Shoah Survivors Urge Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Reported Antisemitic Comments.
A collective of Shoah survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage be honest and apologise for reported antisemitic abuse attributed to him toward Jewish students during his youth.
The political party leader has claimed he never racially abused anyone with malicious intent, proposing it may have been mere "childish teasing".
"As Holocaust survivors, we grasp the profound danger of words of hatred – for we have seen where such words inevitably end," wrote the survivors in a letter.
"Let us be clear: expressing admiration for Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not banter. Not in a playground. Not ever."
A Pointed Inquiry
The letter asks direct questions to the public figure: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your classmates to antisemitic abuse?"
Those Who Signed
The group of eleven survivors contains individuals with devastating personal histories from the Nazi genocide.
- Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 27 members of her family.
- Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and spending the rest of the war concealed.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later transferred to Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated.
Additional names on the letter include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Increasing Allegations
This action is a response to the dismissal of related testimony by more than two dozen former pupils and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a senior party figure.
Following the publication, more contemporaries have spoken out. Nearly thirty former pupils and teachers now assert they witnessed prejudiced actions by him.
One well-known account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who has stated that a young Farage would come near him and utter the phrases "Hitler was right" and "gas them", sometimes making a long hiss to imitate the sound of poison gas.
Additional Claims
Other former pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds have likewise spoken publicly with accounts of targeted insults.
- Cyrus Oshidar said he was called a "Paki" and has labelled as rubbish the claim that such actions were not meant to hurt.
- Another pupil of Asian descent characterised him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "ethnic harassment".
The Survivors' Final Appeal
The survivors' letter puts forth an ultimate dilemma to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, are you claiming that scores of witnesses are lying? If the words were spoken, now is the moment to take responsibility and say sorry."
"People who hope to lead our country should not ever create division by race or religion. Hatred of Jews must always be confronted. This moment is about ethical duty. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."