Holocaust Survivors Urge Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Reported Anti-Jewish Comments.
A group of Holocaust survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage admit the facts and issue an apology for reported anti-Jewish taunts attributed to him toward Jewish students during his time at school.
The political party leader has said he never targeted anyone with deliberate cruelty, suggesting it may have been mere "childish teasing".
"Being Holocaust survivors, we comprehend the deadly peril of bigoted language – because we have seen where such words ultimately lead," wrote the survivors in a missive.
"It is crucial to understand: expressing admiration for Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not banter. Not among children. Not anywhere."
A Pointed Inquiry
The letter asks blunt questions to the party leader: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your peers to antisemitic abuse?"
Those Who Signed
The group of 11 survivors features individuals with harrowing personal experiences from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 27 members of her family.
- Simon Winston, who was confined to a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and living through the rest of the war as a fugitive.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at 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 action follows the rejection of corroborating accounts by more than two dozen former pupils and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a high-ranking official.
Since the initial report, more contemporaries have spoken out. Nearly thirty ex-students and educators now state they witnessed prejudiced actions by him.
One well-known testimony 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 had the correct idea" and "gas them", at times making a hiss to simulate the sound of poison gas.
A Broader Pattern
More individuals from ethnic minorities have also come forward with accounts of direct abuse.
- Cyrus Oshidar stated he was referred to as a "racial slur" and has rejected the idea that such actions were not meant to hurt.
- 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".
A Concluding Demand
The survivors' letter poses a final dilemma to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, is your position that scores of witnesses are fabricating their stories? Should the allegations be true, now is the opportunity to admit your error and apologise."
"Individuals who seek to govern our country should not ever create division by ethnicity or faith. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never become acceptable. This moment is about moral responsibility. The choice is yours, Mr Farage."
