Shoah Survivors Call On Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Reported Anti-Jewish Comments.
A group of Shoah survivors has called for that Nigel Farage be honest and express remorse for reported anti-Jewish abuse attributed to him toward Jewish students during his time at school.
The political party leader has said he never targeted anyone with the aim to hurt, proposing it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".
"As Shoah survivors, we grasp the deadly peril of words of hatred – because we have experienced firsthand where such words can lead," declared the survivors in a letter.
"It is crucial to understand: praising Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not simple joking. Not in a playground. Not under any circumstances."
A Pointed Inquiry
The letter 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 expose your peers to antisemitic abuse?"
The Survivors
The group of 11 survivors features individuals with harrowing personal stories from the Nazi genocide.
- Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 27 members of her 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 deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved to Bergen-Belsen, where she was rescued.
Additional names on the letter include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Growing Accounts
This action follows the characterisation of related accounts by more than two dozen or more former pupils and teachers as "complete fiction" by a senior party figure.
After the story broke, more contemporaries have spoken out. Twenty-eight ex-students and educators now state they witnessed racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.
One notable account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who has stated that a young Farage would sidle up to him and say the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "gas them", on occasion including a hiss to mimic the sound of the gas chambers.
Further Allegations
Other former pupils from diverse backgrounds have also come forward with stories of personal harassment.
- Cyrus Oshidar stated he was branded a "racial slur" and has rejected the idea that such actions were devoid of malice.
- Another pupil of Asian descent characterised him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "ethnic harassment".
The Ultimate Question
The missive from survivors asks a concluding dilemma to Farage: "By denying saying those words, is your position that scores of witnesses are not telling the truth? If the words were spoken, now is the opportunity to acknowledge you were wrong and make amends."
"People who hope to lead our country should under no circumstances divide people by background or belief. Antisemitic hatred must never be normalised. This moment is about moral responsibility. The choice is yours, Mr Farage."
