Holocaust Victims Demand Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Claimed Anti-Jewish Statements.
A coalition of Holocaust survivors has called for that Nigel Farage tell the truth and express remorse for alleged antisemitic taunts he is said to have made toward Jewish pupils during his school days.
The political party leader has previously stated he never racially abused anyone with the aim to hurt, proposing it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".
"As Shoah survivors, we grasp the grave risk of bigoted language – for we have experienced firsthand where such words ultimately lead," wrote the survivors in a missive.
"It is crucial to understand: expressing admiration for Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not simple joking. Not on a schoolyard. Not anywhere."
A Pointed Inquiry
The letter poses straightforward questions to the political figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you subject your peers to antisemitic abuse?"
The Survivors
The group of eleven survivors features individuals with devastating personal experiences from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her family.
- Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before escaping in 1942 and spending the rest of the war in hiding.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later transferred to Bergen-Belsen, where she was freed.
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 comes after the rejection of corroborating accounts by more than two dozen or more former pupils and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a deputy leader.
After the story broke, further individuals from that era have shared their stories. Nearly thirty former pupils and teachers now assert they observed bigoted conduct by him.
One notable allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who recalls that a teenage Farage would sidle up to him and say the phrases "Hitler was right" and "gas them", on occasion making a hiss to mimic the sound of gas chambers.
A Broader Pattern
More individuals from ethnic minorities have likewise shared experiences with allegations of direct abuse.
- Cyrus Oshidar stated he was referred to as a "Paki" and has rejected the claim that such actions were devoid of malice.
- Another individual with Asian roots characterised him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "ethnic harassment".
The Survivors' Final Appeal
The missive from survivors asks a concluding dilemma to Farage: "By denying saying those words, is your position that scores of witnesses are fabricating their stories? If the words were spoken, now is the opportunity to admit your error and make amends."
"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 personal accountability. The choice is yours, Mr Farage."