Shoah Survivors Call On Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Claimed Antisemitic Remarks.
A coalition of Holocaust survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage tell the truth and apologise for alleged anti-Jewish comments he reportedly directed toward Jewish students during his youth.
The Reform UK leader has previously stated he never targeted anyone with the aim to hurt, suggesting it may have been mere "playground banter".
"As Holocaust survivors, we comprehend the deadly peril of words of hatred – for we have seen where such words ultimately lead," declared the survivors in a letter.
"It is crucial to understand: praising Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not teasing. Not in a playground. Not anywhere."
A Pointed Inquiry
The document asks straightforward questions to the public figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your peers to bigoted harassment?"
The Signatories
The collective of 11 survivors contains 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 imprisoned in a ghetto before breaking out in 1942 and living through the rest of the war as a fugitive.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at Bergen-Belsen, where she was rescued.
The remaining survivors include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Growing Accounts
This public letter is a response to the rejection of similar accounts by more than two dozen ex-schoolmates and teachers as "complete fiction" by a senior party figure.
After the story broke, additional former pupils have come forward. Nearly thirty ex-students and educators now state they saw racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.
One notable allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who has stated that a young Farage would sidle up to him and utter the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "send them to the gas chambers", at times adding a hiss to mimic the sound of poison gas.
Further Allegations
Additional alumni from ethnic minorities have likewise spoken publicly with stories of direct abuse.
- Cyrus Oshidar stated he was referred to as a "racial slur" and has labelled as rubbish the notion that such actions were not meant to hurt.
- Another pupil of Asian descent portrayed him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "racial bullying".
The Survivors' Final Appeal
The survivors' letter poses a final dilemma to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, is your position that scores of witnesses are lying? Should the allegations be true, now is the moment to admit your error and make amends."
"Individuals who hope to lead our country should not ever sow discord by background or belief. Hatred of Jews must never become acceptable. This moment is about personal accountability. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."
