Shoah Victims Demand Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Reported Antisemitic Remarks.
A coalition of Shoah survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage admit the facts and issue an apology for reported anti-Jewish abuse attributed to him toward Jewish students during his youth.
The political party leader has previously stated he never targeted anyone with malicious intent, framing it may have been mere "childish teasing".
"As Shoah survivors, we comprehend the grave risk of words of hatred – for we have experienced firsthand where such words inevitably end," declared the survivors in a open letter.
"We must be unambiguous: expressing admiration for Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not banter. Not in a playground. Not ever."
A Direct Question
The document puts forth direct questions to the party leader: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your fellow pupils to antisemitic abuse?"
The Signatories
The collective of 11 survivors features individuals with harrowing personal experiences from the Nazi genocide.
- Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
- Simon Winston, who was held in a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and spending the rest of the war in hiding.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved to Bergen-Belsen, where she was freed.
Other signatories include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Mounting Testimony
This public letter is a response to the dismissal of related testimony by more than two dozen or more alumni and teachers as "complete fiction" by a deputy leader.
Following the publication, more contemporaries have spoken out. Nearly thirty former pupils and teachers now assert they observed prejudiced actions by him.
One prominent account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who recalls that a young Farage would come near him and repeat the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "send them to the gas chambers", at times making a prolonged hissing sound to simulate the sound of the gas chambers.
Further Allegations
Additional alumni from ethnic minorities have additionally come forward with stories of direct abuse.
- Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was branded a "racial slur" and has rejected the claim that such actions were devoid of malice.
- Another student of Asian heritage described him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "ethnic harassment".
A Concluding Demand
The final appeal asks a concluding dilemma to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, is your position that scores of witnesses are fabricating their stories? If the words were spoken, now is the opportunity to take responsibility and apologise."
"People who aspire to lead our country should under no circumstances create division by background or belief. Antisemitic hatred must always be confronted. This moment is about moral responsibility. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."
