Holocaust Victims Demand Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Claimed Anti-Jewish Remarks.
A coalition of Shoah survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage tell the truth and express remorse for reported antisemitic abuse he is said to have made toward Jewish students during his school days.
The Reform UK leader has previously stated he never racially abused anyone with deliberate cruelty, suggesting it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".
"Being Holocaust survivors, we understand the deadly peril of hateful words – for we have experienced firsthand where such words ultimately lead," declared the survivors in a letter.
"We must be unambiguous: lauding Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not banter. Not among children. Not anywhere."
An Unequivocal Demand
The correspondence asks direct questions to the party leader: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your classmates to anti-Jewish taunts?"
Those Who Signed
The collective of 11 survivors features individuals with devastating personal stories from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
- Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before breaking out in 1942 and spending the rest of the war as a fugitive.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at 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.
Growing Accounts
This public letter follows the rejection of similar allegations by more than two dozen or more ex-schoolmates and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a senior party figure.
Following the publication, further individuals from that era have shared their stories. Nearly thirty ex-students and educators now state they saw bigoted conduct by him.
One prominent allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who has stated that a young Farage would sidle up to him and repeat the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "gas them", on occasion making a prolonged hissing sound to simulate the sound of gas chambers.
Additional Claims
More individuals from minority ethnic backgrounds have also shared experiences with accounts of direct abuse.
- Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was branded a "Paki" and has rejected the claim that such actions were devoid of malice.
- Another student of Asian heritage portrayed him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "racial bullying".
A Concluding Demand
The final appeal poses a final challenge to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, is your position that scores of witnesses are fabricating their stories? Should the allegations be true, now is the moment to admit your error and apologise."
"Those who hope to lead our country should not ever create division by background or belief. Antisemitic hatred must never be normalised. This moment is about moral responsibility. The decision is your own, Mr Farage."
