Holocaust Survivors Demand Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Alleged Anti-Jewish Remarks.
A group of Shoah survivors has called for that Nigel Farage be honest and issue an apology for alleged anti-Jewish comments attributed to him toward Jewish pupils during his school days.
The Reform UK leader has said he never racially abused anyone with malicious intent, framing it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".
"As Holocaust survivors, we grasp the deadly peril of words of hatred – for we have seen where such words inevitably end," declared the survivors in a missive.
"We must be unambiguous: lauding Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not teasing. Not on a schoolyard. Not anywhere."
A Direct Question
The correspondence puts forth direct questions to the political figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you target your peers to antisemitic abuse?"
The Survivors
The group of 11 survivors includes individuals with harrowing personal stories from the Nazi genocide.
- Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
- Simon Winston, who was confined to a ghetto before escaping in 1942 and living through the rest of the war concealed.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated.
Additional names on the letter include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Increasing Allegations
This public letter comes after the dismissal of related allegations by more than several dozen alumni and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a high-ranking official.
After the story broke, more contemporaries have shared their stories. 28 people connected to the school now claim they observed racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.
One well-known allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who recalls that a teenage Farage would sidle up to him and repeat the phrases "Hitler was right" and "send them to the gas chambers", at times including a hiss to simulate the sound of poison gas.
A Broader Pattern
Other former pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds have additionally come forward with allegations of targeted insults.
- Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was referred to as a "racial slur" and has rejected the idea that such actions were without intent.
- Another pupil of Asian descent characterised him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "racial bullying".
The Ultimate Question
The missive from survivors asks a concluding dilemma to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, do you mean that dozens of individuals are not telling the truth? If the words were spoken, now is the opportunity to admit your error and say sorry."
"Those who seek to govern our country should under no circumstances sow discord by background or belief. Hatred of Jews must never be normalised. This moment is about ethical duty. The choice is yours, Mr Farage."
