Shoah Victims Call On Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Claimed Anti-Jewish Remarks.
A collective of Shoah survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage admit the facts and express remorse for reported antisemitic taunts he is said to have made toward Jewish students during his youth.
The Reform UK leader has previously stated he never insulted anyone with deliberate cruelty, suggesting it may have been mere "childish teasing".
"As Shoah survivors, we grasp the deadly peril of hateful words – because we have experienced firsthand where such words can lead," stated the survivors in a open letter.
"It is crucial to understand: expressing admiration for Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not banter. Not among children. Not ever."
A Pointed Inquiry
The document poses straightforward questions to the political figure: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your fellow pupils to antisemitic abuse?"
The Survivors
The collective of 11 survivors includes individuals with harrowing personal stories 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 escaping in 1942 and spending the rest of the war concealed.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved to 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 follows the dismissal of corroborating accounts by more than two dozen ex-schoolmates and teachers as "complete fiction" by a high-ranking official.
Following the publication, more contemporaries have spoken out. Twenty-eight people connected to the school now claim they observed prejudiced actions by him.
One well-known allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who has stated that a teenage Farage would sidle up to him and say the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "gas them", on occasion making a prolonged hissing sound to simulate the sound of gas chambers.
A Broader Pattern
Additional alumni from diverse backgrounds have likewise spoken publicly with accounts of personal harassment.
- Cyrus Oshidar stated he was branded a "racial slur" and has dismissed the notion that such actions were not meant to hurt.
- Another pupil of Asian descent characterised him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "racial bullying".
The Survivors' Final Appeal
The final appeal poses a final question to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, is your position that dozens of individuals are lying? Should the allegations be true, now is the opportunity to take responsibility and apologise."
"Individuals who hope to lead our country should under no circumstances divide people by race or religion. Hatred of Jews must never become acceptable. This moment is about personal accountability. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."