By Laurina Driesse

Beginning on Wednesday evening and into Thursday, Israel marked Yom HaShoah, its annual Holocaust Remembrance Day that pays respect to the more than six million victims of the Nazi genocide against the Jews and all the heroes who rose up against this great evil. This solemn memorial day is timed to honour the bravery of those Jews involved in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising around Passover 1943.

Yom HaShoah is a day for memorial ceremonies, communal vigils, and Holocaust-related educational programs. Most restaurants and places of entertainment are closed. At 10 AM on Thursday, the entire nation of Israel came to a standstill upon the sound of a nation-wide siren. Vehicles pulled over to the side of the road, and motorists exited their cars to stand in silence for two minutes of remembering the martyrs and heroes of the Holocaust.

An ICEJ delegation was invited to attend the official state ceremonies held at Yad Vashem on Wednesday evening, where the President and Prime of Israel delivered remarks honouring the Holocaust victims and heroes, while six survivors lit candles in memory of those who perished. On Thursday morning, ICEJ staff returned to Yad Vashem for a very special wreath-laying ceremony where Senior Vice President and Spokesman David Parsons and staff member Anne Mgaga laid a wreath in the Warsaw Ghetto Square on behalf of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem.

Ahead of Yom HaShoah, the ICEJ also participated in the Israeli premiere on Tuesday (22/04) of a new award-winning documentary entitled “Miss Holocaust Survivor: A Beauty Contest that Celebrates Life,” by German film-maker Radek Wegzryn.

His remarkable film follows a beauty contest for women who survived the Holocaust, a bi-annual event originated by Shimon Sabag, director of Yad Ezer L’Haver and the ICEJ’s local charitable partner in the running of our unique Home for Holocaust survivors in Haifa.

The film respectfully remembers the immense Jewish tragedy of the Shoah while also lifting spirits with the laughter and banter of the elderly female contestants, who are still celebrating life after all these years.

The documentary focuses on two of the contestants who are residents of the Haifa Home. First, Rita Kasimov Brown, now 95, tells her story of being born in Poland and hiding as a young Jewish girl with her family in a forest to evade capture by the Nazis. And Tova Finger, now 102, shares her painful ordeal while surviving three German concentration camps. As their heart-wrenching stories unfold, the film intersperses enchanting scenes of the fourteen contestants during their preparations for the pageant, leading up to the grand evening. The natural, unscripted humour of these courageous, delightful women is allowed to shine, resulting in a film that takes the audience on an unforgettable, life-affirming journey of both tears and laughter.

On Thursday, Radek Wegzryn was also the guest speaker on ICEJ’s Webinar. Senior Vice President and Spokesman David Parsons conversed with him about his enthralling documentary on these truly special Holocaust survivors. The movie director shared his motivation for making the documentary, the process of gaining the trust of his subjects, and the special moments he encountered with the Holocaust survivors, wishing he could tell all their stories. “Nothing replaces a human-to-human connection with a Holocaust survivor,” he expressed.

In the evening after Yom HaShoah, ICEJ hosted a special screening of the award-winning documentary at our Headquarters in Jerusalem for a mixed Jewish and Christian audience. Watching the film, some guests found themselves wiping tears from their eyes as they pondered the deep, dark stories they heard. In other parts of the film, bursts of laughter erupted as the natural personalities and unscripted conversations of the survivors shone through, with even a bit of their competitive spirits surfacing in humorous ways.  

During a time for questions after the film, one guest commented that he felt he went through three stages while watching the film. In the first stage, he was just looking at the protagonists. In the second stage, he was beginning to see them. In the third stage, he realised that the global aspect of the protagonists, where no particular feature stood out, diminished, and he really began to see these women as such beautiful people.

“This film is about beauty as well,” agreed Wegzryn. “The beauty that lies in a full, and a rich, and a brave life. It is a beauty that is not on a billboard or on a film screen, but it is that real, true beauty.”

 “It is very special to see how people react emotionally at different points in the film,” Wegzyn added.

The documentary will be released worldwide on International Holocaust Remembrance Day next year, 27 January 2026. You can watch the webinar below.  Meanwhile, if you would like to support the work of the Christian Embassy in caring for Holocaust survivors at our special Home in Haifa, please give to our Survivors fund at: help.icej.org/survivors

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