Shoah Victims Urge Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Claimed Antisemitic Comments.
A group of Holocaust survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage admit the facts and issue an apology for reported anti-Jewish abuse attributed to him toward Jewish schoolmates during his youth.
The political party leader has said he never targeted anyone with malicious intent, framing it may have been mere "playground banter".
"Being Shoah survivors, we understand the profound danger of hateful words – for we have seen where such words can lead," declared the survivors in a missive.
"Let us be clear: praising Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not banter. Not among children. Not ever."
A Direct Question
The correspondence puts forth direct questions to the party leader: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you expose your classmates to bigoted harassment?"
Those Who Signed
The collective of 11 survivors contains individuals with deeply traumatic personal histories from the Nazi genocide.
- Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her family.
- Simon Winston, who was held in a ghetto before escaping in 1942 and living through the rest of the war in hiding.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported 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.
Mounting Testimony
This intervention is a response to the characterisation of similar accounts by more than two dozen or more former pupils and teachers as "complete fiction" by a senior party figure.
Since the initial report, additional former pupils have spoken out. Nearly thirty ex-students and educators now state they saw racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.
One notable allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who recalls that a young Farage would sidle up to him and repeat the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "send them to the gas chambers", on occasion making a prolonged hissing sound to imitate the sound of poison gas.
Additional Claims
Additional alumni from diverse backgrounds have also shared experiences with allegations of direct abuse.
- Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was referred to as a "Paki" and has dismissed the notion that such actions were without intent.
- Another pupil of Asian descent portrayed him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "racial bullying".
A Concluding Demand
The missive from survivors poses a final question to Farage: "By denying saying those words, do you mean that dozens of individuals are not telling the truth? Should the allegations be true, now is the opportunity to acknowledge you were wrong and say sorry."
"Those who seek to govern our country should not ever sow discord by ethnicity or faith. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never become acceptable. This moment is about moral responsibility. The path forward is yours, Mr Farage."
