‘She survived the war by pretending to be Turkish’

Joining Sophy Ridge on the panel yesterday was Labour MP Emily Thornberry and former Home Office adviser James Starkie.

Ms Thornberry has been reflecting on her own family’s experiences during the Holocaust.

She tells Sophy Ridge about her stepmother’s mother, who is Jewish.

She says the mother married a German Jew and that they went to live in Bavaria where she survived because she pretended she was Turkish.

“She survived the war by pretending to be Turkish and pretending that her daughter was Turkish,” she says.

“We were talking about intergenerational trauma – I think there are lots of things about my stepmother that are explained by the fact she had to be so secretive at such an early age.

“Even now, if prop planes go by, she shakes.”

Sophy asks Mr Starkie for his thoughts on Holocaust memorial day.

He warns of the importance of remembering the stories of those who survived the Holocaust.

“Losing touch with the past, and as David said, not remembering those lessons… that is something you look at and think how do we not forget and stop it being something that is just in a history book,” he says.

Labour MP says she ‘needs to persuaded’ over Heathrow espansion

Sophy later asked Emily Thornberry, the chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, whether she supports a third runway at Heathrow.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has indicated she will overrule environmental objections to a third runway at Heathrow in order to prioritise economic growth – putting her on a potential collision course with fellow Labour MPs.

Ms Thornberry, the Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury, says her party stood on a manifesto of supporting Heathrow taking into account noise pollution, air pollution, carbon budgets and the need for growth.

She says the task is to balance those things together.

Asked whether she supports expansion, Ms Thornberry says she suggests she does not think expansion can go ahead within the constraints set out.

“I need to persuaded, but I appreciate we need to go for growth,” she says, adding that the “right approach” is within the checks set out by the party.


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