Shoah Victims Urge Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Reported Antisemitic Remarks.
A collective of Shoah survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage admit the facts and express remorse for reported antisemitic comments attributed to him toward Jewish students during his youth.
The Reform UK leader has claimed he never insulted anyone with the aim to hurt, framing it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".
"Being Holocaust survivors, we understand the deadly peril of hateful words – because we have experienced firsthand where such words can lead," declared the survivors in a open letter.
"Let us be clear: expressing admiration for Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not banter. Not among children. Not ever."
An Unequivocal Demand
The document poses blunt questions to the party leader: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘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 eleven survivors features individuals with devastating personal experiences from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
- Simon Winston, who was confined to a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and spending the rest of the war as a fugitive.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at Bergen-Belsen, where she was rescued.
Other signatories include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Mounting Testimony
This public letter follows the rejection of similar accounts by more than two dozen or more former pupils and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a high-ranking official.
Since the initial report, further individuals from that era have shared their stories. Nearly thirty people connected to the school now claim they witnessed prejudiced actions by him.
One well-known allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who said that a teenage Farage would approach him and utter the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "send them to the gas chambers", on occasion making a prolonged hissing sound to mimic the sound of poison gas.
Further Allegations
More individuals from minority ethnic backgrounds have also come forward with allegations of personal harassment.
- Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was referred to as a "racial slur" and has dismissed the notion that such actions were without intent.
- Another individual with Asian roots characterised him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "ethnic harassment".
A Concluding Demand
The survivors' letter poses a final dilemma to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, do you mean that scores of witnesses are not telling the truth? If the words were spoken, now is the time to acknowledge you were wrong and say sorry."
"People who hope to lead our country should not ever sow discord by background or belief. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never become acceptable. This moment is about moral responsibility. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."