Shoah Victims Call On Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Alleged Anti-Jewish Remarks.
A collective of Shoah survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage be honest and apologise for alleged anti-Jewish comments he is said to have made toward Jewish schoolmates during his youth.
The Reform UK leader has claimed he never insulted anyone with malicious intent, suggesting it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".
"Being Holocaust survivors, we grasp the deadly peril of words of hatred – for we have experienced firsthand where such words inevitably end," wrote the survivors in a missive.
"We must be unambiguous: praising Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not simple joking. Not in a playground. Not ever."
A Direct Question
The letter puts forth straightforward questions to the political figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you target your fellow pupils to bigoted harassment?"
Those Who Signed
The collective of 11 survivors contains individuals with devastating personal experiences from the Holocaust.
- 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 as a fugitive.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved to Bergen-Belsen, where she was freed.
Additional names on the letter include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Growing Accounts
This public letter comes after the rejection of corroborating testimony by more than several dozen former pupils and teachers as "complete fiction" by a high-ranking official.
Following the publication, additional former pupils have shared their stories. 28 former pupils and teachers now claim they observed bigoted conduct by him.
One notable allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who said that a teenage Farage would come near him and utter the phrases "Hitler was right" and "send them to the gas chambers", sometimes making a prolonged hissing sound to mimic the sound of the gas chambers.
A Broader Pattern
Other former pupils from ethnic minorities have additionally come forward with stories of targeted insults.
- Cyrus Oshidar stated he was branded a "Paki" and has rejected the claim that such actions were not meant to hurt.
- Another individual with Asian roots described him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "ethnic harassment".
The Survivors' Final Appeal
The missive from survivors asks a concluding challenge to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, are you claiming that dozens of individuals are fabricating their stories? If you did say them, now is the time to acknowledge you were wrong and apologise."
"People who seek to govern our country should not ever create division by ethnicity or faith. Anti-Jewish bigotry must always be confronted. This moment is about moral responsibility. The choice is your own, Mr Farage."
