Frivolous contest
The story of the “Miss Holocaust Survivor” pageant, held last month in Haifa, made a quick splash in the press but, like most pseudocelebrity fabrications, it quickly faded from the front pages (Kolbo, “Walk of life,” July 5).
This vulgar exploitation of a group of elderly women will soon be forgotten, but it is certain that the Holocaust deniers will not forget soon. They have been handed further ammunition for their insistence that the Holocaust was not the cataclysmic event claimed by the Jews, but rather a gross exaggeration of some inconveniences suffered by many other people during World War II.
This frivolous contest was not merely innocent entertainment meant to distract the lonely pageant participants. It is a deep offense to the dignity of the survivors and an attack on the honor of the Jewish people. We can only hope that the publicity this stunt has generated will not attract unscrupulous imitators.
Gerda Bikales
Livingston
comments