Holocaust Survivors Call On Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Alleged Anti-Jewish Remarks.
A group of Shoah survivors has called for that Nigel Farage be honest and express remorse for reported antisemitic comments he reportedly directed toward Jewish schoolmates during his school days.
The Reform UK leader has previously stated he never racially abused anyone with the aim to hurt, framing it may have been mere "childish teasing".
"Being Shoah survivors, we comprehend the deadly peril of words of hatred – because we have witnessed where such words ultimately lead," stated the survivors in a missive.
"Let us be clear: expressing admiration for Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not teasing. Not on a schoolyard. Not under any circumstances."
An Unequivocal Demand
The correspondence asks direct questions to the party leader: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your peers to antisemitic abuse?"
The Signatories
The collective of 11 survivors includes individuals with deeply traumatic personal stories from the Nazi genocide.
- Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
- Simon Winston, who was held in a ghetto before breaking out in 1942 and spending the rest of the war in hiding.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved 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.
Increasing Allegations
This intervention comes after the rejection of corroborating allegations by more than two dozen alumni and teachers as "complete fiction" by a high-ranking official.
After the story broke, more contemporaries have shared their stories. Twenty-eight former pupils and teachers now assert they observed prejudiced actions by him.
One prominent allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who said that a young Farage would approach him and say the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "send them to the gas chambers", sometimes adding a hiss to mimic the sound of the gas chambers.
Additional Claims
Additional alumni from ethnic minorities have also shared experiences with accounts of direct abuse.
- Cyrus Oshidar said he was branded a "Paki" and has rejected the notion that such actions were devoid of malice.
- Another student of Asian heritage characterised him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial bullying".
The Survivors' Final Appeal
The missive from survivors asks a concluding challenge to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, is your position that dozens of individuals are not telling the truth? Should the allegations be true, now is the opportunity to acknowledge you were wrong and make amends."
"Individuals who aspire to lead our country should not ever divide people by ethnicity or faith. Hatred of Jews must never be normalised. This moment is about ethical duty. The choice is yours, Mr Farage."
