Shoah Survivors Call On Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Alleged Antisemitic Statements.
A coalition of Holocaust survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage be honest and issue an apology for alleged antisemitic taunts he is said to have made toward Jewish schoolmates during his youth.
The political party leader has previously stated he never racially abused anyone with malicious intent, proposing it may have been mere "playground banter".
"Being Holocaust survivors, we comprehend the profound danger of bigoted language – because we have experienced firsthand where such words ultimately lead," stated the survivors in a missive.
"Let us be clear: praising Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not simple joking. Not on a schoolyard. Not under any circumstances."
An Unequivocal Demand
The document asks direct questions to the party leader: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you target your classmates to anti-Jewish taunts?"
Those Who Signed
The collective of 11 survivors features individuals with devastating personal experiences from the Nazi genocide.
- Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
- Simon Winston, who was held in a ghetto before breaking out in 1942 and spending 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 rescued.
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 public letter comes after the characterisation of related testimony by more than two dozen former pupils and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a senior party figure.
Since the initial report, more contemporaries have come forward. Twenty-eight people connected to the school now claim they observed bigoted conduct by him.
One prominent account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who has stated that a teenage Farage would approach him and repeat the phrases "Hitler was right" and "gas them", at times adding a prolonged hissing sound to imitate the sound of the gas chambers.
Additional Claims
Other former pupils from ethnic minorities have additionally shared experiences with stories of personal harassment.
- Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was referred to as a "Paki" and has dismissed the idea that such actions were without intent.
- Another student of Asian heritage described him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "ethnic harassment".
A Concluding Demand
The survivors' letter poses a final dilemma to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, is your position that dozens of individuals are not telling the truth? If the words were spoken, now is the opportunity to take responsibility and apologise."
"Those who hope to lead our country should never sow discord by ethnicity or faith. Hatred of Jews must never be normalised. This moment is about ethical duty. The path forward is yours, Mr Farage."
