Shoah Survivors Call On Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Claimed Anti-Jewish Comments.
A group of Holocaust survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage tell the truth and express remorse for reported anti-Jewish comments attributed to him toward Jewish students during his school days.
The political party leader has claimed he never insulted anyone with deliberate cruelty, framing it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".
"As Holocaust survivors, we grasp the profound danger of words of hatred – because we have seen where such words inevitably end," stated the survivors in a missive.
"It is crucial to understand: expressing admiration for Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not simple joking. Not among children. Not anywhere."
A Direct Question
The document asks blunt questions to the political figure: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you target your classmates to anti-Jewish taunts?"
The Signatories
The group of eleven survivors contains individuals with devastating personal experiences from the Nazi genocide.
- Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her family.
- Simon Winston, who was confined to a ghetto before escaping in 1942 and living through the rest of the war in hiding.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved to Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated.
Additional names on the letter include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Mounting Testimony
This intervention comes after the dismissal of corroborating testimony by more than two dozen alumni and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a deputy leader.
Following the publication, more contemporaries have come forward. Twenty-eight people connected to the school now claim they saw bigoted conduct by him.
One prominent testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who said that a teenage Farage would sidle up to him and say the phrases "Hitler was right" and "send them to the gas chambers", on occasion including a hiss to mimic the sound of gas chambers.
Further Allegations
More individuals from diverse backgrounds have likewise come forward with allegations of personal harassment.
- Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was called a "racial slur" and has rejected the notion that such actions were devoid of malice.
- Another pupil of Asian descent portrayed him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "ethnic harassment".
The Ultimate Question
The missive from survivors asks a concluding dilemma to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, do you mean that 20 former classmates and teachers are lying? Should the allegations be true, now is the moment to admit your error and make amends."
"Those who hope to lead our country should under no circumstances sow discord by race or religion. Antisemitic hatred must never become acceptable. This moment is about personal accountability. The path forward is yours, Mr Farage."
