Holocaust Survivors Demand Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Reported Anti-Jewish Comments.
A coalition of Holocaust survivors has called for that Nigel Farage admit the facts and apologise for reported anti-Jewish taunts he reportedly directed toward Jewish schoolmates during his youth.
The Reform UK leader has claimed he never insulted anyone with deliberate cruelty, proposing it may have been mere "playground banter".
"As Shoah survivors, we comprehend the deadly peril of bigoted language – for we have witnessed where such words inevitably end," declared the survivors in a letter.
"We must be unambiguous: lauding Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not banter. Not among children. Not ever."
A Pointed Inquiry
The correspondence poses blunt questions to the public figure: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you target your peers to antisemitic abuse?"
Those Who Signed
The collective of 11 survivors contains 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 imprisoned in a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and living through the rest of the war concealed.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved 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 public letter comes after the dismissal of related allegations by more than two dozen or more ex-schoolmates and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a senior party figure.
After the story broke, more contemporaries have come forward. Nearly thirty people connected to the school now claim they saw prejudiced actions by him.
One prominent allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who recalls that a teenage Farage would sidle up to him and say the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "gas them", on occasion making a long hiss to simulate the sound of gas chambers.
A Broader Pattern
Additional alumni from ethnic minorities have likewise shared experiences with accounts of direct abuse.
- Cyrus Oshidar said he was referred to as a "racial slur" and has dismissed the claim that such actions were not meant to hurt.
- Another individual with Asian roots characterised him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial bullying".
The Survivors' Final Appeal
The final appeal puts forth an ultimate question to Farage: "By denying saying those words, do you mean that dozens of individuals are fabricating their stories? If you did say them, now is the opportunity to admit your error and make amends."
"People who aspire to lead our country should under no circumstances divide people by background or belief. Antisemitic hatred must always be confronted. This moment is about personal accountability. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."
