🔗 Share this article Shoah Victims Demand Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Claimed Antisemitic Remarks. A coalition of Holocaust survivors has called for that Nigel Farage be honest and issue an apology for reported antisemitic abuse he is said to have made toward Jewish schoolmates during his youth. The Reform UK leader has previously stated he never targeted anyone with the aim to hurt, suggesting it may have been mere "childish teasing". "As Shoah survivors, we understand the profound danger of hateful words – for we have experienced firsthand where such words inevitably end," wrote the survivors in a missive. "We must be unambiguous: lauding Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not teasing. Not on a schoolyard. Not ever." A Direct Question The correspondence puts forth blunt questions to the political figure: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you expose your peers to anti-Jewish taunts?" Those Who Signed The collective of 11 survivors contains individuals with harrowing personal histories from the Holocaust. Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 27 members of her immediate and extended 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 incarcerated at Bergen-Belsen, where she was freed. Additional names on the letter include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi. Increasing Allegations This public letter comes after the dismissal of corroborating testimony by more than two dozen alumni and teachers as "complete fiction" by a deputy leader. After the story broke, additional former pupils have spoken out. Nearly thirty people connected to the school now state they witnessed prejudiced actions by him. One well-known testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who said that a teenage Farage would approach him and utter the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "send them to the gas chambers", at times making a hiss to imitate the sound of gas chambers. A Broader Pattern Additional alumni from minority ethnic backgrounds have additionally shared experiences with allegations of direct abuse. Cyrus Oshidar said he was referred to as a "racial slur" and has rejected the claim that such actions were without intent. Another pupil of Asian descent described him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial intimidation". A Concluding Demand The survivors' letter poses a final challenge to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, is your position that scores of witnesses are fabricating their stories? If you did say them, now is the opportunity to admit your error and make amends." "Those who seek to govern our country should under no circumstances divide people by ethnicity or faith. Hatred of Jews must never become acceptable. This moment is about personal accountability. The decision is yours, Mr Farage."
A coalition of Holocaust survivors has called for that Nigel Farage be honest and issue an apology for reported antisemitic abuse he is said to have made toward Jewish schoolmates during his youth. The Reform UK leader has previously stated he never targeted anyone with the aim to hurt, suggesting it may have been mere "childish teasing". "As Shoah survivors, we understand the profound danger of hateful words – for we have experienced firsthand where such words inevitably end," wrote the survivors in a missive. "We must be unambiguous: lauding Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not teasing. Not on a schoolyard. Not ever." A Direct Question The correspondence puts forth blunt questions to the political figure: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you expose your peers to anti-Jewish taunts?" Those Who Signed The collective of 11 survivors contains individuals with harrowing personal histories from the Holocaust. Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 27 members of her immediate and extended 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 incarcerated at Bergen-Belsen, where she was freed. Additional names on the letter include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi. Increasing Allegations This public letter comes after the dismissal of corroborating testimony by more than two dozen alumni and teachers as "complete fiction" by a deputy leader. After the story broke, additional former pupils have spoken out. Nearly thirty people connected to the school now state they witnessed prejudiced actions by him. One well-known testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who said that a teenage Farage would approach him and utter the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "send them to the gas chambers", at times making a hiss to imitate the sound of gas chambers. A Broader Pattern Additional alumni from minority ethnic backgrounds have additionally shared experiences with allegations of direct abuse. Cyrus Oshidar said he was referred to as a "racial slur" and has rejected the claim that such actions were without intent. Another pupil of Asian descent described him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial intimidation". A Concluding Demand The survivors' letter poses a final challenge to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, is your position that scores of witnesses are fabricating their stories? If you did say them, now is the opportunity to admit your error and make amends." "Those who seek to govern our country should under no circumstances divide people by ethnicity or faith. Hatred of Jews must never become acceptable. This moment is about personal accountability. The decision is yours, Mr Farage."