Shoah Survivors Demand Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Reported Antisemitic Remarks.
A coalition of Shoah survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage admit the facts and apologise for reported antisemitic comments he is said to have made toward Jewish pupils during his school days.
The Reform UK leader has said he never racially abused anyone with the aim to hurt, proposing it may have been mere "childish teasing".
"Being Holocaust survivors, we grasp the profound danger of hateful words – because we have seen where such words ultimately lead," wrote the survivors in a letter.
"We must be unambiguous: praising Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not simple joking. Not on a schoolyard. Not anywhere."
A Pointed Inquiry
The letter poses blunt questions to the party leader: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your classmates to anti-Jewish taunts?"
Those Who Signed
The collective of 11 survivors features individuals with devastating personal experiences from the Nazi genocide.
- Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her family.
- Simon Winston, who was confined to a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and spending the rest of the war concealed.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved to Bergen-Belsen, where she was rescued.
The remaining survivors include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Mounting Testimony
This public letter comes after the rejection of corroborating accounts by more than two dozen or more ex-schoolmates and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a high-ranking official.
Since the initial report, additional former pupils have spoken out. 28 former pupils and teachers now claim they saw prejudiced actions by him.
One well-known allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who has stated that a teenage Farage would sidle up to him and say the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "send them to the gas chambers", at times adding a hiss to mimic the sound of gas chambers.
Further Allegations
Additional alumni from minority ethnic backgrounds have likewise spoken publicly with stories of targeted insults.
- Cyrus Oshidar stated he was referred to as a "Paki" and has labelled as rubbish the notion that such actions were without intent.
- Another pupil of Asian descent characterised him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "racial intimidation".
The Ultimate Question
The final appeal puts forth an ultimate question to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, are you claiming that scores of witnesses are lying? If the words were spoken, now is the moment to admit your error and say sorry."
"Individuals who aspire to lead our country should under no circumstances divide people by ethnicity or faith. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never become acceptable. This moment is about moral responsibility. The decision is your own, Mr Farage."
