik]

Why can any other segment of society have a "Miss whatever" pageant and that's to be respected - yet this isn't? I see it as no more tasteful/distasteful than any other beauty pageant.

Well said. You've totally exposed the hypocrisy of certain people in this thread who are pretending to be offended.

[kraychik]

I think the point can be made without turning it into a competition, to see whose survival story is "best". All victims of the Holocaust have important stories to tell, and they should all be given equal respect. Assigning greater or lesser value to their experiences does a disservice to them all.

You're taking it much too seriously.

[Rue]

I think the point can be made without turning it into a competition, to see whose survival story is "best". All victims of the Holocaust have important stories to tell, and they should all be given equal respect. Assigning greater or lesser value to their experiences does a disservice to them all.

Well put. Thanks. You captured what I was at a loss of words to say.

[Rue]

ms. auschwitz crowned ms. gas chamber 2012

This is precisely the kind of childish, bigoted anti semitic snide Jew baiting comment I would expect of you on this forum.

Easy to be a snide ass about the holocaust isn't it Bud when you can hide behind the anonomity of a pen name.

If anyone has any doubt as to what your agenda is you are showing your true colours.

For the record, I lost any civility I have had on this forum precisely because people like you continue to pollute it with your Jew baiting.

I also agree with the other poster earlier that when dealing with this issue, making insulting comments about Muslims is no better than what Buddy Boy does although the point of the comment was only a direct comment on terrorists not Muslims.

In any event, thank Gawd the rest of you carried this debate on in an interesting manner.

[BC_chick]

I think the point can be made without turning it into a competition, to see whose survival story is "best". All victims of the Holocaust have important stories to tell, and they should all be given equal respect. Assigning greater or lesser value to their experiences does a disservice to them all.

I don't know. I didn't take it as a competition for the most gut-wrenching story at all. The pageant aspect of it doesn't seem anything more to me than a different approach to exploring their personal stories on air. There are plenty of documentaries on the subject already. Or maybe they could have shared their stories on coffee-talk daytime TV.

But it's all been done before, this is just a unique way to celebrate their stories.

I don't really see anything wrong with it. The women also look like they enjoyed it.

[Wild Bill]

I don't really see anything wrong with it. The women also look like they enjoyed it.

Obviously they did or they wouldn't have done it!

There seems to be something wrong with the criticism from certain posters, a criticism which we often see whenever events of long ago are examined in a modern light. Critics expect those who are much older to share their "modern" values!

It is only recently that beauty contests have become politically incorrect. A 74 year old man or woman likely has a completely different opinion of such events, formed when they were younger. Why on earth should they be expected to change their values? Because some younger folks have followed a different trend?

We are all entitled to our views and opinions. To tell a senior citizen who hid in a forest from Nazis who would have exterminated her that she should change her views about beauty pageants is arrogant in the extreme!

Edited July 14, 2012 by Wild Bill