Harry Potter star Miriam Margolyes: ‘People don’t like Jews’

The actress, who was born and grew up in the city, is well known to audiences around the world after starring as Professor Sprout in several of the Harry Potter films.

Known for her character actor work across film, television, and stage, she received the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mrs Mingott in Martin Scorsese’s 1993 film, The Age of Innocence.

Ms Margolyes was awarded an OBE in 2002 for services to drama, but there were calls for this to be taken back last year.

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The 85-year-old, who is Jewish, has said that “people don’t like Jews” whilst speaking at the Hay Festival in Powys.

Ms Margolyes added that her Jewish identity has shaped her “whole life” and added: “What your parents teach you and what you learn from the community you live in.”

Addressing concerns about rising antisemitism, she told the audience: “Nobody likes me to say this, but I’m going to say it – people don’t like Jews.”

She reflected on how, after the Holocaust – “when millions of Jewish people, and people from other backgrounds, were killed by the Nazis during World War Two” – there was a period when people “realised that they couldn’t say nasty things about Jews because terrible things happened to Jews and they must be sympathetic, so it stopped.”

However, she added that, over time, when “people with no morals who happened to be Jewish” appeared in public life, “the knives came out again, and they have never been put away.”