The growing incidence of knife violence by young people bears an alarming resemblance to the way the Nazis behaved during the Holocaust, warns survivor Eva Schloss.

Ms Schloss, 79, step-sister of diarist Anne Frank, who died in the Holocaust, is a campaigner against hatred. She aims to show young people that using a knife or shooting someone for no reason is an act of extreme hatred, and no different to how the Nazis behaved towards the Jews and other innocent people.

Ms Schloss, who has devoted more than 20 years to spreading the message of tolerance, says: "We have become too tolerant. There has been a breakdown of family life and society, resulting in increased crime. We need to exert more discipline.

"Children need and want authority. Teachers have become scared to discipline children properly; scared they will get into trouble if they touch them. It has become ridiculous today. Children should be disciplined and know where they stand."

She has recently started visiting prisons to work with inmates. "Many prisoners have expressed a desire to become a hate-buster when they leave. If we can use them to change people's lives, then we have a genuine tool to help tackle this out-of-control problem."

In 1944, Ms Schloss and her family were captured by the Nazis and sent to Auschwitz. She and her mother were among the survivors. Her father and brother died. Ms Schloss's mother went on to marry Anne Frank's father, Otto Frank.

A play of Ms Schloss's story, And Then They Came for Me, is currently showing at the Edinburgh festival.