Holocaust Victims Demand Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Claimed Antisemitic Remarks.
A group of Holocaust survivors has called for that Nigel Farage be honest and issue an apology for reported antisemitic abuse he is said to have made toward Jewish schoolmates during his youth.
The Reform UK leader has claimed he never racially abused anyone with malicious intent, proposing it may have been mere "playground banter".
"Being Shoah survivors, we understand the grave risk of hateful words – because we have seen where such words ultimately lead," stated the survivors in a open letter.
"It is crucial to understand: praising Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not banter. Not on a schoolyard. Not under any circumstances."
A Direct Question
The correspondence asks direct questions to the political figure: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your fellow pupils to bigoted harassment?"
The Survivors
The group of 11 survivors includes individuals with deeply traumatic personal histories from the Nazi genocide.
- Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 27 members of her family.
- Simon Winston, who was confined to a ghetto before escaping in 1942 and living through the rest of the war in hiding.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at 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.
Increasing Allegations
This action is a response to the dismissal of similar testimony by more than two dozen or more former pupils and teachers as "complete fiction" by a senior party figure.
After the story broke, further individuals from that era have come forward. 28 former pupils and teachers now state they observed prejudiced actions by him.
One well-known testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who recalls that a young Farage would come near him and repeat the phrases "Hitler was right" and "send them to the gas chambers", on occasion including a long hiss to imitate the sound of gas chambers.
Further Allegations
Additional alumni from diverse backgrounds have also shared experiences with allegations of personal harassment.
- Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was called a "racial slur" and has rejected the notion that such actions were without intent.
- Another pupil of Asian descent portrayed him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "ethnic harassment".
The Survivors' Final Appeal
The survivors' letter puts forth an ultimate dilemma to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, are you claiming that scores of witnesses are fabricating their stories? Should the allegations be true, now is the time to acknowledge you were wrong and make amends."
"Those who hope to lead our country should not ever sow discord by race or religion. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never be normalised. This moment is about personal accountability. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."
