Shoah Survivors Demand Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Alleged Antisemitic Statements.
A coalition of Holocaust survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage admit the facts and apologise for reported anti-Jewish taunts attributed to him toward Jewish pupils during his school days.
The political party leader has previously stated he never insulted anyone with deliberate cruelty, proposing it may have been mere "playground banter".
"As Holocaust survivors, we comprehend the deadly peril of bigoted language – for we have seen where such words ultimately lead," stated the survivors in a missive.
"It is crucial to understand: lauding Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not teasing. Not in a playground. Not under any circumstances."
A Direct Question
The letter poses blunt questions to the public figure: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your classmates to bigoted harassment?"
The Survivors
The collective of 11 survivors features individuals with deeply traumatic personal stories from the Nazi genocide.
- Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
- Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before breaking out in 1942 and spending 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.
Growing Accounts
This public letter is a response to the rejection of corroborating allegations by more than two dozen former pupils and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a senior party figure.
Since the initial report, further individuals from that era have spoken out. 28 former pupils and teachers now state they observed prejudiced actions by him.
One well-known account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who recalls that a teenage Farage would approach him and utter the phrases "Hitler was right" and "send them to the gas chambers", at times making a long hiss to mimic the sound of the gas chambers.
Further Allegations
Additional alumni from minority ethnic backgrounds have likewise shared experiences with allegations of direct abuse.
- Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was referred to as a "Paki" and has labelled as rubbish the idea that such actions were without intent.
- Another individual with Asian roots portrayed him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "ethnic harassment".
A Concluding Demand
The survivors' letter puts forth an ultimate question to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, is your position that dozens of individuals are not telling the truth? Should the allegations be true, now is the moment to take responsibility and say sorry."
"Those who aspire to lead our country should not ever create division by race or religion. Antisemitic hatred must never become acceptable. This moment is about ethical duty. The decision is your own, Mr Farage."
