Holocaust-survivor, who is also a great grandmother, crowned as beauty pageant winner
Romanian-born Selina Steinfeld, who was recently crowned “Miss Holocaust Survivor” in Israel. Pic/AP
An 86-year-old great-grandmother who’s seen the ugliest of humanity during the Holocaust is now an officially minted beauty-contest winner. Armed with her fiery red hair, gold ensemble, pearl statement necklace and deep rouge lipstick, Romanian-born Selina Steinfeld—who survived the horrors of the Nazis as a young girl—was just crowned “Miss Holocaust Survivor” in Israel on Tuesday.
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The pageant, running mostly annually since 2009 by Yad Ezer L’Haver or “Helping Hand,” a local foundation that provides services to Holocaust survivors, is meant to honour and recognise living Holocaust survivors, now in their 70s, 80s and 90s, who were robbed of any normal childhood when their lives were shockingly upended in Europe. With 400 entrants whittled down to 10 finalists, it was the first live pageant since 2018.
Steinfeld survived mass massacres of Jews growing up in Romania, but later immigrated to Israel in 1948. Pic/AFP
Founder Shimon Sabag acknowledged the seemingly jarring juxtaposition of parading elderly Holocaust survivors in a pageant, but soon saw the beauty in it, according to the Daily Beast. “It seemed odd, women in their 80s and 90s, but I came to realise that they could do it no less than a girl of 18,” said Sabag. “It is not a competition of outward beauty, but one in which each competitor says, ‘I was in Lodz, I managed to survive and raise a family, I volunteer, I feel that I vanquished the Nazis and I’m alive and kicking.’ It gives them a drive for life.”
“I have no words to express my happiness,” said Haifa, Israel-based winner Steinfeld, who, according to the Times of Israel, said she hopes to “lead the people of Israel to beauty and goodness.” Steinfeld survived mass roundups and massacres of Jews growing up in Romania, but later immigrated to Israel in 1948. For founder Sabag, it’s still a mitzvah to honour these women, considering that only an estimated 1,95,000 survivors are still alive, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Teddy comes home after a year
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Man earns PhD at 89, becomes a physicist
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