Shoah Survivors Urge Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Reported Antisemitic Remarks.
A coalition of Holocaust survivors has called for that Nigel Farage be honest and issue an apology for alleged antisemitic abuse attributed to him toward Jewish pupils during his youth.
The Reform UK leader has claimed he never insulted anyone with malicious intent, framing it may have been mere "childish teasing".
"Being Shoah survivors, we understand the deadly peril of words of hatred – for we have seen where such words inevitably end," stated the survivors in a letter.
"Let us be clear: expressing admiration for Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not simple joking. Not among children. Not under any circumstances."
An Unequivocal Demand
The document poses blunt questions to the public figure: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your peers to bigoted harassment?"
Those Who Signed
The group of eleven survivors contains individuals with devastating personal stories from the Nazi genocide.
- Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 27 members of her family.
- Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and spending the rest of the war as a fugitive.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at 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 follows the rejection of similar allegations by more than two dozen ex-schoolmates and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a high-ranking official.
After the story broke, additional former pupils have spoken out. Nearly thirty former pupils and teachers now assert they saw prejudiced actions by him.
One prominent allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who has stated that a teenage Farage would come near him and utter the phrases "Hitler was right" and "gas them", sometimes including a prolonged hissing sound to mimic the sound of poison gas.
Further Allegations
More individuals from diverse backgrounds have also come forward with accounts of personal harassment.
- Cyrus Oshidar said he was referred to as a "racial slur" and has dismissed the idea that such actions were not meant to hurt.
- Another pupil of Asian descent characterised him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "racial intimidation".
The Ultimate Question
The survivors' letter asks a concluding dilemma to Farage: "By denying saying those words, are you claiming that dozens of individuals are lying? If the words were spoken, now is the time to admit your error and make amends."
"Individuals who hope to lead our country should never create division by ethnicity or faith. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never be normalised. This moment is about moral responsibility. The decision is your own, Mr Farage."
