Holocaust Survivors" Pageant Taps Into a Conflict in Israel Genia Schwartz-Bardt, 89, watched as her makeup was done by a professional at the pageant. The 14 finalists told personal stories that counted as much as poise. HAIFA, Israel - Estee Lieber was in a bit of a tizzy as she emerged from under the blow-dryer for the final walk-through on Thursday evening. "I don't like it straight," she complained, wearing a triple strand of pearls and her sash, while waiting to put on her velvety black dress slit up the side. I'm not modern. In my eyes it's not beautiful. This was the first beauty pageant for Ms. Lieber, 74, who was born in Poland in 1937, was 5 when her father was killed by the Nazis in Germany, and 6 when her mother faced the same fate. It was the first time down the runway for all 14 finalists, in what was billed as the first-ever pageant of Holocaust survivors. They wore sensible shoes, and no swimsuits. Personal stories counted as much as poise. "I had a long struggle against death, I almost died in the concentration camp," Mania Herman, 79, told the audience of about 500. I came to Israel in 1951. I studied, I worked, I made a family. I wrote three books about the Holocaust. But this pageant was of greater consequence than to serve up a feel-good moment. It tapped into a core conflict that bedevils this society, where most everyone agrees on the need to keep the memory of the Holocaust central and alive, but not everyone agrees on how. Some criticized the celebration for trivializing a tragedy, a reminder that in Israel the Holocaust is both omnipresent and ever-contentious. Ze'ev Bar-Ilan of Beersheba, himself a survivor, wrote a letter to the newspaper Yediot Aharonot decrying the event as "an attempt to harness and exploit the harshest blood bath in human history for the purposes of entertainment." Colette Avital, a former Knesset member who was elected on Thursday to head the umbrella group of 54 survivors" organizations said in an interview, "If it was up to me, I wouldn't even dream of it." Such dissent demonstrates the constant struggle over how the Holocaust is handled. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been lampooned for comparing the Iranian nuclear threat to 1939. This week, three ultra-Orthodox men were arrested for tagging Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum, with graffiti saying, "Hitler, the Zionist movement thanks you." And a great debate erupted six months ago when, during a performance of Yehoshua Sobol's play "Ghetto," some high school students cheered on the actor playing a Nazi officer beating a Jew. Avrum Burg, author of the 2009 book "The Holocaust Is Over: We Must Rise From Its Ashes," said in an interview that "what you see in Haifa is a struggle over the strategy of the memory." Will it be permanently victimizing ourselves, and whining, whining, whining? Or will it be something else: the something else is the syntax of life, the vocabulary and the lexicon of the Holocaust survivors saying, "Remember us positively." " Shimon Sabag, director of Helping Hand for a Friend, the nonprofit group that organized the event, said it was important because "we have to remember history but also have to let these survivors think about the present. When people take an interest and pamper their outside or external beauty, this makes them feel better physically and then has a positive effect on their soul. But the struggle seeped through even in the two minutes each contestant was given to tell her story Thursday night. Each spoke of hunger, beatings and loss in Europe, but also of books written and prizes won in Israel. The survival theme was underlined as each listed her progeny: two children, three grandchildren; three children, six grandchildren; three children, seven grandchildren, nine great-grands. "Grandma, Grandma, Grandma," chanted three camera-ready young women as Penina Plotkin, 76, appeared onstage. Ms. Herman wrote three books about her Holocaust experience, and has had four exhibitions of her paintings on the theme. She took fourth place in the pageant. The crown, and a weekend in a five-star hotel, went to Hava Hershkowitz, 78, who wore an ankle-length black skirt and long-sleeved jacket, her bright-red lipstick matching her toenail polish. The oldest contestant was 89, the youngest 73. Most, including Ms. Hershkowitz, were from Romania, and many avoided the camps. Irit Pasner-Garshowitz and Myra Noveck contributed reporting from Jerusalem.