An 86-year-old woman has been crowned ‘Miss Holocaust Survivor’ in an annual Israeli beauty pageant designed to honour women who endured the horrors of the Nazi genocide.

Selina Steinfeld, a great-grandmother survivor from Romania, moved to Israel in 1948 after surviving roundups and massacres during the Holocaust. She was among 10 women, all in their 80s and 90s, who took part in the pageant in Jerusalem.

The ten contestants ranging in age from 79 to 90 – trod the catwalk at a museum in the city of Haifa, their hair styled and make-up applied and dressed to the nines with sashes adorning their gowns.

Organizers of the contest, which was canceled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, say it bestows glamour and respect on a dwindling number of Jewish women whose youth was stolen during World War Two but who went on to build new lives in Israel.

Local celebrities provided entertainment and helped to judge the contest before Steinfeld was crowned. Miss Holocaust Survivor is sponsored by local foundation Yad Ezer L’Haver, which helps to assist survivors, and was hosted at the Friends of Zion Museum.

“After what I went through in the Holocaust, I never dreamed that I could get to where I am, with a big family: two kids, four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren,” said contestant Kuka Palmon, who survived a pogrom in her native Romania.

“And yet here I am, at this great age, 87. It’s a godly thing, it is indescribable.”

Tuesday’s winner, Selina Steinfeld, was also born in Romania, where she survived Nazi attacks before moving to Israel in 1948, organizers said. Other contestants included a woman born in Yugoslavia who survived the Rab concentration camp in modern-day Croatia.

Some commentators and survivors worry the event cheapens the memory of the 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis.

Dana Papo, whose grandmother Rivka competed on Tuesday, disputed that point of view, arguing that the contestants “deserve that everyone sees how much beauty there is in these women who went through such horror.

“We will show them how much we love and appreciate them. Thanks to them, we have a future and we have a country.”

The event is meant to bring members of Israel’s rapidly dwindling population of Holocaust survivors some joy and recognition.

Wow….Congrats Selina.