A Labour councillor claimed that Conservative immigration laws resembled Nazi policies, at the opening of Islington’s Anne Frank exhibition on Monday.
Highbury East Cllr Sue Lukes praised Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for voting against “the hostile environment and those pernicious Nuremberg clauses”.
“With these rules you lose basic rights because of who you are. In the 1930s it was because you were Jewish – now it’s because of your immigration status”, she said.
However, a Holocaust survivor who also attended the event said reports of antisemitism involving Corbyn and the Labour Party made her feel “terrible”.
Mala Tribich, 89, who was imprisoned in the same concentration camp as Anne Frank, told Islington Now that she was deeply concerned about the allegations.
Having lived through the Holocaust, Ms Tribich had believed that she would never see antisemitism again in her lifetime.
“It’s the Labour Party, and Corbyn,” she added. “I don’t understand how this is coming from the socialists. The Jews were always the friends of the socialists, because the socialists believed we were all equal, and there shouldn’t be any discrimination.”
Cllr Sue Lukes made her remarks about Tory policy during her speech launching the exhibit, also telling the audience to remember that fascism in Europe in the 1930s “didn’t appear out of nowhere”.
“It started with othering and dehumanising,” she said. “And we face that here and now too.”
She said some Conservative legislation, such as the 2016 immigration act, contained details “remarkably like the Nuremberg laws passed by the Nazis to force Jews like my grandparents out of their homes and on the path towards deportation”.
The exhibition, at Islington’s Central Library, displays photos of the Frank family taken by Otto Frank, Anne’s father, as well as replica artefacts, such as Anne’s suitcase. London-based artist Michael Italiaander also unveiled his painting for the library of Nelson Mandela reading Anne Frank’s diary.
The Anne Frank Foundation will also hold workshops for twelve local schools. The exhibition runs from 4-18 November.
