Holocaust Victims Demand Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Alleged Anti-Jewish Statements.
A coalition of Holocaust survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage be honest and issue an apology for alleged anti-Jewish comments he is said to have made toward Jewish pupils during his time at school.
The political party leader has previously stated he never targeted anyone with deliberate cruelty, framing it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".
"Being Holocaust survivors, we understand the deadly peril of bigoted language – for we have experienced firsthand where such words can lead," wrote the survivors in a letter.
"We must be unambiguous: expressing admiration for Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not banter. Not in a playground. Not ever."
A Direct Question
The document poses straightforward questions to the public figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your fellow pupils to antisemitic abuse?"
The Survivors
The group of eleven survivors contains individuals with harrowing personal experiences from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
- Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before breaking out in 1942 and spending the rest of the war in hiding.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later transferred 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.
Growing Accounts
This public letter is a response to the rejection of similar allegations by more than several dozen ex-schoolmates and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a high-ranking official.
Since the initial report, further individuals from that era have spoken out. 28 former pupils and teachers now state they witnessed racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.
One well-known testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who has stated that a teenage Farage would come near him and utter the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "send them to the gas chambers", on occasion making a hiss to mimic the sound of poison gas.
Further Allegations
More individuals from minority ethnic backgrounds have additionally come forward with stories of direct abuse.
- Cyrus Oshidar stated he was referred to as a "Paki" and has labelled as rubbish the claim that such actions were not meant to hurt.
- 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 "ethnic harassment".
The Survivors' Final Appeal
The final appeal asks a concluding question to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, do you mean that scores of witnesses are not telling the truth? If the words were spoken, now is the time to admit your error and say sorry."
"Those who hope to lead our country should not ever sow discord by ethnicity or faith. Antisemitic hatred must always be confronted. This moment is about moral responsibility. The decision is yours, Mr Farage."
