Miss Puerto Rico stunned Yad Vashem staff on Thursday as she revealed that some of her relatives were murdered during the Holocaust.

Michelle Colón appeared overcome by emotion as she said that her great grandfather, Rodolfo Cohn, was a survivor who had lost all his relatives during the Shoah.

The 21 year-old added that her ancestors were “watching over me.”

The revelation took Yad Vashem staff and fellow contestants “by surprise”, the centre’s chairman Dani Dayan said on Twitter.

Miss Puerto Rico Michelle Colón surprised her fellow Miss Universe contestants (and also @yadvashem staff) when she revealed that her great-grandfather was a Holocaust survivor, most of whose family perished in Auschwitz. pic.twitter.com/EPmNJAlCAk

— Dani Dayan (@AmbDaniDayan) December 4, 2021

Ms Colón later took to social media to reveal that Mr Cohn had moved to the Caribbean where he met her great grandmother Dorila Thomas, a farm administrator who was herself a descendant of slaves.

Sharing a photo of the couple, she added that “together, they form a beautiful family of empowered women who taught the value of resilience, second opportunities and hard work.”