Holocaust Survivors Urge Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Alleged Antisemitic Remarks.
A collective of Shoah survivors has called for that Nigel Farage be honest and express remorse for alleged anti-Jewish abuse he is said to have made toward Jewish students during his school days.
The political party leader has previously stated he never insulted anyone with the aim to hurt, suggesting it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".
"Being Shoah survivors, we understand the deadly peril of bigoted language – because we have seen where such words inevitably end," stated the survivors in a missive.
"It is crucial to understand: lauding Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not teasing. Not in a playground. Not under any circumstances."
A Pointed Inquiry
The document poses blunt questions to the party leader: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you target your classmates to anti-Jewish taunts?"
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 family.
- Simon Winston, who was held in a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and spending the rest of the war in hiding.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved 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 intervention comes after the dismissal of corroborating accounts by more than several dozen former pupils and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a deputy leader.
Following the publication, additional former pupils have spoken out. Twenty-eight former pupils and teachers now claim they observed prejudiced actions by him.
One prominent account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who said that a teenage Farage would sidle up to him and utter the phrases "Hitler was right" and "send them to the gas chambers", at times adding a hiss to imitate the sound of poison gas.
Additional Claims
Additional alumni from ethnic minorities have additionally come forward with stories of targeted insults.
- Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was branded a "racial slur" and has dismissed the idea that such actions were without intent.
- 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 "ethnic harassment".
A Concluding Demand
The survivors' letter asks a concluding question to Farage: "By denying saying those words, do you mean that 20 former classmates and teachers are fabricating their stories? Should the allegations be true, now is the moment to take responsibility and make amends."
"People who seek to govern our country should never sow discord by ethnicity or faith. Antisemitic hatred must never become acceptable. This moment is about personal accountability. The decision is yours, Mr Farage."
