Holocaust Victims Urge Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Reported Anti-Jewish Remarks.
A coalition of Holocaust survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage admit the facts and apologise for reported anti-Jewish comments he is said to have made toward Jewish students during his school days.
The political party leader has previously stated he never targeted anyone with deliberate cruelty, suggesting it may have been mere "playground banter".
"As Holocaust survivors, we grasp the deadly peril of words of hatred – for we have witnessed where such words ultimately lead," stated the survivors in a missive.
"It is crucial to understand: lauding Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not simple joking. Not in a playground. Not ever."
A Direct Question
The document asks straightforward questions to the public figure: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you subject your peers to anti-Jewish taunts?"
Those Who Signed
The group of eleven survivors includes individuals with deeply traumatic personal histories from the Nazi genocide.
- Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her family.
- Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before escaping in 1942 and living through the rest of the war as a fugitive.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at Bergen-Belsen, where she was freed.
Other signatories include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Increasing Allegations
This public letter follows the dismissal of corroborating testimony by more than two dozen former pupils and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a high-ranking official.
Since the initial report, more contemporaries have spoken out. Nearly thirty former pupils and teachers now state they observed racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.
One well-known testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who recalls that a teenage Farage would approach him and utter the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "gas them", sometimes adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of gas chambers.
A Broader Pattern
Other former pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds have likewise spoken publicly with allegations of direct abuse.
- Cyrus Oshidar said he was referred to as a "racial slur" and has dismissed the idea that such actions were without intent.
- 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 intimidation".
The Survivors' Final Appeal
The final appeal poses a final challenge to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, is your position that 20 former classmates and teachers are not telling the truth? If you did say them, now is the moment to acknowledge you were wrong and apologise."
"People who hope to lead our country should not ever sow discord by race or religion. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never become acceptable. This moment is about ethical duty. The choice is yours, Mr Farage."