Shoah Survivors Call On Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Alleged Anti-Jewish Comments.
A group of Shoah survivors has called for that Nigel Farage be honest and apologise for reported antisemitic abuse he reportedly directed toward Jewish schoolmates during his school days.
The political party leader has said he never racially abused anyone with malicious intent, suggesting it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".
"As Holocaust survivors, we understand the profound danger of hateful words – because we have experienced firsthand where such words inevitably end," stated the survivors in a letter.
"It is crucial to understand: praising Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not banter. Not among children. Not ever."
An Unequivocal Demand
The document poses direct questions to the party leader: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you target your fellow pupils to bigoted harassment?"
The Survivors
The collective of eleven survivors features individuals with deeply traumatic personal histories from the Nazi genocide.
- Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her family.
- Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and spending the rest of the war in hiding.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to 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.
Growing Accounts
This action is a response to the characterisation of corroborating allegations by more than several dozen former pupils and teachers as "complete fiction" by a senior party figure.
Since the initial report, additional former pupils have spoken out. Nearly thirty ex-students and educators now assert they saw bigoted conduct by him.
One prominent allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who has stated that a teenage Farage would come near him and repeat the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "gas them", sometimes making a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas chambers.
A Broader Pattern
Other former pupils from ethnic minorities have additionally come forward with allegations of personal harassment.
- Cyrus Oshidar said he was called a "Paki" and has dismissed the claim that such actions were not meant to hurt.
- Another student of Asian heritage characterised him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "racial bullying".
A Concluding Demand
The final appeal poses a final challenge to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, do you mean that dozens of individuals are lying? Should the allegations be true, now is the opportunity to admit your error and say sorry."
"Individuals who seek to govern our country should not ever sow discord by race or religion. Hatred of Jews must never be normalised. This moment is about personal accountability. The path forward is yours, Mr Farage."