Holocaust Survivors Urge Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Alleged Antisemitic Remarks.
A group of Holocaust survivors has called for that Nigel Farage be honest and apologise for alleged antisemitic taunts attributed to him toward Jewish schoolmates during his school days.
The Reform UK leader has previously stated he never targeted anyone with deliberate cruelty, framing it may have been mere "childish teasing".
"As Shoah survivors, we grasp the profound danger of bigoted language – because we have witnessed where such words can lead," wrote the survivors in a missive.
"Let us be clear: lauding Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not banter. Not in a playground. Not anywhere."
A Direct Question
The letter poses straightforward questions to the party leader: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you expose your fellow pupils to bigoted harassment?"
Those Who Signed
The group of 11 survivors contains individuals with harrowing personal experiences from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
- Simon Winston, who was held in a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and living through the rest of the war concealed.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later transferred to Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated.
Additional names on the letter include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Mounting Testimony
This action follows the dismissal of related accounts by more than two dozen ex-schoolmates and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a deputy leader.
Following the publication, further individuals from that era have come forward. 28 people connected to the school now claim they observed prejudiced actions by him.
One well-known allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who recalls that a teenage Farage would sidle up to him and utter the phrases "Hitler was right" and "gas them", on occasion making a prolonged hissing sound to mimic the sound of poison gas.
Additional Claims
Additional alumni from ethnic minorities have also spoken publicly with allegations of personal harassment.
- Cyrus Oshidar stated he was referred to as a "racial slur" and has rejected the claim that such actions were devoid of malice.
- Another student of Asian heritage described him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "racial bullying".
The Ultimate Question
The missive from survivors puts forth an ultimate dilemma to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, is your position that scores of witnesses are lying? Should the allegations be true, now is the opportunity to acknowledge you were wrong and say sorry."
"People who aspire to lead our country should under no circumstances create division by ethnicity or faith. Antisemitic hatred must never be normalised. This moment is about ethical duty. The path forward is yours, Mr Farage."
