Holocaust Survivors Urge Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Reported Anti-Jewish Remarks.
A coalition of Holocaust survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage tell the truth and issue an apology for alleged antisemitic abuse attributed to him toward Jewish pupils during his time at school.
The political party leader has said he never targeted anyone with deliberate cruelty, suggesting it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".
"As Holocaust survivors, we comprehend the grave risk of words of hatred – because we have witnessed where such words inevitably end," wrote the survivors in a open letter.
"It is crucial to understand: expressing admiration for Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not banter. Not among children. Not ever."
An Unequivocal Demand
The document asks straightforward questions to the political figure: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your peers to bigoted harassment?"
The Signatories
The group of eleven survivors includes individuals with harrowing personal experiences from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
- Simon Winston, who was confined to a ghetto before escaping in 1942 and spending the rest of the war in hiding.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved to Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated.
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 characterisation of related allegations by more than two dozen alumni and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a senior party figure.
Following the publication, more contemporaries have shared their stories. Nearly thirty people connected to the school now assert they observed bigoted conduct by him.
One prominent account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who has stated that a teenage Farage would sidle up to him and repeat the phrases "Hitler was right" and "send them to the gas chambers", sometimes making a hiss to simulate the sound of poison gas.
A Broader Pattern
More individuals from ethnic minorities have additionally come forward with stories of targeted insults.
- Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was called a "Paki" and has labelled as rubbish the notion that such actions were not meant to hurt.
- Another pupil of Asian descent characterised him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial intimidation".
The Survivors' Final Appeal
The final appeal poses a final question to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, are you claiming that dozens of individuals are lying? Should the allegations be true, now is the time to acknowledge you were wrong and apologise."
"Individuals who seek to govern our country should not ever divide people by ethnicity or faith. Antisemitic hatred must always be confronted. This moment is about personal accountability. The path forward is yours, Mr Farage."
