Shoah Victims Urge Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Reported Anti-Jewish Comments.
A collective of Shoah survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage be honest and express remorse for alleged antisemitic comments he is said to have made toward Jewish schoolmates during his time at school.
The Reform UK leader has previously stated he never insulted anyone with malicious intent, framing it may have been mere "playground banter".
"Being Holocaust survivors, we grasp the deadly peril of hateful words – for we have seen where such words inevitably end," wrote the survivors in a missive.
"It is crucial to understand: lauding Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not banter. Not in a playground. Not ever."
A Pointed Inquiry
The letter poses direct questions to the public figure: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you target your classmates to antisemitic abuse?"
The Signatories
The group of 11 survivors includes individuals with devastating personal histories from the Nazi genocide.
- Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 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 as a fugitive.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at Bergen-Belsen, where she was freed.
The remaining survivors 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 characterisation of corroborating allegations by more than two dozen ex-schoolmates and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a high-ranking official.
After the story broke, more contemporaries have shared their stories. Twenty-eight ex-students and educators now claim they witnessed bigoted conduct by him.
One well-known testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who has stated that a young Farage would come near him and repeat the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "send them to the gas chambers", at times adding a long hiss to imitate the sound of poison gas.
A Broader Pattern
Other former pupils from ethnic minorities have also come forward with allegations of personal harassment.
- Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was referred to as a "Paki" and has rejected the claim that such actions were not meant to hurt.
- Another pupil of Asian descent portrayed him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "ethnic harassment".
The Survivors' Final Appeal
The survivors' letter puts forth an ultimate question to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, are you claiming that 20 former classmates and teachers are fabricating their stories? If you did say them, now is the moment to acknowledge you were wrong and make amends."
"People who hope to lead our country should not ever create division by ethnicity or faith. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never become acceptable. This moment is about moral responsibility. The path forward is yours, Mr Farage."
