Holocaust Survivors Call On Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Claimed Antisemitic Statements.
A coalition of Holocaust survivors has called for that Nigel Farage tell the truth and apologise for alleged antisemitic abuse attributed to him toward Jewish schoolmates during his school days.
The Reform UK leader has previously stated he never targeted anyone with deliberate cruelty, proposing it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".
"Being Shoah survivors, we comprehend the grave risk of hateful words – because we have seen where such words can lead," wrote the survivors in a open letter.
"We must be unambiguous: lauding Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not banter. Not on a schoolyard. Not anywhere."
A Direct Question
The document poses direct questions to the party leader: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you target your peers to bigoted harassment?"
The Survivors
The group of eleven survivors contains individuals with harrowing personal experiences from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
- Simon Winston, who was held in a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and spending the rest of the war in hiding.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved to 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.
Mounting Testimony
This action is a response to the rejection of related accounts by more than two dozen former pupils and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a deputy leader.
After the story broke, additional former pupils have shared their stories. Twenty-eight former pupils and teachers now assert they witnessed prejudiced actions by him.
One notable account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who said that a teenage Farage would come near him and repeat the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "gas them", at times including a long hiss to mimic the sound of the gas chambers.
A Broader Pattern
Additional alumni from ethnic minorities have likewise spoken publicly with allegations of direct abuse.
- Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was called a "racial slur" and has rejected the notion that such actions were not meant to hurt.
- Another student of Asian heritage described him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial bullying".
The Survivors' Final Appeal
The survivors' letter asks a concluding question to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, is your position that scores of witnesses are fabricating their stories? Should the allegations be true, now is the moment to admit your error and say sorry."
"Those who aspire to lead our country should not ever divide people by race or religion. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never be normalised. This moment is about ethical duty. The choice is yours, Mr Farage."
