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Amazing pictures from the third annual 'Miss Holocaust Survivor' beauty pageant

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Israel held its third annual 'Miss Holocaust Survivor' beauty pageant on Tuesday.

Sarah Israel, 85, has her hair done

Stela Krashes, 85, getting her eye make-up done in preparation for the show

The event, designed to boost the participants' self-esteem, involved all the competitors donning their gladrags and getting their hair and make up done...

Judith Rosenzweig, 81, has her make-up done

Nail varnish is applied to the hands of one of the competitors backstage

Rivka Kushnir, 85, chooses what make-up to wear

2014 winner Hava Hershkovitz, 82, has her make-up done during preparations

... before stepping on stage for an evening filled with moving stories of survival and a strut down the catwalk.

Holocaust survivors waiting backstage

Linda Ruben, 82, takes to the runway

Judith Rosenzweig, 81, (R) and Rivka Shtanger, 74, (L) on the catwalk

Reigning queen Hava Hershkovitz lost her crown to newcomer Rita Berkowitz, 83.

Rita Berkowitz, 83, is announced as the winner

Berkowitz, originally from Romania, is a mother of one, grandmother of six and great-grandmother of five. When she was crowned queen she told the crowd:

...all Jews from all across the world will come [to Israel], all of them. And we shall be stronger. We are not afraid of anyone. The Jew will never disappear from the world.

The pageant was organised by Helping Hand, a charity which helps the 200,000 Holocaust survivors living in Israel.

Rivka Kushnir, 85, waits backstage