The Holocaust Education Trust has warned that the Holocaust must not be “deployed as a debating tool,” after Diane Abbott invoked the Kindertransport while attacking new Home Office plans requiring some asylum seekers to contribute towards the cost of their stay in the UK.
Under the proposals, asylum seekers granted refugee status will be required to pay around £10,000 through a means-tested scheme designed to cover the cost of their state-funded living expenses.
Abbott wrote: “This is just a tax on refugees. Imagine applying to the Kindertransport children fleeing Nazi Germany, and withholding refugee status they are entitled to.”
The Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP and former Labour stalwart who had the whip removed over antisemitism allegations, also accused the government of “chasing Farage down a dead end”.
She was criticised by campaigners, who noted that children admitted under the Kindertransport were only permitted to come to Britain after a payment per child by private sponsors.
Alex Hearn, co-director of Labour Against Antisemitism, said: “That is literally what happened to Kindertransport children.”
Former Labour councillor Joshua Garfield added: “The Kindertransport was entirely funded by private donations from Anglo-Jewry as the government expressly required that no refugee child become a burden to the state."
A spokesperson for the Holocaust Education Trust said of the remark: “In a world full of misinformation, accuracy is essential.
“Under the special immigration scheme agreed by the Home Office in November 1938, a private guarantor, often from within the Jewish community, had to post a £50 bond per child, around £2000-£3000 today, to cover the cost of their eventual re-emigration, on the basis that no child would become a burden on public funds.
"Children entered on temporary travel documents, and the £50 was a guarantee held against future costs.
"The Holocaust must be taught and understood, not deployed as a debating tool,” HET said.
Abbott’s post on X has been community noted, with a comment explaining: “Children from the Kindertransport had to have at least £50 and a place to stay to be admitted to the UK to not place a financial burden on the country and were expected to stay only temporarily in the UK.”
The JC approached Abbott for comment.
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