Holocaust Victims Call On Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Reported Anti-Jewish Statements.
A group of Holocaust survivors has called for that Nigel Farage tell the truth and issue an apology for alleged anti-Jewish comments he reportedly directed toward Jewish students during his school days.
The political party leader has previously stated he never racially abused anyone with deliberate cruelty, suggesting it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".
"Being Holocaust survivors, we grasp the grave risk of words of hatred – for we have experienced firsthand where such words inevitably end," wrote the survivors in a open letter.
"We must be unambiguous: praising Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not simple joking. Not in a playground. Not under any circumstances."
A Direct Question
The letter puts forth straightforward questions to the public figure: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you target your peers to anti-Jewish taunts?"
The Survivors
The group of eleven survivors includes individuals with deeply traumatic personal experiences from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her family.
- Simon Winston, who was held in a ghetto before breaking out in 1942 and living through the rest of the war concealed.
- 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.
Mounting Testimony
This intervention is a response to the rejection of corroborating testimony by more than two dozen or more alumni and teachers as "complete fiction" by a deputy leader.
Since the initial report, additional former pupils have come forward. Twenty-eight former pupils and teachers now assert they saw racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.
One prominent account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who has stated that a teenage Farage would sidle up to him and utter the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "gas them", on occasion adding a hiss to imitate the sound of gas chambers.
Further Allegations
Additional alumni from ethnic minorities have additionally spoken publicly with stories of targeted insults.
- Cyrus Oshidar said he was referred to as a "racial slur" and has labelled as rubbish the idea that such actions were not meant to hurt.
- Another pupil of Asian descent portrayed him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "racial bullying".
A Concluding Demand
The survivors' letter poses a final question to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, are you claiming that dozens of individuals are lying? If you did say them, now is the moment to acknowledge you were wrong and make amends."
"People who aspire to lead our country should never sow discord by background or belief. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never become acceptable. This moment is about personal accountability. The path forward is yours, Mr Farage."