Unlikely Contest Fosters Spirit of Hope
HAIFA – Two hours before the show began, the arena buzzed with anticipation. Just like in your average beauty contest, contestants waited anxiously backstage where volunteers finished transforming the women's appearances. Those who had already undergone the primping lingered with the other contestants, chatting about their families and picking carefully at the provided snacks, so as not to ruin their make-up.
"I am a Holocaust survivor," was how Shoshana Kolmer, 94, who would go on to win the pageant, introduced herself. Birdlike and still bubbly despite the terror that marked her youth, Kolmer’s family was wiped out in Auschwitz. She recited the dates of her imprisonment in the camp in a mix of Hebrew and German: March 17, 1944 to May 16, 1945. "Fourteen months," she repeated, "fourteen months."
It's not every day that a 94-year old woman wins a beauty pageant. But then, the "Miss Holocaust Survivor" is far from a typical contest.
Held in Haifa, eighteen women competed in the second annual pageant, funded in part by the International Christian Embassy of Jerusalem, an evangelical Christian Zionist organization. Yad Ezer L'Haver (Helping a Friend) a Haifa-based non-profit, was also a sponsor.
Running her fingers through her just-styled hair, Kolmer smiled coyly and said, "I didn't know what this was. I just came because everybody else came." She and a few other contestants now live in the Yad Ezer Home for Survivors.
"Me, a beauty queen? At my age?" Koka Palmon, 79, laughed when asked about the event. Palmon, with Betty Davis eyes and hair coiffed into a perfect set of curls, was coaxed into entering by the pageant's organizers after asking for tickets to the contest.
"It's an honor for me. I don't think that I'll win, but it's an honor. Each woman has a story, each one has suffered," she told The Media Line.
She was born in Romania, where she lived in a bomb shelter during the war, before coming to Israel in 1950. Her father was one of thousands of Romanian Jews killed in several "death trains" into which Jews were herded.
Margalit Gantz, 80, wasn't terribly excited about participating. Wanting to avoid the backstage mayhem, she sat with other women in the calmer main hall that would later be filled by an audience of over 2,000.
"Where is that old man?" she joked as she peered out into the bleachers, hoping to catch her husband before the show began.
Gantz recounted her story with somber defiance. "We all want the world to know how we suffered, and now we've built a lovely country, with children and families," she told The Media Line.
Separated from her parents at age nine and sent into the Budapest Ghetto, she had several brushes with death during the war.
"They took us in the middle of the night to kill us," she said. "We went into a road and they shot at us, and those children who had been just a few meters before us – the river was red from their blood."
She and others were saved by a passing Red Cross convoy and ultimately sent back to the ghetto, but it was years before she was reunited with her mother, and even longer until she moved to Israel at 16.
"I'm a big girl," she mused, a softness returning to her eyes. "I'm 80 years old. Yet sometimes I feel like a child."
The pageant began to a cheering audience, which continued throughout the two-hour event. The women sashayed across the stage to popular songs, and blew kisses to the adoring crowd.
During the interview section of the competition, the survivors spoke matter-of-factly about their Holocaust experiences. The mood in the hall shifted when they began answering questions about their families and lives here. Some giggled a moment as the pressure of the spotlight caused them to forget a grandchild or two.
Last year's pageant was severely criticized for its unorthodox premise. Media outlets called it "macabre" and even "grotesque." Tami Sinar, one of the pageant's organizers, said that even this year she fielded calls from some survivors, accusing the pageant of making light of their hardships.
"On the contrary," she told The Media Line. "Our reason [for the pageant] is to show that despite the fact these survivors had their traumas, they want to feel like they're women, that they're beautiful. There is a stigma that every Holocaust survivor is sad all of his or her life, and it's not like that. These people live their lives again – they're human beings, beautiful inside and out.
"This is to show that one can build one's life again. One can feel better, one can feel happy. Especially women, they can feel good about themselves." Sinar said.
Palmon and Gants, who took fourth and fifth place, respectively, were serenaded by Moti Giladi, one of the pageant's emcees, with a touching rendition of "A Yiddishe Mameh" as they were announced as runners-up.
Gantz seemed prouder than ever, her pre-show apprehension gone as she stood glowing on stage, with a bouquet of flowers in hand. Palmon, who had been sassy all day, now wiped a tear from her eye once the chorus began.
The ceremony closed with winner Kolmer leading the audience in "Hatikva," Israel's national anthem. Almost immediately family members and well-wishers crowded the stage, and the sports hall reverberated with a chorus of "Mazal tov" from every corner.
"I'm so excited," said Pnina Cohen, Kolmer's daughter. "She suffered so much in her life, this is the greatest gift that she can get."
"You can see how she enjoys herself so much on stage," echoed Zvia Pfeffer, Gantz's daughter. "They had such terrible lives; she was very young when this happened to her. She feels like she missed out on something." Pfeffer said she knew of her mother's unease leading up to the pageant, but she told her daughter before the event, "The show must go on."
Friends and family members surrounded winner Shoshana Kolmer long after the rest of the crowd started pouring into the street. Ever the belle of the ball, she posed for photos in her sash and crown.
"I feel great," she said. "I remembered that I am stronger than I thought."