Shoah Survivors Demand Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Claimed Anti-Jewish Remarks.
A collective of Shoah survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage admit the facts and issue an apology for reported anti-Jewish comments attributed to him toward Jewish students during his school days.
The political party leader has claimed he never racially abused anyone with deliberate cruelty, framing it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".
"As Shoah survivors, we comprehend the grave risk of hateful words – for we have seen where such words inevitably end," stated the survivors in a open letter.
"We must be unambiguous: expressing admiration for Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not banter. Not on a schoolyard. Not anywhere."
A Pointed Inquiry
The document poses direct questions to the political figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you subject your peers to bigoted harassment?"
Those Who Signed
The group of 11 survivors contains individuals with devastating personal stories from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her family.
- Simon Winston, who was confined to a ghetto before escaping in 1942 and spending the rest of the war as a fugitive.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later transferred 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 action is a response to the dismissal of corroborating testimony by more than two dozen former pupils and teachers as "complete fiction" by a deputy leader.
After the story broke, additional former pupils have come forward. Twenty-eight ex-students and educators now state they witnessed prejudiced actions by him.
One notable testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who recalls that a teenage Farage would come near him and say the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "send them to the gas chambers", on occasion adding a long hiss to mimic the sound of the gas chambers.
Further Allegations
More individuals from minority ethnic backgrounds have additionally spoken publicly with accounts of targeted insults.
- Cyrus Oshidar said he was branded a "racial slur" and has labelled as rubbish the notion that such actions were devoid of malice.
- Another student of Asian heritage portrayed him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial intimidation".
The Survivors' Final Appeal
The survivors' letter poses a final dilemma to Farage: "By denying saying those words, do you mean that dozens of individuals are fabricating their stories? Should the allegations be true, now is the time to admit your error and apologise."
"Individuals who seek to govern our country should never divide people by ethnicity or faith. Antisemitic hatred must never be normalised. This moment is about moral responsibility. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."
