Shoah Survivors Demand Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Reported Antisemitic Comments.
A collective of Shoah survivors has called for that Nigel Farage be honest and apologise for alleged antisemitic taunts he is said to have made toward Jewish pupils during his youth.
The political party leader has previously stated he never insulted anyone with the aim to hurt, framing it may have been mere "playground banter".
"As Shoah survivors, we comprehend the deadly peril of hateful words – because we have experienced firsthand where such words inevitably end," declared the survivors in a letter.
"We must be unambiguous: praising Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not banter. Not in a playground. Not ever."
A Direct Question
The letter asks blunt questions to the party leader: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your fellow pupils to bigoted harassment?"
The Survivors
The collective of 11 survivors includes individuals with deeply traumatic personal experiences from the Nazi genocide.
- Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her family.
- Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before breaking out in 1942 and living through the rest of the war concealed.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at Bergen-Belsen, where she was rescued.
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 follows the characterisation of corroborating testimony by more than two dozen or more alumni and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a deputy leader.
After the story broke, additional former pupils have come forward. 28 people connected to the school now state they observed bigoted conduct by him.
One prominent allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who has stated that a teenage Farage would sidle up to him and utter the phrases "Hitler was right" and "gas them", at times adding a prolonged hissing sound to simulate the sound of gas chambers.
A Broader Pattern
Other former pupils from diverse backgrounds have additionally spoken publicly with accounts of personal harassment.
- Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was called a "racial slur" and has rejected the notion that such actions were without intent.
- Another student of Asian heritage described him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial bullying".
A Concluding Demand
The missive from survivors asks a concluding question to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, are you claiming that scores of witnesses are lying? Should the allegations be true, now is the opportunity to take responsibility and make amends."
"Those who seek to govern our country should under no circumstances divide people by ethnicity or faith. Antisemitic hatred must never become acceptable. This moment is about moral responsibility. The choice is your own, Mr Farage."
