Holocaust Survivors Call On Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Alleged Antisemitic Comments.
A coalition of Shoah survivors has called for that Nigel Farage tell the truth and express remorse for reported antisemitic taunts he is said to have made toward Jewish pupils during his school days.
The Reform UK leader has previously stated he never racially abused anyone with malicious intent, proposing it may have been mere "childish teasing".
"Being Holocaust survivors, we understand the profound danger of words of hatred – for we have witnessed where such words inevitably end," wrote the survivors in a missive.
"We must be unambiguous: expressing admiration for Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not teasing. Not in a playground. Not ever."
A Direct Question
The letter poses blunt questions to the party leader: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your classmates to bigoted harassment?"
The Signatories
The group of 11 survivors features individuals with devastating personal histories from the Nazi genocide.
- Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
- Simon Winston, who was held in a ghetto before breaking out in 1942 and living through the rest of the war in hiding.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at 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.
Increasing Allegations
This action follows the rejection of related accounts by more than two dozen or more ex-schoolmates and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a deputy leader.
After the story broke, additional former pupils have come forward. 28 people connected to the school now assert they saw bigoted conduct by him.
One notable account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who has stated that a teenage Farage would come near him and utter the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "gas them", at times making a long hiss to mimic the sound of the gas chambers.
Additional Claims
More individuals from minority ethnic backgrounds have additionally come forward with accounts of personal harassment.
- Cyrus Oshidar said he was branded a "racial slur" and has dismissed the claim that such actions were not meant to hurt.
- Another pupil of Asian descent portrayed him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "racial bullying".
The Ultimate Question
The missive from survivors asks a concluding challenge to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, is your position that dozens of individuals are not telling the truth? If you did say them, now is the time to take responsibility and apologise."
"People who seek to govern our country should under no circumstances divide people by race or religion. Hatred of Jews must never become acceptable. This moment is about personal accountability. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."
