Shoah Survivors Urge Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Alleged Anti-Jewish Comments.
A group of Shoah survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage be honest and apologise for alleged anti-Jewish abuse attributed to him toward Jewish students during his youth.
The Reform UK leader has previously stated he never targeted anyone with malicious intent, framing it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".
"As Shoah survivors, we comprehend the grave risk of words of hatred – because we have experienced firsthand where such words ultimately lead," stated the survivors in a letter.
"We must be unambiguous: praising Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not teasing. Not in a playground. Not ever."
An Unequivocal Demand
The correspondence poses direct questions to the party leader: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your fellow pupils to anti-Jewish taunts?"
Those Who Signed
The collective of 11 survivors contains individuals with deeply traumatic personal stories from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
- Simon Winston, who was confined to a ghetto before fleeing 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.
Additional names on the letter include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Growing Accounts
This intervention follows the dismissal of corroborating allegations by more than two dozen ex-schoolmates and teachers as "complete fiction" by a senior party figure.
After the story broke, additional former pupils have spoken out. 28 people connected to the school now assert they saw racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.
One well-known testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who said that a teenage Farage would sidle up to him and utter the phrases "Hitler was right" and "send them to the gas chambers", on occasion adding a hiss to imitate the sound of the gas chambers.
Further Allegations
More individuals from minority ethnic backgrounds have likewise shared experiences with allegations of targeted insults.
- Cyrus Oshidar stated he was called a "racial slur" and has dismissed the claim that such actions were without intent.
- Another individual with Asian roots portrayed him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "racial bullying".
A Concluding Demand
The survivors' letter asks a concluding question to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, do you mean that scores of witnesses are lying? If the words were spoken, now is the opportunity to acknowledge you were wrong and apologise."
"Those who aspire to lead our country should under no circumstances divide people by race or religion. Anti-Jewish bigotry must always be confronted. This moment is about moral responsibility. The decision is yours, Mr Farage."
