Holocaust Survivors Demand Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Claimed Antisemitic Statements.
A group of Shoah survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage tell the truth and issue an apology for alleged antisemitic abuse he reportedly directed toward Jewish schoolmates during his youth.
The Reform UK leader has claimed he never racially abused anyone with deliberate cruelty, proposing it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".
"As Holocaust survivors, we grasp the deadly peril of bigoted language – because we have seen where such words inevitably end," wrote the survivors in a open letter.
"It is crucial to understand: expressing admiration for Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not banter. Not among children. Not anywhere."
A Pointed Inquiry
The correspondence puts forth blunt questions to the political figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your fellow pupils to antisemitic abuse?"
The Signatories
The group of 11 survivors contains individuals with devastating personal experiences from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her family.
- Simon Winston, who was held in a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and spending the rest of the war concealed.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later transferred to Bergen-Belsen, where she was freed.
Other signatories include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Growing Accounts
This intervention comes after the characterisation of corroborating testimony by more than several dozen former pupils and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a high-ranking official.
Following the publication, additional former pupils have shared their stories. Nearly thirty former pupils and teachers now state they observed bigoted conduct by him.
One prominent testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who said that a teenage Farage would come near him and say the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "gas them", sometimes including a long hiss to mimic the sound of the gas chambers.
A Broader Pattern
Other former pupils from ethnic minorities have likewise shared experiences with stories of personal harassment.
- Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was referred to as a "Paki" and has labelled as rubbish the idea that such actions were devoid of malice.
- Another pupil of Asian descent portrayed him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial intimidation".
The Ultimate Question
The survivors' letter puts forth an ultimate question to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, are you claiming that 20 former classmates and teachers are fabricating their stories? If the words were spoken, now is the opportunity to acknowledge you were wrong and say sorry."
"People who hope to lead our country should not ever create division by background or belief. Hatred of Jews must never be normalised. This moment is about ethical duty. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."
