Shoah Victims Demand Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Alleged Antisemitic Comments.
A group of Shoah survivors has called for that Nigel Farage admit the facts and apologise for alleged anti-Jewish comments he is said to have made toward Jewish schoolmates during his youth.
The Reform UK leader has said he never racially abused anyone with the aim to hurt, suggesting it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".
"As Shoah survivors, we comprehend the grave risk of hateful words – for we have experienced firsthand where such words can lead," declared the survivors in a missive.
"Let us be clear: expressing admiration for Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not simple joking. Not among children. Not under any circumstances."
An Unequivocal Demand
The document poses direct 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 anti-Jewish taunts?"
The Signatories
The collective of eleven survivors includes individuals with devastating personal stories from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her family.
- Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and living through the rest of the war in hiding.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later transferred to Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated.
Additional names on the letter include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Mounting Testimony
This action follows the rejection of similar accounts by more than several dozen former pupils and teachers as "complete fiction" by a high-ranking official.
Since the initial report, additional former pupils have shared their stories. Twenty-eight people connected to the school now state they observed prejudiced actions by him.
One well-known testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who recalls that a teenage Farage would sidle up to him and utter the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "gas them", at times including a long hiss to imitate the sound of poison gas.
Further Allegations
More individuals from minority ethnic backgrounds have also shared experiences with allegations of direct abuse.
- Cyrus Oshidar stated he was branded a "racial slur" and has rejected the claim that such actions were devoid of malice.
- Another student of Asian heritage portrayed him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial bullying".
The Survivors' Final Appeal
The final appeal asks a concluding dilemma to Farage: "By denying saying those words, do you mean that scores of witnesses are lying? If the words were spoken, now is the time to acknowledge you were wrong and make amends."
"Individuals who seek to govern our country should not ever sow discord by background or belief. Antisemitic hatred must always be confronted. This moment is about ethical duty. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."
