Shoah Victims Demand Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Alleged Anti-Jewish Statements.
A group of Shoah survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage tell the truth and apologise for alleged anti-Jewish taunts he reportedly directed toward Jewish students during his youth.
The Reform UK leader has claimed he never racially abused anyone with deliberate cruelty, suggesting it may have been mere "playground banter".
"As Shoah survivors, we comprehend the profound danger of hateful words – for we have witnessed where such words ultimately lead," wrote the survivors in a open letter.
"We must be unambiguous: expressing admiration for Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not teasing. Not on a schoolyard. Not ever."
A Direct Question
The correspondence poses blunt questions to the political figure: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you expose your peers to bigoted harassment?"
Those Who Signed
The group of eleven survivors features individuals with harrowing personal histories from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
- Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and living through the rest of the war in hiding.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later transferred 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.
Growing Accounts
This action comes after the characterisation of similar accounts by more than several dozen alumni and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a high-ranking official.
Since the initial report, further individuals from that era have shared their stories. Nearly thirty people connected to the school now claim they saw bigoted conduct by him.
One notable account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who said that a teenage Farage would sidle up to him and utter the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "send them to the gas chambers", at times making a long hiss to imitate the sound of poison gas.
Further Allegations
Other former pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds have also come forward with allegations of direct abuse.
- Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was referred to as a "racial slur" and has rejected the idea that such actions were not meant to hurt.
- Another individual with Asian roots portrayed him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "ethnic harassment".
The Survivors' Final Appeal
The survivors' letter puts forth an ultimate question to Farage: "By denying saying those words, is your position that dozens of individuals are not telling the truth? Should the allegations be true, now is the time to acknowledge you were wrong and apologise."
"Individuals who aspire to lead our country should not ever create division by ethnicity or faith. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never become acceptable. This moment is about moral responsibility. The choice is your own, Mr Farage."
