Shoah Survivors Call On Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Alleged Antisemitic Comments.
A coalition of Holocaust survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage admit the facts and issue an apology for alleged antisemitic comments attributed to him toward Jewish schoolmates during his school days.
The Reform UK leader has previously stated he never racially abused anyone with malicious intent, framing it may have been mere "childish teasing".
"As Holocaust survivors, we grasp the grave risk of words of hatred – because we have experienced firsthand where such words inevitably end," wrote the survivors in a open letter.
"Let us be clear: expressing admiration for Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not teasing. Not on a schoolyard. Not under any circumstances."
An Unequivocal Demand
The correspondence asks straightforward questions to the party leader: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you target your classmates to bigoted harassment?"
The Survivors
The collective of eleven survivors features individuals with deeply traumatic personal experiences from the Nazi genocide.
- Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 27 members of her family.
- Simon Winston, who was confined to a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and living through the rest of the war concealed.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at Bergen-Belsen, where she was rescued.
Additional names on the letter include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Increasing Allegations
This public letter follows the characterisation of related accounts by more than two dozen or more alumni and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a deputy leader.
Since the initial report, additional former pupils have come forward. 28 ex-students and educators now assert they saw bigoted conduct by him.
One notable testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who has stated that a teenage Farage would approach him and say the phrases "Hitler was right" and "gas them", at times making a prolonged hissing sound to simulate the sound of poison gas.
Further Allegations
More individuals from ethnic minorities have additionally spoken publicly with allegations of targeted insults.
- Cyrus Oshidar said he was branded a "racial slur" and has labelled as rubbish the idea that such actions were not meant to hurt.
- Another student of Asian heritage described him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "racial bullying".
A Concluding Demand
The missive from survivors poses a final challenge to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, do you mean that dozens of individuals are not telling the truth? Should the allegations be true, now is the moment to take responsibility and apologise."
"People who seek to govern our country should not ever sow discord by background or belief. Hatred of Jews must always be confronted. This moment is about moral responsibility. The choice is your own, Mr Farage."
