Shoah Victims Demand Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Claimed Anti-Jewish Statements.
A collective of Holocaust survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage be honest and express remorse for reported anti-Jewish abuse attributed to him toward Jewish schoolmates during his school days.
The Reform UK leader has said he never insulted anyone with the aim to hurt, framing it may have been mere "playground banter".
"As Holocaust survivors, we grasp the deadly peril of bigoted language – for we have seen where such words inevitably end," stated the survivors in a open letter.
"It is crucial to understand: praising Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not simple joking. Not in a playground. Not anywhere."
A Pointed Inquiry
The document poses straightforward questions to the party leader: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your peers to antisemitic abuse?"
Those Who Signed
The collective of 11 survivors features individuals with devastating personal experiences from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who saw the murder 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 concealed.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at Bergen-Belsen, where she was freed.
Other signatories include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Mounting Testimony
This intervention is a response to the rejection of related testimony by more than several dozen ex-schoolmates and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a deputy leader.
After the story broke, more contemporaries have spoken out. 28 former pupils and teachers now assert they witnessed bigoted conduct by him.
One notable testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who recalls that a young Farage would sidle up to him and repeat the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "gas them", on occasion making a long hiss to simulate the sound of poison gas.
Further Allegations
Other former pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds have likewise shared experiences with stories of targeted insults.
- Cyrus Oshidar said he was called a "Paki" and has rejected the notion that such actions were without intent.
- Another student of Asian heritage described him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial bullying".
The Ultimate Question
The final appeal poses a final challenge to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, are you claiming that dozens of individuals are not telling the truth? Should the allegations be true, now is the time to acknowledge you were wrong and say sorry."
"People who seek to govern our country should under no circumstances divide people by ethnicity or faith. Hatred of Jews must never be normalised. This moment is about personal accountability. The path forward is yours, Mr Farage."
