Holocaust Victims Urge Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Alleged Antisemitic Statements.
A group of Shoah survivors has called for that Nigel Farage be honest and express remorse for alleged antisemitic abuse attributed to him toward Jewish students during his youth.
The Reform UK leader has said he never racially abused anyone with the aim to hurt, suggesting it may have been mere "childish teasing".
"As Holocaust survivors, we grasp the grave risk of words of hatred – because we have seen where such words can lead," stated the survivors in a open letter.
"We must be unambiguous: expressing admiration for Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not banter. Not among children. Not ever."
A Pointed Inquiry
The letter asks blunt questions to the party leader: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your fellow pupils to antisemitic abuse?"
Those Who Signed
The collective of eleven survivors contains individuals with devastating personal histories from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who lost 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 concealed.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved to Bergen-Belsen, where she was freed.
Additional names on the letter include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Growing Accounts
This intervention follows the characterisation of similar allegations by more than several dozen former pupils and teachers as "complete fiction" by a high-ranking official.
Since the initial report, more contemporaries have come forward. Twenty-eight former pupils and teachers now assert they observed racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.
One prominent testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who recalls that a young Farage would sidle up to him and say the phrases "Hitler was right" and "send them to the gas chambers", at times making a long hiss to imitate the sound of gas chambers.
A Broader Pattern
More individuals from ethnic minorities have also come forward with allegations of personal harassment.
- Cyrus Oshidar said he was referred to as a "Paki" and has dismissed 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 "ethnic harassment".
A Concluding Demand
The missive from survivors poses a final dilemma to Farage: "By denying saying those words, do you mean that scores of witnesses are fabricating their stories? If the words were spoken, now is the time to acknowledge you were wrong and say sorry."
"Those who hope to lead our country should under no circumstances create division by background or belief. Anti-Jewish bigotry must always be confronted. This moment is about personal accountability. The choice is your own, Mr Farage."
