Shoah Survivors Demand Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Alleged Antisemitic Statements.
A collective of Shoah survivors has called for that Nigel Farage tell the truth and issue an apology for alleged antisemitic abuse he is said to have made toward Jewish schoolmates during his school days.
The political party leader has said he never insulted anyone with malicious intent, framing it may have been mere "playground banter".
"Being Holocaust survivors, we understand the profound danger of bigoted language – for we have experienced firsthand where such words ultimately lead," wrote the survivors in a missive.
"It is crucial to understand: praising Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not banter. Not on a schoolyard. Not under any circumstances."
A Pointed Inquiry
The document asks blunt questions to the public figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your classmates to anti-Jewish taunts?"
The Survivors
The group of eleven survivors contains individuals with deeply traumatic personal histories from the Nazi genocide.
- Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her family.
- Simon Winston, who was held in a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and living through the rest of the war as a fugitive.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported 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 comes after the rejection of corroborating accounts by more than two dozen or more alumni and teachers as "complete fiction" by a high-ranking official.
Following the publication, more contemporaries have come forward. Twenty-eight people connected to the school now claim they saw bigoted conduct by him.
One notable testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who said that a teenage Farage would approach him and repeat the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "send them to the gas chambers", at times including a long hiss to imitate the sound of the gas chambers.
A Broader Pattern
Additional alumni from ethnic minorities have additionally come forward with allegations of personal harassment.
- Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was called a "racial slur" and has dismissed the claim that such actions were not meant to hurt.
- Another individual with Asian roots characterised him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "racial intimidation".
The Survivors' Final Appeal
The survivors' letter puts forth an ultimate dilemma to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, are you claiming that scores of witnesses are lying? If you did say them, now is the opportunity to take responsibility and make amends."
"Individuals who seek to govern our country should under no circumstances create division by ethnicity or faith. Hatred of Jews must always be confronted. This moment is about moral responsibility. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."
