Shoah Victims Demand Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Reported Anti-Jewish Statements.
A group of Shoah survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage be honest and issue an apology for reported anti-Jewish abuse he reportedly directed toward Jewish students during his time at school.
The political party leader has claimed he never targeted anyone with deliberate cruelty, framing it may have been mere "playground banter".
"As Holocaust survivors, we grasp the deadly peril of hateful words – because we have witnessed where such words can lead," declared the survivors in a open letter.
"We must be unambiguous: praising Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not banter. Not among children. Not under any circumstances."
A Direct Question
The document asks straightforward questions to the political 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 antisemitic abuse?"
Those Who Signed
The collective of 11 survivors contains individuals with devastating personal experiences from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
- Simon Winston, who was confined to a ghetto before breaking out in 1942 and living through the rest of the war as a fugitive.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later transferred to Bergen-Belsen, where she was freed.
The remaining survivors 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 characterisation of related testimony by more than two dozen former pupils and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a high-ranking official.
Following the publication, more contemporaries have come forward. Nearly thirty people connected to the school now assert they saw bigoted conduct by him.
One prominent account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who said that a teenage Farage would come near him and say the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "send them to the gas chambers", at times including a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas chambers.
Further Allegations
Additional alumni from diverse backgrounds have likewise come forward with accounts of direct abuse.
- Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was branded a "racial slur" and has dismissed the notion that such actions were without intent.
- 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 Survivors' Final Appeal
The missive from survivors poses a final dilemma to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, is your position that 20 former classmates and teachers are not telling the truth? If you did say them, now is the moment to take responsibility and say sorry."
"People who aspire to lead our country should never divide people by ethnicity or faith. Antisemitic hatred must never be normalised. This moment is about ethical duty. The decision is your own, Mr Farage."
