Holocaust Victims Demand Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Claimed Anti-Jewish Statements.
A group of Shoah survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage admit the facts and apologise for reported anti-Jewish taunts attributed to him toward Jewish schoolmates during his youth.
The Reform UK leader has said he never targeted anyone with the aim to hurt, proposing it may have been mere "playground banter".
"As Shoah survivors, we understand the grave risk of hateful words – because we have experienced firsthand where such words can lead," stated the survivors in a missive.
"We must be unambiguous: expressing admiration for Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not teasing. Not among children. Not ever."
An Unequivocal Demand
The letter asks direct questions to the political figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you target your peers to anti-Jewish taunts?"
The Survivors
The group of 11 survivors contains individuals with harrowing personal stories from the Nazi genocide.
- Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her family.
- Simon Winston, who was held 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 transferred to Bergen-Belsen, where she was rescued.
Other signatories 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 related allegations by more than two dozen or more former pupils and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a high-ranking official.
After the story broke, further individuals from that era have spoken out. Twenty-eight former pupils and teachers now assert they witnessed bigoted conduct by him.
One prominent allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who said that a young Farage would sidle up to him and say the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "send them to the gas chambers", on occasion making a long hiss to simulate the sound of poison gas.
Additional Claims
Additional alumni from ethnic minorities have additionally shared experiences with accounts of direct abuse.
- Cyrus Oshidar said he was referred to as a "racial slur" and has dismissed the notion that such actions were devoid of malice.
- Another individual with Asian roots portrayed him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial bullying".
The Ultimate Question
The final appeal asks a concluding challenge to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, is your position that dozens of individuals are fabricating their stories? If the words were spoken, now is the time to acknowledge you were wrong and apologise."
"Individuals who seek to govern our country should never sow discord by race or religion. Hatred of Jews must always be confronted. This moment is about moral responsibility. The decision is yours, Mr Farage."
