Holocaust Survivors Urge Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Alleged Anti-Jewish Remarks.
A collective of Holocaust survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage be honest and issue an apology for reported antisemitic comments he is said to have made toward Jewish pupils during his youth.
The Reform UK leader has claimed he never targeted anyone with the aim to hurt, framing it may have been mere "playground banter".
"As Holocaust survivors, we comprehend the deadly peril of words of hatred – because we have experienced firsthand where such words inevitably end," declared the survivors in a letter.
"Let us be clear: expressing admiration for Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not simple joking. Not on a schoolyard. Not ever."
An Unequivocal Demand
The correspondence poses blunt questions to the party leader: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you expose your peers to anti-Jewish taunts?"
The Signatories
The collective of eleven survivors features individuals with devastating personal experiences from the Nazi genocide.
- 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 in hiding.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at 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.
Increasing Allegations
This action comes after the rejection of related accounts by more than two dozen ex-schoolmates and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a high-ranking official.
Since the initial report, additional former pupils have spoken out. Twenty-eight people connected to the school now assert they witnessed prejudiced actions by him.
One well-known account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish 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", at times making a prolonged hissing sound to imitate the sound of gas chambers.
A Broader Pattern
More individuals from ethnic minorities have also come forward with allegations of personal harassment.
- Cyrus Oshidar said he was branded a "Paki" and has rejected the notion that such actions were devoid of malice.
- Another pupil of Asian descent described him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial intimidation".
The Ultimate Question
The final appeal poses a final question to Farage: "By denying saying those words, is your position that dozens of individuals are lying? If the words were spoken, now is the moment to admit your error and make amends."
"People who seek to govern our country should not ever divide people by background or belief. Antisemitic hatred must always be confronted. This moment is about ethical duty. The path forward is yours, Mr Farage."