Holocaust Survivors Demand Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Alleged Antisemitic Remarks.
A collective of Shoah survivors has called for that Nigel Farage be honest and issue an apology for reported anti-Jewish taunts he reportedly directed toward Jewish schoolmates during his school days.
The political party leader has claimed he never insulted anyone with deliberate cruelty, proposing it may have been mere "playground banter".
"As Holocaust survivors, we comprehend the grave risk of bigoted language – because we have witnessed where such words can lead," declared the survivors in a missive.
"It is crucial to understand: praising Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not banter. Not on a schoolyard. Not ever."
A Direct Question
The letter puts forth direct questions to the party leader: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your peers to antisemitic abuse?"
The Survivors
The group of eleven survivors includes individuals with harrowing personal histories from the Nazi genocide.
- Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
- Simon Winston, who was confined to a ghetto before breaking out in 1942 and spending the rest of the war concealed.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later transferred to Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated.
The remaining survivors include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Growing Accounts
This intervention follows the rejection of related testimony by more than two dozen or more former pupils and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a senior party figure.
After the story broke, additional former pupils have shared their stories. 28 people connected to the school now assert they observed racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.
One notable allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who said that a teenage Farage would sidle up to him and say the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "gas them", on occasion making a hiss to mimic the sound of gas chambers.
Additional Claims
Other former pupils from diverse backgrounds have likewise spoken publicly with accounts of personal harassment.
- Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was referred to as a "racial slur" and has dismissed the notion that such actions were devoid of malice.
- Another pupil of Asian descent characterised him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial bullying".
The Ultimate Question
The final appeal asks a concluding challenge to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, are you claiming that 20 former classmates and teachers are fabricating their stories? If the words were spoken, now is the time to admit your error and apologise."
"Those who hope to lead our country should not ever sow discord by race or religion. Hatred of Jews must never be normalised. This moment is about personal accountability. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."
