Holocaust Victims Demand Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Reported Anti-Jewish Statements.
A collective of Shoah survivors has called for that Nigel Farage be honest and apologise for reported antisemitic taunts he is said to have made toward Jewish students during his youth.
The political party leader has said he never racially abused anyone with the aim to hurt, proposing it may have been mere "childish teasing".
"As Shoah survivors, we comprehend the grave risk of bigoted language – for we have seen where such words inevitably end," declared the survivors in a missive.
"It is crucial to understand: expressing admiration for Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not simple joking. Not in a playground. Not under any circumstances."
A Direct Question
The correspondence puts forth straightforward questions to the party leader: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your classmates to anti-Jewish taunts?"
Those Who Signed
The collective of 11 survivors features 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 living through 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 liberated.
The remaining survivors include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Increasing Allegations
This action comes after the rejection of corroborating testimony by more than several dozen former pupils and teachers as "complete fiction" by a senior party figure.
Following the publication, more contemporaries have come forward. Twenty-eight former pupils and teachers now claim they observed prejudiced actions by him.
One notable account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who said that a young Farage would come near him and utter the phrases "Hitler was right" and "gas them", sometimes including a hiss to mimic the sound of gas chambers.
A Broader Pattern
Other former pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds have additionally shared experiences with accounts of personal harassment.
- Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was branded a "racial slur" and has dismissed the idea that such actions were not meant to hurt.
- Another pupil of Asian descent described him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "racial bullying".
The Ultimate Question
The missive from survivors puts forth an ultimate question to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, is your position that 20 former classmates and teachers are fabricating their stories? Should the allegations be true, now is the time to acknowledge you were wrong and say sorry."
"People who aspire to lead our country should not ever divide people by background or belief. Antisemitic hatred must always be confronted. This moment is about ethical duty. The choice is your own, Mr Farage."
