Shoah Survivors Urge Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Alleged Anti-Jewish Statements.
A coalition of Shoah survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage admit the facts and express remorse for alleged antisemitic comments he is said to have made toward Jewish schoolmates during his time at school.
The political party leader has previously stated he never racially abused anyone with the aim to hurt, framing it may have been mere "playground banter".
"As Shoah survivors, we understand the profound danger of words of hatred – for we have experienced firsthand where such words ultimately lead," declared the survivors in a open letter.
"Let us be clear: praising Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not banter. Not among children. Not anywhere."
A Direct Question
The letter asks blunt questions to the political figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your peers to bigoted harassment?"
Those Who Signed
The group of eleven survivors includes individuals with deeply traumatic personal histories from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
- Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before breaking out 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 liberated.
The remaining survivors include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Growing Accounts
This action comes after the dismissal of related allegations by more than two dozen former pupils and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a senior party figure.
Following the publication, more contemporaries have spoken out. 28 ex-students and educators now claim they witnessed prejudiced actions by him.
One prominent allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who recalls that a teenage Farage would come near him and utter the phrases "Hitler was right" and "gas them", at times making a hiss to mimic the sound of poison gas.
Additional Claims
Other former pupils from diverse backgrounds have likewise spoken publicly with allegations of targeted insults.
- Cyrus Oshidar stated he was referred to as a "racial slur" and has dismissed the idea that such actions were devoid of malice.
- Another individual with Asian roots portrayed him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "ethnic harassment".
The Survivors' Final Appeal
The survivors' letter puts forth an ultimate dilemma to Farage: "By denying saying those words, is your position that 20 former classmates and teachers are lying? Should the allegations be true, now is the moment to take responsibility and apologise."
"People who seek to govern our country should never divide people by background or belief. Antisemitic hatred must never be normalised. This moment is about ethical duty. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."
