They have branded the painting of the infamous SS boss grossly insensitive and offensive to victims of the Holocaust in the Second World War.
The V22 Gallery in Dalston, east London, is displaying the portrait by Jasper Joffe of Himmler - who set up and commanded concentration camps and death squads.
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Artist Jasper Joffe with his controversial portrait of Heinrich Himmler
The study, which has been sold to advertising mogul Charles Saatchi for £3,000, is part of an exhibition contrasting the beauty of women in lingerie ads from the 1970s and 80s and the ugliness of Nazism. But community leaders fear the gallery's proximity to the Orthodox Jewish communities in Stoke Newington and Stamford Hill will trigger terrible memories for survivors and their relatives.
Councillor Simon Tessler, whose mother survived the Auschwitz concentration camp, said older members of the Jewish community would be outraged.
He said: "It is definitely going to dig up people's memories of victims of the Holocaust.
"Those scars never heal. It won't go down very well. It will not be accepted or sanctioned by the orthodox Jewish community. I don't think they have set out to deliberately offend, but they have done it without due consideration.
"It's not the most appropriate place to stage this exhibition."
Rabbi Abraham Pinter, principal of Yesodey Hatorah school in Stamford Hill, said: "We have to respect freedom of expression, but in this area where there are many Holocaust survivors it could be seen as a bit insensitive.
"We expect public bodies to appreciate the sensitivities of others. It does have its place, but I'm not quite sure if the Chamber of Horrors would be a better place for it."
Mr Joffe retorted: "I have my own Jewish roots and it is something I take very seriously.
"Just because you paint him does not mean you agree with him. I am sensitive to those people who think we should not discuss these ideas in painting. I thought a lot about the Holocaust. I don't think about it carelessly."
A gallery spokesman said: "The concept is beauty versus ugliness. His interest is in how people relate to that.
"It was nothing really offensive. It wasn't meant to be offensive. People should make up their own minds."
Himmler rose rapidly under Adolf Hitler to become Reichsfuhrer-SS when he bossed the hated SS and Gestapo secret police. The tyrant who became one of the most powerful and evil men in Nazi Germany was arrested by British forces at the end of the war in 1945.
He committed suicide with cyanide aged 44 before facing trial for horrific war crimes.
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