Holocaust Survivors Demand Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Claimed Antisemitic Comments.
A group of Holocaust survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage be honest and express remorse for reported antisemitic comments he reportedly directed toward Jewish schoolmates during his youth.
The political party leader has claimed he never racially abused anyone with the aim to hurt, proposing it may have been mere "childish teasing".
"Being Shoah survivors, we understand the grave risk of bigoted language – because we have experienced firsthand where such words can lead," stated the survivors in a letter.
"It is crucial to understand: expressing admiration for Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not simple joking. Not on a schoolyard. Not under any circumstances."
A Direct Question
The letter poses straightforward questions to the party leader: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your classmates to bigoted harassment?"
Those Who Signed
The group of eleven survivors includes individuals with deeply traumatic personal histories from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 27 members of her family.
- Simon Winston, who was held in a ghetto before escaping in 1942 and spending the rest of the war as a fugitive.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at Bergen-Belsen, where she was rescued.
The remaining survivors 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 corroborating testimony by more than two dozen former pupils and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a high-ranking official.
Since the initial report, additional former pupils have come forward. 28 people connected to the school now assert they saw bigoted conduct by him.
One prominent allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who recalls that a teenage Farage would sidle up to him and repeat the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "send them to the gas chambers", sometimes making a hiss to mimic the sound of gas chambers.
Further Allegations
More individuals from diverse backgrounds have likewise shared experiences with accounts of targeted insults.
- Cyrus Oshidar stated he was referred to as a "racial slur" and has labelled as rubbish the claim that such actions were without intent.
- Another student of Asian heritage portrayed him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "racial intimidation".
A Concluding Demand
The missive from survivors asks a concluding question to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, is your position that 20 former classmates and teachers are fabricating their stories? If you did say them, now is the time to acknowledge you were wrong and make amends."
"People who seek to govern our country should under no circumstances create division by race or religion. Hatred of Jews must never be normalised. This moment is about personal accountability. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."