Shoah Victims Urge Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Alleged Antisemitic Comments.
A coalition of Holocaust survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage be honest and issue an apology for reported anti-Jewish comments attributed to him toward Jewish students during his school days.
The political party leader has claimed he never racially abused anyone with deliberate cruelty, framing it may have been mere "playground banter".
"As Holocaust survivors, we grasp the deadly peril of bigoted language – because we have experienced firsthand where such words ultimately lead," wrote the survivors in a open letter.
"Let us be clear: praising Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not banter. Not in a playground. Not under any circumstances."
A Pointed Inquiry
The correspondence poses blunt questions to the public 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 anti-Jewish taunts?"
Those Who Signed
The group of 11 survivors contains individuals with deeply traumatic personal histories from the Nazi genocide.
- Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her family.
- Simon Winston, who was held in a ghetto before escaping 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 liberated.
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 characterisation of corroborating accounts by more than two dozen or more ex-schoolmates and teachers as "complete fiction" by a senior party figure.
Following the publication, additional former pupils have spoken out. Twenty-eight ex-students and educators now state they observed prejudiced actions by him.
One prominent testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who said that a young Farage would approach him and say the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "gas them", sometimes making a prolonged hissing sound to simulate the sound of the gas chambers.
Further Allegations
More individuals from diverse backgrounds have also spoken publicly with stories of direct abuse.
- Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was called a "racial slur" and has rejected the claim that such actions were devoid of malice.
- Another individual with Asian roots characterised him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial intimidation".
The Survivors' Final Appeal
The survivors' letter puts forth an ultimate challenge to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, is your position that dozens of individuals are lying? Should the allegations be true, now is the moment to take responsibility and say sorry."
"Those who hope to lead our country should under no circumstances sow discord by background or belief. Antisemitic hatred must never become acceptable. This moment is about moral responsibility. The decision is yours, Mr Farage."
