The Game of Thrones star, 30, who played Quaithe in the hit HBO fantasy drama series, opened up about the horrific responses from social media users which forced her to disable comments on Instagram. “You would be amazed at some of the comments I get,” she told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Emma Barnett. “I must say that I have disabled my comments on my Instagram, simply because my skin wasn’t thick enough to take it.” When asked if the abuse occurred when she talked about the Holocaust online, Laura said: “It does and it’s mostly to do with Israel and it’s completely uncalled for because I tend to post pretty pictures, or pictures of rehearsal or of work that I do.
“I am outspoken, and I do work with organisations,” she continued. “That doesn’t mean I necessarily have to have a political opinion, and I’m not really equipped to go into major discussions.
“Yes, I do get abuse. Absolutely. It’s strange.
“It’s usually also from people that hide behind some sort of strange name,” Laura added.
The actress’ grandparents all survived the Holocaust, and she paid tribute to her father’s mother Klara Stern on Instagram yesterday as she marked Holocaust Memorial Day.
“In loving memory of my Omi,”(sic) she wrote, uploading a picture of a candle’s flame in view of her 132,000 followers.
“Klara Pradelski (geb Stern) liberated from Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1945.”(sic)
Laura’s grandmother Klara was in a forced-labour factory just before the war and learned that her seven-month-old son and her parents had been murdered by the Nazis.
She was later sent to Auschwitz, and after the war found that of 120 members of her family, only eight had survived.
Laura’s maternal grandmother also survived, having managed to secure forged Aryan papers because of her blonde and blue-eyed appearance.
It is estimated 1.1 million people died at Auschwitz in Poland between 1940 and 1945, including almost one million of Jewish descent.
The star said she was speaking out now “as a warning that for future generations that there’s genocide all over the world”.
Laura, who was born and raised in Frankfurt, Germany, spent several years in Los Angeles before moving to London to study at the Drama Centre in 2005.
She went on to appear in the likes of Love in the Age of Fear, The Habit of Beauty and Game of Thrones.
She first announced she had been cast in the HBO series in 2011 and played Quaithe in two episodes in the second season.
Laura has also had roles onstage in Still Life at the Sushi Bar and The Alchemist.
In 2009, she performed The Stronger as a one-woman show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.