Holocaust Survivors Demand Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Reported Antisemitic Remarks.
A coalition of Holocaust survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage be honest and issue an apology for reported antisemitic abuse attributed to him toward Jewish schoolmates during his school days.
The Reform UK leader has previously stated he never racially abused anyone with malicious intent, suggesting it may have been mere "childish teasing".
"As Shoah survivors, we understand the grave risk of bigoted language – because we have witnessed where such words ultimately lead," stated the survivors in a letter.
"We must be unambiguous: praising Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not simple joking. Not among children. Not under any circumstances."
An Unequivocal Demand
The letter puts forth direct questions to the party leader: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you target your classmates to anti-Jewish taunts?"
The Signatories
The group of 11 survivors contains individuals with deeply traumatic personal experiences from the Holocaust.
- 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 as a fugitive.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later transferred to Bergen-Belsen, where she was freed.
The remaining survivors include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Growing Accounts
This intervention follows the dismissal of similar testimony by more than two dozen or more alumni and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a high-ranking official.
After the story broke, more contemporaries have come forward. Nearly thirty ex-students and educators now state they witnessed prejudiced actions by him.
One well-known testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who has stated that a young Farage would come near him and say the phrases "Hitler was right" and "gas them", sometimes making a hiss to imitate the sound of the gas chambers.
A Broader Pattern
More individuals from minority ethnic backgrounds have likewise come forward with accounts of targeted insults.
- Cyrus Oshidar stated he was referred to as a "Paki" and has labelled as rubbish the idea that such actions were devoid of malice.
- Another individual with Asian roots portrayed him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "ethnic harassment".
A Concluding Demand
The survivors' letter asks a concluding dilemma to Farage: "By denying saying those words, are you claiming that 20 former classmates and teachers are not telling the truth? Should the allegations be true, now is the opportunity to take responsibility and say sorry."
"Individuals who hope to lead our country should never create division by ethnicity or faith. Antisemitic hatred must always be confronted. This moment is about personal accountability. The decision is yours, Mr Farage."