Maurice Ludmer

Maurice Ludmer (1926–1981) was a British anti-fascist activist and journalist.

Biography

Early life His father was a Salford hairdresser and mother a teacher of Hebrew. His family moved to Birmingham in 1939. As a young man he was interested in sport. He joined the Young Communist League.

World War II During the Second World War he served in the British Army. The shock of a visit to Belsen concentration camp which influenced the rest of his life.

Sports journalism and anti-racism (1950s – 1975) He became a sports journalist by trade. In the 1950s he became active in local politics in the Midlands, particularly tenants' associations and the peace movement. But following the Notting Hill riots 1958, the controversial Smethwick election and the anti-immigration Immigration Control Associations, he became an active anti-racist. In the late 1960s he resigned from the Communist Party which he felt was not fighting hard enough against racism.

Ludmer continued to oppose organised fascism and was attacked by fascists on several occasions. A Manchester Anti-Nazi League activist recalled that 'Maurice was a firm part of the Labour movement. He was a Communist, and the President of Birmingham Trades Council. The people who initiated the Anti-Nazi League had to have Maurice's support.'