A HOLOCAUST survivor to be awarded with a British Empire Medal is encouraging young people to continue his fight against prejudice.

Gerald Cranston, of Crescent Road in Enfield, was a passenger on the MS St. Louis, an ocean liner known as the ‘voyage of the damned’ which battled to bring more than 900 Jewish refugees to safety during the Second World War.

Led by the ship’s captain, Gustav Schröder, the ship left Germany in 1939 and sailed for two weeks to Cuba before being denied access to the country.

Although “proud” to be receiving the Medal for his services to educating others about the Holocaust, he admits he is “anxious” about modern day politics, citing the recent inauguration of American President Donald Trump as a concern.

He said: “It is not going to be an easy time. I can’t say how proud I am to live in this country. It gave me my life, it gave me a home, it gave me a good business and I built that business up successfully.

“I just hope that the tolerance and fair mindedness that the British people always had will come to the fore again."

He also cited the importance of young people standing up and making a difference, adding: "I am a dinosaur, I am extinct. Young people are the future – if they don’t fight against prejudice, this country is doomed."

Mr Cranston boarded the ship aged six with his father following Kristallnacht; an evening in November 1938 which saw Jewish homes, schools and hospitals being ransacked in German streets. His mother had died the previous year from health problems.

Knowing it was essential to leave Germany in a bid to reach safety, he said: “No one wanted to go to Cuba, but it was close to America. We knew it was a corrupt country, but as my father kept saying, we were safer there because we had visas for the United States.”

When aboard the ship, he said the passengers were treated pleasantly as Captain Schröder informed all the ship’s company to take the Jews as guests and to “forget the nonsense that was going on in Germany.”

However, refused entry to Cuba and ordered to leave the United States, the passengers were running short of fuel, food and water before being eventually able to find refuge in the UK, France, Belgium and Netherlands.

Mr Cranston, who set up his own company manufacturing women’s belts in the UK, added: “Roosevelt, like Mr Trump, didn’t want to get involved. No, we were not terrorists. The US was big enough by far for another 900 people.”

The refugees were then at renewed risk following Nazi German invasions, with many not surviving the War.