Shoah Victims Call On Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Alleged Anti-Jewish Statements.
A group of Shoah survivors has called for that Nigel Farage admit the facts and issue an apology for alleged antisemitic taunts attributed to him toward Jewish pupils during his youth.
The Reform UK leader has previously stated he never insulted anyone with malicious intent, proposing it may have been mere "playground banter".
"As Holocaust survivors, we understand the deadly peril of words of hatred – because we have seen where such words ultimately lead," declared the survivors in a open letter.
"It is crucial to understand: lauding Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not simple joking. Not on a schoolyard. Not under any circumstances."
A Direct Question
The correspondence asks blunt questions to the political figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you target your classmates to bigoted harassment?"
The Survivors
The group of eleven survivors features individuals with deeply traumatic personal histories from the Nazi genocide.
- Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
- Simon Winston, who was confined to a ghetto before breaking out in 1942 and spending the rest of the war in hiding.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved to Bergen-Belsen, where she was rescued.
The remaining survivors include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Growing Accounts
This public letter comes after the rejection of similar testimony by more than two dozen or more alumni and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a deputy leader.
After the story broke, additional former pupils have come forward. 28 former pupils and teachers now assert they saw prejudiced actions by him.
One well-known account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who said that a teenage Farage would approach him and say the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "gas them", at times adding a hiss to simulate the sound of poison gas.
A Broader Pattern
More individuals from diverse backgrounds have also shared experiences with stories of direct abuse.
- Cyrus Oshidar said he was called a "Paki" and has labelled as rubbish the idea that such actions were without intent.
- Another pupil of Asian descent described him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial bullying".
The Ultimate Question
The survivors' letter poses a final dilemma to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, is your position that scores of witnesses are not telling the truth? Should the allegations be true, now is the time to admit your error and make amends."
"Those who aspire to lead our country should never create division by ethnicity or faith. Hatred of Jews must never be normalised. This moment is about ethical duty. The decision is your own, Mr Farage."
