Shoah Survivors Call On Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Alleged Anti-Jewish Comments.
A collective of Holocaust survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage be honest and apologise for alleged antisemitic taunts he reportedly directed toward Jewish schoolmates during his school days.
The Reform UK leader has said he never targeted anyone with malicious intent, framing it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".
"Being Holocaust survivors, we understand the grave risk of words of hatred – because we have experienced firsthand where such words ultimately lead," wrote the survivors in a open letter.
"Let us be clear: expressing admiration for Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not banter. Not in a playground. Not under any circumstances."
An Unequivocal Demand
The letter poses straightforward questions to the party leader: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your peers to bigoted harassment?"
The Survivors
The group of 11 survivors includes individuals with harrowing personal stories from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her family.
- Simon Winston, who was held in a ghetto before breaking out in 1942 and spending the rest of the war in hiding.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved to Bergen-Belsen, where she was rescued.
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 follows the dismissal of similar accounts by more than two dozen former pupils and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a deputy leader.
Since the initial report, further individuals from that era have come forward. Nearly thirty ex-students and educators now claim they observed racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.
One well-known account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who has stated that a young Farage would sidle up to him and utter the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "send them to the gas chambers", sometimes making a hiss to simulate the sound of poison gas.
Further Allegations
More individuals from ethnic minorities have additionally spoken publicly with allegations of targeted insults.
- Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was referred to as a "Paki" and has dismissed the notion that such actions were not meant to hurt.
- Another pupil of Asian descent portrayed him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "racial bullying".
The Survivors' Final Appeal
The survivors' letter puts forth an ultimate dilemma to Farage: "By denying saying those words, is your position that 20 former classmates and teachers are lying? Should the allegations be true, now is the moment to acknowledge you were wrong and say sorry."
"Individuals who hope to lead our country should never create division by race or religion. Hatred of Jews must never be normalised. This moment is about moral responsibility. The choice is yours, Mr Farage."
