A group of Shoah survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage tell the truth and apologise for alleged anti-Jewish comments he is said to have made toward Jewish students during his youth.
The Reform UK leader has previously stated he never racially abused anyone with malicious intent, proposing it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".
"Being Holocaust survivors, we understand the deadly peril of words of hatred – for we have seen where such words inevitably end," declared the survivors in a missive.
"We must be unambiguous: lauding Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not teasing. Not in a playground. Not under any circumstances."
A Direct Question
The document asks blunt questions to the public figure: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you target your classmates to anti-Jewish taunts?"
The Survivors
The collective of 11 survivors includes individuals with deeply traumatic personal histories from the Nazi genocide.
- Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
- Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and living through the rest of the war as a fugitive.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved to Bergen-Belsen, where she was rescued.
The remaining survivors include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Growing Accounts
This public letter is a response to the rejection of corroborating testimony by more than two dozen or more alumni and teachers as "complete fiction" by a senior party figure.
After the story broke, further individuals from that era have shared their stories. Nearly thirty people connected to the school now state they witnessed bigoted conduct by him.
One prominent allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who has stated that a teenage Farage would come near him and repeat the phrases "Hitler was right" and "gas them", on occasion adding a prolonged hissing sound to mimic the sound of gas chambers.
Additional Claims
More individuals from ethnic minorities have likewise shared experiences with stories of personal harassment.
- Cyrus Oshidar stated he was called a "racial slur" and has rejected the notion that such actions were without intent.
- Another student of Asian heritage characterised him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial bullying".
The Ultimate Question
The missive from survivors asks a concluding question to Farage: "By denying saying those words, is your position that dozens of individuals are lying? If the words were spoken, now is the time to acknowledge you were wrong and apologise."
"People who aspire to lead our country should not ever sow discord by background or belief. Hatred of Jews must always be confronted. This moment is about personal accountability. The decision is your own, Mr Farage."
