Holocaust Victims Urge Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Reported Antisemitic Statements.
A collective of Shoah survivors has called for that Nigel Farage admit the facts and apologise for reported anti-Jewish comments he is said to have made toward Jewish pupils during his time at school.
The Reform UK leader has previously stated he never insulted anyone with malicious intent, suggesting it may have been mere "playground banter".
"As Holocaust survivors, we understand the grave risk of words of hatred – for we have experienced firsthand where such words can lead," declared the survivors in a open letter.
"We must be unambiguous: expressing admiration for Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not teasing. Not in a playground. Not under any circumstances."
A Direct Question
The document poses straightforward questions to the public figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your fellow pupils to bigoted harassment?"
Those Who Signed
The group of 11 survivors includes individuals with harrowing personal experiences from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 27 members of her family.
- Simon Winston, who was held in a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and living through the rest of the war in hiding.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later transferred to 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.
Growing Accounts
This action comes after the characterisation of related accounts by more than two dozen or more former pupils and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a high-ranking official.
Following the publication, further individuals from that era have come forward. 28 ex-students and educators now assert they saw racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.
One prominent testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who has stated that a young Farage would approach him and say the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "send them to the gas chambers", on occasion adding a hiss to imitate the sound of the gas chambers.
A Broader Pattern
Additional alumni from minority ethnic backgrounds have also come forward with stories of direct abuse.
- Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was referred to as a "racial slur" and has labelled as rubbish the idea that such actions were without intent.
- Another student of Asian heritage portrayed him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial bullying".
A Concluding Demand
The missive from survivors poses a final question to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, do you mean that scores of witnesses are lying? If the words were spoken, now is the time to acknowledge you were wrong and make amends."
"Individuals who seek to govern our country should not ever divide people by ethnicity or faith. Antisemitic hatred must never become acceptable. This moment is about moral responsibility. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."
