Judge Rob Rinder appeared on This Morning on Monday where he spoke about his upcoming documentary, My Family, The Holocaust & Me.
He and his mother Angela spoke to hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield about their experience exploring the history of their Jewish ancestors who escaped the Holocaust and those who lost their lives.
In the documentary, which airs tonight on BBC One, Rob, 42, meets families of other people affected by the Holocaust, as his own grandfather managed to escape to the UK after being liberated from a concentration camp.
Phil Schofield asked: "Rob is this why you pursued your legal career?
Rob replied: "It would be disingenuous to say that's the way it started, but gradually as I journeyed through my career, there was a moment I realised I was standing between the individual and the power of the stakes.
"And how important it was that each and every one of us lives under the rule of law, and how important that is when you have grown up around somebody who has known what it was to quite literally touch the face of tyranny.
"Knew what it was like to have your liberty taken away without due process, without a trial, with nothing but an alienable characteristic - because you're Jewish or because of the colour of your skin, or because of your creed."
He went on: "When that's lived in your life, it's sewn into the tapestry of who we are as a family, but I am optimistic to say I hope everybody at home who is too.
"When that's in you, of course that definitely informed my career as I moved forward."
Angela revealed at one point filming the documentary, she was so overcome with emotion she collapsed, and her son caught her.
She says the pain of the Holocaust still lives with her every day.
* This Morning airs weekdays on ITV at 10am
