Shoah Victims Call On Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Claimed Anti-Jewish Statements.
A group of Shoah survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage be honest and express remorse for reported anti-Jewish taunts he reportedly directed toward Jewish pupils during his time at school.
The political party leader has said he never insulted anyone with malicious intent, suggesting it may have been mere "childish teasing".
"Being Holocaust survivors, we grasp the deadly peril of hateful words – for we have seen where such words ultimately lead," wrote the survivors in a open letter.
"Let us be clear: expressing admiration for Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not teasing. Not in a playground. Not ever."
A Direct Question
The document puts forth direct questions to the party leader: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you subject your peers to anti-Jewish taunts?"
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 confined to a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and spending the rest of the war as a fugitive.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at 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.
Growing Accounts
This intervention follows the rejection of related accounts by more than several dozen ex-schoolmates and teachers as "complete fiction" by a senior party figure.
Since the initial report, additional former pupils have shared their stories. Twenty-eight former pupils and teachers now claim they witnessed bigoted conduct by him.
One notable account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who said that a teenage Farage would approach him and repeat the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "send them to the gas chambers", sometimes including a long hiss to simulate the sound of poison gas.
A Broader Pattern
More individuals from diverse backgrounds have likewise spoken publicly with stories of targeted insults.
- Cyrus Oshidar said he was referred to as a "racial slur" and has labelled as rubbish the notion that such actions were not meant to hurt.
- Another individual with Asian roots characterised him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "ethnic harassment".
The Survivors' Final Appeal
The final appeal poses a final dilemma to Farage: "By denying saying those words, do you mean that scores of witnesses are not telling the truth? Should the allegations be true, now is the moment to take responsibility and make amends."
"People who seek to govern our country should under no circumstances divide people by background or belief. Anti-Jewish bigotry must always be confronted. This moment is about moral responsibility. The path forward is yours, Mr Farage."
