Holocaust Survivors Urge Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Claimed Anti-Jewish Remarks.
A group of Shoah survivors has called for that Nigel Farage be honest and apologise for reported anti-Jewish abuse he reportedly directed toward Jewish students during his time at school.
The political party leader has said he never targeted anyone with deliberate cruelty, suggesting it may have been mere "childish teasing".
"As Shoah survivors, we grasp the grave risk of hateful words – because we have seen where such words inevitably end," declared the survivors in a open letter.
"We must be unambiguous: expressing admiration for Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not banter. Not on a schoolyard. Not ever."
A Direct Question
The correspondence puts forth direct questions to the political figure: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you target your fellow pupils to bigoted harassment?"
The Signatories
The group of eleven survivors contains individuals with deeply traumatic personal histories from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
- Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before escaping in 1942 and living through the rest of the war as a fugitive.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved 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.
Increasing Allegations
This intervention comes after the characterisation of similar accounts by more than two dozen ex-schoolmates and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a high-ranking official.
Since the initial report, further individuals from that era have come forward. Twenty-eight former pupils and teachers now claim they saw racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.
One prominent account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who recalls that a teenage Farage would sidle up to him and say the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "send them to the gas chambers", sometimes including a hiss to simulate the sound of poison gas.
A Broader Pattern
Other former pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds have likewise come forward with allegations of personal harassment.
- Cyrus Oshidar said he was referred to as a "Paki" and has labelled as rubbish the idea that such actions were not meant to hurt.
- Another student of Asian heritage characterised him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "racial bullying".
A Concluding Demand
The final appeal puts forth an ultimate dilemma to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, are you claiming that scores of witnesses are fabricating their stories? If you did say them, now is the moment to admit your error and say sorry."
"Individuals who aspire to lead our country should not ever sow discord by background or belief. Antisemitic hatred must always be confronted. This moment is about personal accountability. The choice is yours, Mr Farage."
