Holocaust Survivors Demand Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Claimed Anti-Jewish Statements.
A coalition of Shoah survivors has called for that Nigel Farage be honest and apologise for alleged antisemitic taunts attributed to him toward Jewish students during his time at school.
The political party leader has claimed he never racially abused anyone with deliberate cruelty, suggesting it may have been mere "playground banter".
"Being Holocaust survivors, we grasp the grave risk of hateful words – because we have seen where such words ultimately lead," declared the survivors in a letter.
"We must be unambiguous: expressing admiration for Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not simple joking. Not in a playground. Not under any circumstances."
A Pointed Inquiry
The letter asks straightforward questions to the political figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you target your classmates to antisemitic abuse?"
The Survivors
The collective of eleven survivors includes individuals with devastating personal experiences from the Nazi genocide.
- Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her family.
- Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before breaking out in 1942 and living through the rest of the war in hiding.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later transferred to 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.
Growing Accounts
This action comes after the characterisation of related accounts by more than two dozen or more former pupils and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a senior party figure.
Following the publication, further individuals from that era have shared their stories. Nearly thirty former pupils and teachers now assert they saw bigoted conduct by him.
One prominent account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who has stated that a young Farage would come near him and utter the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "gas them", at times making a long hiss to simulate the sound of poison gas.
Additional Claims
Other former pupils from diverse backgrounds have also shared experiences with allegations of targeted insults.
- Cyrus Oshidar said he was called a "Paki" and has rejected the claim that such actions were devoid of malice.
- Another pupil of Asian descent portrayed him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "ethnic harassment".
A Concluding Demand
The missive from survivors poses a final dilemma to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, are you claiming that dozens of individuals are not telling the truth? If you did say them, now is the opportunity to admit your error and make amends."
"Those who aspire to lead our country should not ever create division by ethnicity or faith. Antisemitic hatred must never become acceptable. This moment is about moral responsibility. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."
