Holocaust Victims Demand Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Reported Antisemitic Comments.
A collective of Holocaust survivors has called for that Nigel Farage be honest and issue an apology for reported anti-Jewish abuse he reportedly directed toward Jewish schoolmates during his youth.
The Reform UK leader has previously stated he never insulted anyone with deliberate cruelty, suggesting it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".
"Being Holocaust survivors, we understand the deadly peril of bigoted language – because we have seen where such words can lead," wrote the survivors in a letter.
"We must be unambiguous: expressing admiration for Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not banter. Not on a schoolyard. Not anywhere."
A Pointed Inquiry
The correspondence puts forth blunt questions to the party leader: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your fellow pupils to bigoted harassment?"
The Signatories
The group of eleven survivors includes individuals with deeply traumatic personal histories from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 27 members of her family.
- Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before fleeing 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.
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 action follows the characterisation of similar accounts by more than two dozen former pupils and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a senior party figure.
Since the initial report, further individuals from that era have spoken out. 28 people connected to the school 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 young Farage would sidle up to him and utter the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "send them to the gas chambers", at times adding a prolonged hissing sound to simulate the sound of poison gas.
A Broader Pattern
More individuals from ethnic minorities have additionally come forward with stories of direct abuse.
- Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was branded a "racial slur" and has dismissed the notion that such actions were devoid of malice.
- Another individual with Asian roots characterised him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial intimidation".
A Concluding Demand
The missive from survivors poses a final dilemma to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, is your position that scores of witnesses are fabricating their stories? If the words were spoken, now is the moment to admit your error and apologise."
"People who seek to govern our country should not ever divide people by ethnicity or faith. Hatred of Jews must never become acceptable. This moment is about ethical duty. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."
