Shoah Survivors Call On Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Reported Antisemitic Comments.
A group of Shoah survivors has called for that Nigel Farage be honest and express remorse for alleged anti-Jewish abuse he is said to have made toward Jewish students during his youth.
The political party leader has said he never targeted anyone with deliberate cruelty, proposing it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".
"Being Holocaust survivors, we comprehend the grave risk of hateful words – for we have seen where such words can lead," stated the survivors in a letter.
"It is crucial to understand: praising Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not teasing. Not among children. Not anywhere."
An Unequivocal Demand
The letter poses blunt questions to the party leader: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you expose your peers to antisemitic abuse?"
The Signatories
The collective of 11 survivors includes individuals with devastating personal histories from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her family.
- Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before escaping in 1942 and spending the rest of the war in hiding.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later transferred to Bergen-Belsen, where she was freed.
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 is a response to the rejection of similar testimony by more than two dozen ex-schoolmates and teachers as "complete fiction" by a deputy leader.
After the story broke, further individuals from that era have spoken out. Twenty-eight people connected to the school now claim they observed bigoted conduct by him.
One notable account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who has stated that a teenage Farage would sidle up to him and say the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "gas them", on occasion making a long hiss to mimic the sound of the gas chambers.
A Broader Pattern
More individuals from minority ethnic backgrounds have likewise shared experiences with allegations of targeted insults.
- Cyrus Oshidar said he was called a "racial slur" and has rejected the idea that such actions were not meant to hurt.
- Another individual with Asian roots portrayed him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "racial intimidation".
The Survivors' Final Appeal
The missive from survivors poses a final challenge to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, are you claiming that scores of witnesses are not telling the truth? If you did say them, now is the moment to admit your error and say sorry."
"People who seek to govern our country should never create division by background or belief. Hatred of Jews must always be confronted. This moment is about ethical duty. The decision is yours, Mr Farage."
