Holocaust Survivors Urge Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Claimed Anti-Jewish Statements.
A coalition of Shoah survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage be honest and express remorse for reported anti-Jewish taunts he is said to have made toward Jewish pupils during his time at school.
The Reform UK leader has said he never targeted anyone with deliberate cruelty, proposing it may have been mere "childish teasing".
"As Shoah survivors, we understand the profound danger of hateful words – for we have seen where such words inevitably end," wrote the survivors in a letter.
"Let us be clear: praising Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not simple joking. Not among children. Not ever."
A Pointed Inquiry
The letter asks blunt questions to the political figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you expose your fellow pupils to anti-Jewish taunts?"
The Signatories
The group of 11 survivors features individuals with deeply traumatic personal experiences from the Nazi genocide.
- Hedi Argent, who lost 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 concealed.
- 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.
Increasing Allegations
This intervention follows the characterisation of related testimony by more than two dozen or more ex-schoolmates and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a high-ranking official.
Since the initial report, more contemporaries have shared their stories. 28 former pupils and teachers now claim they observed bigoted conduct by him.
One prominent testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who recalls that a teenage Farage would come near him and repeat the phrases "Hitler was right" and "send them to the gas chambers", on occasion making a prolonged hissing sound to simulate the sound of the gas chambers.
A Broader Pattern
Additional alumni from minority ethnic backgrounds have additionally come forward with allegations of targeted insults.
- Cyrus Oshidar stated he was branded a "Paki" and has rejected the notion that such actions were devoid of malice.
- Another pupil of Asian descent portrayed him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "ethnic harassment".
The Survivors' Final Appeal
The survivors' letter asks a concluding challenge to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, is your position that scores of witnesses are lying? If the words were spoken, now is the time to acknowledge you were wrong and make amends."
"People who seek to govern our country should under no circumstances sow discord by race or religion. Hatred of Jews must always be confronted. This moment is about personal accountability. The path forward is yours, Mr Farage."
