A 93-year-old great-grandmother who survived Auschwitz was crowned “Miss Holocaust Survivor” in an Israeli beauty pageant on Sunday.

Tova Ringer won the beauty competition, which pays tribute to women who endured Shoah.

Ms Ringer, who lost her parents, four sisters and a grandmother at the death camp, was overjoyed to be crowned a beauty queen. 

She told Reuters: “I’m very happy. It’s something special. I wouldn’t believe that at my age I would be a beauty.”

The annual event, which attracts thousands of people, including government ministers, is organised by Israeli organisation Yad Ezer L’Haver, a group that helps Holocaust survivors who are in need.

Ms Ringer walked the catwalk along side the other contestants.

Among those she beat to the title was a retired gynaecologist and gas technician, both 81, and two authors of Holocaust memoirs.

The youngest competitor was a 74-year-old teacher from Romania.

According to The Times of Israel, fewer than 200,000 Holocaust survivors live in Israel today.