Holocaust Survivors Urge Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Alleged Anti-Jewish Statements.
A collective of Shoah survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage admit the facts and express remorse for reported anti-Jewish taunts he reportedly directed toward Jewish students during his youth.
The Reform UK leader has said he never targeted anyone with the aim to hurt, suggesting it may have been mere "playground banter".
"Being Shoah survivors, we comprehend the grave risk 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, mimicking gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not teasing. Not among children. Not ever."
An Unequivocal Demand
The document poses direct questions to the political figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your peers to anti-Jewish taunts?"
The Signatories
The collective of 11 survivors contains individuals with devastating personal experiences from the Nazi genocide.
- Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 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 incarcerated at Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated.
Additional names on the letter include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Increasing Allegations
This action follows the rejection of corroborating allegations 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 come forward. 28 former pupils and teachers now state they saw racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.
One prominent allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who said that a teenage Farage would sidle up to him and say the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "gas them", on occasion making a hiss to imitate the sound of the gas chambers.
A Broader Pattern
Additional alumni from minority ethnic backgrounds have also spoken publicly with accounts of personal harassment.
- Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was called a "Paki" and has rejected the notion that such actions were devoid of malice.
- Another individual with Asian roots portrayed him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "racial bullying".
The Survivors' Final Appeal
The final appeal poses a final dilemma to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, do you mean that dozens of individuals are lying? Should the allegations be true, now is the opportunity to take responsibility and say sorry."
"People who aspire to lead our country should never create division by ethnicity or faith. Hatred of Jews must always be confronted. This moment is about moral responsibility. The decision is your own, Mr Farage."