Shoah Survivors Call On Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Reported Anti-Jewish Statements.
A group of Holocaust survivors has called for that Nigel Farage admit the facts and apologise for reported anti-Jewish comments attributed to him toward Jewish pupils during his time at school.
The political party leader has claimed he never targeted anyone with deliberate cruelty, proposing it may have been mere "playground banter".
"Being 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.
"We must be unambiguous: praising Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not banter. Not on a schoolyard. Not ever."
A Pointed Inquiry
The document asks direct questions to the public figure: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you target your peers to bigoted harassment?"
The Survivors
The collective of eleven survivors features individuals with harrowing personal stories from the Nazi genocide.
- 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 in hiding.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved to Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated.
Other signatories include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Mounting Testimony
This public letter follows the dismissal of related accounts by more than two dozen ex-schoolmates and teachers as "complete fiction" by a high-ranking official.
Since the initial report, additional former pupils have come forward. Twenty-eight people connected to the school now state they observed prejudiced actions by him.
One prominent 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 correct" and "gas them", on occasion including a long hiss to imitate the sound of poison gas.
A Broader Pattern
Additional alumni from diverse backgrounds have additionally spoken publicly with stories of targeted insults.
- Cyrus Oshidar stated he was branded a "racial slur" and has dismissed the claim that such actions were not meant to hurt.
- Another individual with Asian roots portrayed him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "racial bullying".
The Survivors' Final Appeal
The survivors' letter puts forth an ultimate challenge to Farage: "By denying saying those words, is your position that scores of witnesses are lying? If you did say them, now is the time to take responsibility and say sorry."
"People who seek to govern our country should not ever divide people by background or belief. Antisemitic hatred must never become acceptable. This moment is about moral responsibility. The path forward is yours, Mr Farage."
