Tova Ringer, former winner of ‘Miss Holocaust Survivor,’ dies at 102
Polish-born Haifa resident survived Auschwitz, is remembered for her dedication to Holocaust education, meeting groups from Israel and abroad
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
Tova Ringer, once crowned “Miss Holocaust Survivor,” died Wednesday at the age of 102.
Ringer, who survived the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, was remembered as having dedicated her time to teaching about the Holocaust.
“Mom talked a lot about the Holocaust,” her son Ofer told the Ynet news outlet. That included testimony she gave to the Yad Vashem National Holocaust Memorial.
“The Holocaust was part of her life,” he said.
Ringer was born in Poland, the youngest of seven children. Her parents, one sister, and a grandparent were all murdered by the Nazis.
“Most came to Israel, and one sister traveled to the US,” Ofer said of the surviving children. “They have all died, and my mother was the last in the chain.”
Ofer said that despite all the turmoil of her life, his mother was “very active.”
Until just a year ago, she lived alone and would spend two or three hours every morning at the gym.
“She also had the strength to be alone,” he said. “She was a true survivor.”
In 2018, Ringer was chosen out of 12 contestants at the 2018 installation of the annual Israeli event to be crowned “Miss Holocaust Survivor.”
The annual competition is organized by Yad Ezer L’Haver, or Helping Hand, an organization dedicated to assisting needy Holocaust survivors in Israel. She later also participated in a documentary film about the event.
In a statement marking her death, Yad Ezer L’Haver said that for the past 15 years, Ringer was a constant presence at the organization’s social club, participated in activities, and volunteered to meet educational groups from within Israel and abroad.
“She was an Israeli advocacy machine, relating in the first person what she had experienced to soldiers, police, students, tourists, and women’s groups,” the organization said.
Ringer could speak eight languages and “knew how to make her story personally and accurately accessible to each and every one.”
“She was a voice of truth with a heart of gold,” the organization said. “She didn’t just tell the story, she lived it, out of a deep sense of mission to ensure that the memory of the Holocaust should never be forgotten.”
Ringer, who lived in Haifa, is survived by two sons, five grandchildren, and 15 great-grandchildren.
There are around 123,700 Holocaust survivors in Israel, according to the Israeli Holocaust Survivors’ Rights Authority. Their average age is 87.
The Times of Israel Community.