Shoah Victims Call On Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Reported Anti-Jewish Remarks.
A collective of Holocaust survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage admit the facts and express remorse for alleged antisemitic comments attributed to him toward Jewish pupils during his time at school.
The Reform UK leader has said he never racially abused anyone with the aim to hurt, framing it may have been mere "playground banter".
"As Shoah survivors, we grasp the profound danger of hateful words – for we have experienced firsthand where such words can lead," wrote the survivors in a letter.
"Let us be clear: expressing admiration for Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not simple joking. Not on a schoolyard. Not anywhere."
A Pointed Inquiry
The letter asks blunt questions to the public figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you subject your fellow pupils to anti-Jewish taunts?"
The Survivors
The collective of eleven survivors includes individuals with harrowing personal stories from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her family.
- Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before escaping in 1942 and living through the rest of the war in hiding.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at 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.
Increasing Allegations
This public letter is a response to the dismissal of similar testimony by more than several dozen alumni and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a high-ranking official.
After the story broke, additional former pupils have spoken out. Nearly thirty ex-students and educators now claim they observed prejudiced actions by him.
One prominent account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who recalls that a young Farage would approach him and repeat the phrases "Hitler was right" and "send them to the gas chambers", on occasion making a long hiss to simulate the sound of poison gas.
Further Allegations
Additional alumni from minority ethnic backgrounds have also come forward with accounts of direct abuse.
- Cyrus Oshidar stated he was referred to as a "Paki" and has rejected the idea that such actions were not meant to hurt.
- Another student of Asian heritage portrayed him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "ethnic harassment".
A Concluding Demand
The final appeal poses a final dilemma to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, are you claiming that 20 former classmates and teachers are not telling the truth? Should the allegations be true, now is the time to take responsibility and say sorry."
"Those who hope to lead our country should not ever sow discord by race or religion. Antisemitic hatred must never be normalised. This moment is about personal accountability. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."
