Shoah Victims Urge Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Claimed Anti-Jewish Remarks.
A coalition of Shoah survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage tell the truth and express remorse for alleged anti-Jewish comments attributed to him toward Jewish schoolmates during his time at school.
The political party leader has said he never targeted anyone with malicious intent, proposing it may have been mere "playground banter".
"As Holocaust survivors, we comprehend the grave risk of words of hatred – because we have witnessed where such words can lead," declared the survivors in a missive.
"Let us be clear: expressing admiration for Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not banter. Not in a playground. Not under any circumstances."
An Unequivocal Demand
The letter asks straightforward questions to the political figure: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘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 deeply traumatic personal experiences from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
- Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in 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 incarcerated at 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 comes after the rejection of corroborating allegations by more than two dozen or more former pupils and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a senior party figure.
After the story broke, more contemporaries have spoken out. Nearly thirty people connected to the school now claim they witnessed bigoted conduct by him.
One notable allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who recalls that a young Farage would approach him and repeat the phrases "Hitler was right" and "send them to the gas chambers", on occasion adding a prolonged hissing sound to imitate the sound of poison gas.
Additional Claims
Other former pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds have also shared experiences with accounts of targeted insults.
- Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was referred to as a "Paki" and has labelled as rubbish the claim that such actions were without intent.
- Another pupil of Asian descent described him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial bullying".
The Survivors' Final Appeal
The missive from survivors asks a concluding question to Farage: "By denying saying those words, are you claiming that scores of witnesses are not telling the truth? Should the allegations be true, now is the moment to admit your error and make amends."
"Those who hope to lead our country should not ever sow discord by ethnicity or faith. Hatred of Jews must always be confronted. This moment is about moral responsibility. The decision is yours, Mr Farage."
