Shoah Survivors Urge Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Alleged Antisemitic Remarks.
A group of Holocaust survivors has called for that Nigel Farage tell the truth and issue an apology for alleged anti-Jewish abuse attributed to him toward Jewish schoolmates during his time at school.
The Reform UK leader has said he never insulted anyone with the aim to hurt, framing it may have been mere "childish teasing".
"Being Holocaust survivors, we understand the deadly peril of hateful words – for we have seen where such words can lead," stated the survivors in a open letter.
"We must be unambiguous: expressing admiration for Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not teasing. Not in a playground. Not ever."
A Pointed Inquiry
The document poses straightforward questions to the political figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you expose your peers to bigoted harassment?"
The Survivors
The collective of eleven survivors includes individuals with harrowing personal stories from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
- Simon Winston, who was held in a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and living through the rest of the war concealed.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved 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.
Increasing Allegations
This public letter follows the rejection of similar accounts by more than two dozen ex-schoolmates and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a senior party figure.
After the story broke, more contemporaries have come forward. Nearly thirty ex-students and educators now claim they observed bigoted conduct by him.
One well-known account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who recalls that a teenage Farage would sidle up to him and utter the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "send them to the gas chambers", at times making a hiss to mimic the sound of gas chambers.
A Broader Pattern
Additional alumni from ethnic minorities have also spoken publicly with accounts of personal harassment.
- Cyrus Oshidar said he was called a "racial slur" and has labelled as rubbish the idea that such actions were devoid of malice.
- Another individual with Asian roots portrayed him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial bullying".
The Ultimate Question
The survivors' letter asks a concluding dilemma to Farage: "By denying saying those words, is your position that 20 former classmates and teachers are not telling the truth? If the words were spoken, now is the opportunity to take responsibility and apologise."
"Individuals who aspire to lead our country should under no circumstances create division by ethnicity or faith. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never become acceptable. This moment is about ethical duty. The path forward is yours, Mr Farage."
