Shoah Victims Demand Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Reported Antisemitic Remarks.
A collective of Holocaust survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage tell the truth and issue an apology for alleged antisemitic comments he reportedly directed toward Jewish pupils during his time at school.
The Reform UK leader has claimed he never racially abused anyone with malicious intent, framing it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".
"Being Shoah survivors, we grasp the profound danger of bigoted language – because we have experienced firsthand where such words inevitably end," declared the survivors in a letter.
"We must be unambiguous: lauding Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not banter. Not in a playground. Not under any circumstances."
An Unequivocal Demand
The correspondence poses straightforward questions to the party leader: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your classmates to anti-Jewish taunts?"
The Signatories
The collective of eleven survivors includes individuals with devastating personal stories from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
- Simon Winston, who was confined to a ghetto before breaking out in 1942 and living through the rest of the war concealed.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later transferred to Bergen-Belsen, where she was rescued.
Other signatories include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Growing Accounts
This public letter is a response to the rejection of related allegations by more than several dozen ex-schoolmates and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a senior party figure.
Following the publication, more contemporaries have come forward. Twenty-eight ex-students and educators now claim they observed prejudiced actions by him.
One well-known allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who recalls that a teenage Farage would approach him and repeat the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "send them to the gas chambers", on occasion adding a long hiss to imitate the sound of poison gas.
A Broader Pattern
Additional alumni from diverse backgrounds have additionally shared experiences with allegations of direct abuse.
- Cyrus Oshidar stated he was referred to as a "Paki" and has labelled as rubbish the idea that such actions were not meant to hurt.
- Another individual with Asian roots described him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "ethnic harassment".
The Ultimate Question
The survivors' letter puts forth an ultimate question to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, are you claiming that 20 former classmates and teachers are lying? Should the allegations be true, now is the moment to take responsibility and say sorry."
"People who aspire to lead our country should under no circumstances sow discord by ethnicity or faith. Antisemitic hatred must never become acceptable. This moment is about moral responsibility. The choice is your own, Mr Farage."
