Shoah Survivors Call On Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Reported Anti-Jewish Statements.
A coalition of Holocaust survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage admit the facts and apologise for alleged antisemitic abuse he is said to have made toward Jewish students during his school days.
The Reform UK leader has claimed he never racially abused anyone with deliberate cruelty, proposing it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".
"Being Holocaust survivors, we comprehend the deadly peril of words of hatred – because we have experienced firsthand where such words can lead," declared the survivors in a missive.
"It is crucial to understand: expressing admiration for Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not simple joking. Not among children. Not ever."
A Direct Question
The correspondence poses direct questions to the public figure: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your peers to bigoted harassment?"
The Survivors
The collective of eleven survivors includes individuals with harrowing personal stories 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 concealed.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later transferred to Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated.
The remaining survivors include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Increasing Allegations
This public letter is a response to the characterisation of related allegations by more than several dozen ex-schoolmates and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a high-ranking official.
Following the publication, further individuals from that era have come forward. Twenty-eight ex-students and educators now claim they witnessed prejudiced actions by him.
One well-known account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who said that a teenage Farage would come near him and say the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "gas them", at times including a long hiss to simulate the sound of poison gas.
Additional Claims
More individuals from diverse backgrounds have additionally spoken publicly with accounts of targeted insults.
- Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was branded a "racial slur" and has labelled as rubbish the idea that such actions were without intent.
- Another student of Asian heritage characterised him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial bullying".
The Survivors' Final Appeal
The missive from survivors poses a final challenge to Farage: "By denying saying those words, is your position that 20 former classmates and teachers are fabricating their stories? Should the allegations be true, now is the moment to acknowledge you were wrong and say sorry."
"Those who seek to govern our country should under no circumstances sow discord by background or belief. Hatred of Jews must always be confronted. This moment is about moral responsibility. The path forward is yours, Mr Farage."
