Shoah Survivors Demand Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Reported Antisemitic Statements.
A group of Shoah survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage admit the facts and express remorse for reported anti-Jewish abuse attributed to him toward Jewish students during his school days.
The political party leader has said he never targeted anyone with malicious intent, suggesting it may have been mere "playground banter".
"As Shoah survivors, we comprehend the profound danger of words of hatred – for we have witnessed where such words can lead," wrote the survivors in a missive.
"Let us be clear: lauding Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not simple joking. Not among children. Not anywhere."
A Pointed Inquiry
The document asks direct questions to the public figure: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you target your peers to bigoted harassment?"
The Signatories
The collective of 11 survivors features individuals with devastating personal experiences from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her family.
- Simon Winston, who was confined to a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and spending the rest of the war in hiding.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later transferred to Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated.
Other signatories include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Mounting Testimony
This action follows the characterisation of similar testimony by more than two dozen or more former pupils and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a senior party figure.
After the story broke, further individuals from that era have come forward. 28 people connected to the school now assert they saw prejudiced actions by him.
One prominent testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who said that a young Farage would come near him and utter the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "gas them", on occasion including a prolonged hissing sound to mimic the sound of gas chambers.
Further Allegations
More individuals from ethnic minorities have also come forward with stories of personal harassment.
- Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was called a "Paki" and has rejected the notion that such actions were devoid of malice.
- Another pupil of Asian descent described 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 missive from survivors poses a final challenge to Farage: "By denying saying those words, is your position that scores of witnesses are not telling the truth? If you did say them, now is the moment to take responsibility and say sorry."
"Those who aspire to lead our country should not ever divide people by race or religion. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never be normalised. This moment is about personal accountability. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."
