Shoah Survivors Demand Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Reported Anti-Jewish Statements.
A group of Holocaust survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage be honest and express remorse for reported anti-Jewish comments he reportedly directed toward Jewish pupils during his youth.
The Reform UK leader has claimed he never racially abused anyone with deliberate cruelty, suggesting it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".
"Being Holocaust survivors, we understand the grave risk of words of hatred – for we have witnessed where such words ultimately lead," declared the survivors in a letter.
"Let us be clear: praising Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not simple joking. Not on a schoolyard. Not anywhere."
An Unequivocal Demand
The correspondence poses direct questions to the public figure: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your peers to antisemitic abuse?"
The Signatories
The group of 11 survivors features individuals with deeply traumatic personal stories from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
- Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and living through the rest of the war as a fugitive.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later transferred to Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated.
Additional names on the letter include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Increasing Allegations
This public letter is a response to the dismissal of similar accounts by more than two dozen alumni and teachers as "complete fiction" by a deputy leader.
After the story broke, further individuals from that era have shared their stories. Twenty-eight people connected to the school now assert they witnessed prejudiced actions by him.
One well-known account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who said that a young Farage would approach him and repeat the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "send them to the gas chambers", on occasion making a long hiss to imitate the sound of poison gas.
Additional Claims
Additional alumni from ethnic minorities have likewise come forward with allegations of targeted insults.
- Cyrus Oshidar stated he was called a "Paki" and has labelled as rubbish the notion that such actions were devoid of malice.
- Another individual with Asian roots described him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "ethnic harassment".
The Ultimate Question
The missive from survivors puts forth an ultimate dilemma to Farage: "By denying saying those words, is your position that 20 former classmates and teachers are not telling the truth? Should the allegations be true, now is the moment to take responsibility and say sorry."
"Individuals who hope to lead our country should never divide people by ethnicity or faith. Antisemitic hatred must never be normalised. This moment is about personal accountability. The decision is your own, Mr Farage."