Shoah Survivors Urge Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Reported Anti-Jewish Comments.
A collective of Shoah survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage tell the truth and apologise for reported antisemitic taunts he reportedly directed toward Jewish pupils during his school days.
The Reform UK leader has said he never insulted anyone with the aim to hurt, proposing it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".
"As Holocaust survivors, we comprehend the grave risk of hateful words – because we have experienced firsthand where such words can lead," declared the survivors in a missive.
"It is crucial to understand: expressing admiration for Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not simple joking. Not on a schoolyard. Not under any circumstances."
A Pointed Inquiry
The document puts forth blunt questions to the public figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your peers to antisemitic abuse?"
The Signatories
The collective of 11 survivors features individuals with deeply traumatic personal experiences from the Nazi genocide.
- Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her family.
- Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before breaking out in 1942 and living through the rest of the war concealed.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at 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 intervention is a response to the dismissal of similar testimony by more than two dozen former pupils and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a senior party figure.
Since the initial report, further individuals from that era have shared their stories. Nearly thirty people connected to the school now assert they witnessed prejudiced actions by him.
One well-known account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who has stated that a teenage Farage would approach him and utter the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "gas them", on occasion adding a hiss to simulate the sound of gas chambers.
A Broader Pattern
More individuals from ethnic minorities have likewise spoken publicly with allegations of targeted insults.
- Cyrus Oshidar stated he was referred to as a "Paki" and has rejected the notion that such actions were without intent.
- Another pupil of Asian descent characterised him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial intimidation".
The Survivors' Final Appeal
The survivors' letter asks a concluding dilemma to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, do you mean that dozens of individuals are not telling the truth? Should the allegations be true, now is the opportunity to take responsibility and say sorry."
"Individuals who seek to govern our country should never create division by ethnicity or faith. Antisemitic hatred must never be normalised. This moment is about personal accountability. The choice is your own, Mr Farage."
