Communal leaders have expressed concern over Prince Charles’s comparison of Russian president Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler over the Russian president’s actions in Ukraine.

Prince Charles made the comment speaking to Shoah survivor Marianne Ferguson during a tour of the Canadian Museum of Immigration in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The 78-year-old survivor recalled her family’s escape to Canada in 1939 after the Nazis annexed her home city of Gdansk. Prince Charles responded by likening Hitler’s invasion of Europe to Russian military action in Crimea.

Gillian Walnes, the founder of Anne Frank Trust UK, said the Prince’s remark was “ surprising”, adding: “We who work in Holocaust education must remain guardians of the truth and reject inappropriate comparisons.”

Paul Charney, chairman of the Zionist Federation, said: “Prince Charles’s words show why it is almost always inappropriate to compare leaders to Hitler. While Putin is certainly no saint, Russia’s very real human-rights problems pale in comparison to the evil of the Nazi regime”.

Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, would not comment on the remark, but said: “Prince Charles has consistently been a strong advocate for Holocaust education.”