Miss Holocaust Survivor documentary wins Ernst Lubitsch award

Miss Holocaust Survivor, a documentary that spotlights a unique beauty pageant that celebrates the lives of those who lived through the Nazi death camps, received the Ernst Lubitsch Award at a ceremony at the Zoo Palast theater in Berlin on Sunday.

The movie, by Radek Wegrzyn, focuses on the stories of the Holocaust survivors who took part in this pageant like no other in 2018 in Haifa, when the winner was Auschwitz survivor Tova Ringer, who was 93, as well as contestant Rita Kasimow-Brown. In the movie, the women both charm with their energy and their love for life and tell moving stories of their experiences. 

While accepting the award, Wegrzyn said, “I am grateful and honored to receive this prestigious and coveted award, which bears the name of the legendary filmmaker Ernst Lubitsch and represents the ability of cinema to touch us deeply, to make us laugh, cry and inspire us.

I want to dedicate this award to my film family and to the wonderful women, the heroes of all of us, these Holocaust survivors who survived the horrors of the Shoah and the inferno of the extermination camps,  and who demonstrate that beauty and hope can exist even in the depths of human history."

Shimon Sabag, founder and CEO of the association Yad Ezer L’Haver, which founded the pageant 12 years ago, said, "Today, more than ever, it is essential to strengthen and embrace the people of Israel after the horrors of the Holocaust and the seventh of October.

We believe that the message 'never again' must resonate throughout the world, and remind us all of the importance of maintaining unity and respect between human beings." Yad Ezer L’Haver provides support to Holocaust survivors. The International Christian Embassy also supports the pageant.

Criticism of the pageant 

The pageant has drawn criticism from some, who felt it was in poor taste, although its judges have included such famous names as author and wife of former prime minister, Lihi Lapid, and model/entrepreneur Pnina Rosenblum.

Countering the criticism, Lapid said, “Each one of them wanted and mentioned the fact that she is here because she wants us to remember and to talk about it and to never forget. And there was something so touching by the way they just wanted us to understand that we need to celebrate life.”

Ernst Lubitsch was a German-Jewish director who went to Hollywood in the 1930s and was known for sophisticated comedies such as To Be or Not to Be (a rare movie that spoofed the Nazis during World War II), Ninotchka (which starred Greta Garbo), The Shop Around the Corner, and Design for Living.

His style was to make light of weighty topics with what was known as “the Lubitsch Touch.” The award was created in his name in 1957 by a German film critics’ association, 10 years after his death.