A London Assembly member paid testament to her grandparents’ experience during the Holocaust as she called on Londoners to “stand up against prejudice and persecution”.

Nicky Gavron described how her grandparents – both school teachers – avoided deportation to concentration camps with the help of former pupils.

She said: “Some of my family were rounded up and deported to Auschwitz – not all survived.

“But my grandparents, who were school teachers in Berlin, when the round ups came they were tipped off by former pupils every time, and went into hiding.”

Ms Gavron said it was “important” but “hard” for Londoners to intervene when they see anti-Semitism in the capital today.

The Labour member said she was encouraged by Asma Shuweikh, a Muslim woman who stood up for a Jewish family on the Tube in the face of a torrent of abuse from another passenger.

Speaking at Mayor’s Question Time on Thursday, Ms Gavron added: “We learn from the past how important it is to speak out, to be in solidarity with fellow citizens.”

And she thanked the Mayor for his “welcome” and “symbolic” contribution to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation.

Sadiq Khan pledged £300,000 earlier this week to ensure the former concentration camp is preserved for future generations to remember the atrocities of the Holocaust.

The Mayor also announced he would attend the 75th anniversary of the camp’s liberation later this month.

Mr Khan said the recent spate of attacks on Jewish people in London “made me sick to my stomach”.

In December, an Orthodox Rabbi was assaulted by two teenagers in Stamford Hill, Hackney.

And anti-Semitic graffiti – showing a Star of David with the phrase “9/11” – was daubed on shops in Belsize Park and a synagogue in South Hampstead during the Jewish festival of Chanukah last month.

The Mayor said: “History warns us of the dangers of allowing anti-Semitism to fester, and it’s clear right now that we need to be urgently redoubling our efforts to root it out of our society wherever it rears its ugly head.”

He added: “I personally have learnt so much and grown so much talking to Holocaust survivors and their families.

“It’s so important that we learn from the past and its at our peril if we don’t.”

London Assembly chairwoman Jennette Arnold said she was “humbled” by Ms Gavron’s “dignity” in sharing a personal story of intense suffering, and “reminding us again of the challenges Londoners face every day”.

The Assembly will hold its annual Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony on Monday.