🔗 Share this article Shoah Victims Call On Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Alleged Anti-Jewish Statements. A coalition of Shoah survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage be honest and issue an apology for alleged anti-Jewish comments he reportedly directed toward Jewish students during his school days. The political party leader has previously stated he never targeted anyone with the aim to hurt, proposing it may have been mere "playground banter". "As Shoah survivors, we grasp the deadly peril of words of hatred – for we have seen where such words can lead," declared the survivors in a letter. "We must be unambiguous: lauding Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not simple joking. Not in a playground. Not under any circumstances." An Unequivocal Demand The correspondence poses direct questions to the public figure: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your classmates to bigoted harassment?" Those Who Signed The collective of eleven survivors includes individuals with deeply traumatic personal histories from the Holocaust. Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 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 concealed. Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later transferred to Bergen-Belsen, where she was rescued. Additional names on the letter include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi. Growing Accounts This action is a response to the characterisation of similar testimony by more than several dozen former pupils and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a deputy leader. Following the publication, additional former pupils have come forward. Nearly thirty ex-students and educators now claim they saw racist or antisemitic behaviour by him. One notable allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who recalls that a young Farage would sidle up to him and say the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "send them to the gas chambers", sometimes including a long hiss to simulate the sound of gas chambers. Additional Claims Other former pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds have also come forward with allegations of personal harassment. Cyrus Oshidar stated he was branded a "racial slur" and has labelled as rubbish the claim that such actions were without intent. Another individual with Asian roots portrayed him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "ethnic harassment". The Survivors' Final Appeal The survivors' letter poses a final question to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, do you mean that dozens of individuals are lying? If you did say them, now is the moment to acknowledge you were wrong and make amends." "People who seek to govern our country should under no circumstances create division by background or belief. Anti-Jewish bigotry must always be confronted. This moment is about personal accountability. The decision is yours, Mr Farage."
A coalition of Shoah survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage be honest and issue an apology for alleged anti-Jewish comments he reportedly directed toward Jewish students during his school days. The political party leader has previously stated he never targeted anyone with the aim to hurt, proposing it may have been mere "playground banter". "As Shoah survivors, we grasp the deadly peril of words of hatred – for we have seen where such words can lead," declared the survivors in a letter. "We must be unambiguous: lauding Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not simple joking. Not in a playground. Not under any circumstances." An Unequivocal Demand The correspondence poses direct questions to the public figure: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your classmates to bigoted harassment?" Those Who Signed The collective of eleven survivors includes individuals with deeply traumatic personal histories from the Holocaust. Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 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 concealed. Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later transferred to Bergen-Belsen, where she was rescued. Additional names on the letter include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi. Growing Accounts This action is a response to the characterisation of similar testimony by more than several dozen former pupils and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a deputy leader. Following the publication, additional former pupils have come forward. Nearly thirty ex-students and educators now claim they saw racist or antisemitic behaviour by him. One notable allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who recalls that a young Farage would sidle up to him and say the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "send them to the gas chambers", sometimes including a long hiss to simulate the sound of gas chambers. Additional Claims Other former pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds have also come forward with allegations of personal harassment. Cyrus Oshidar stated he was branded a "racial slur" and has labelled as rubbish the claim that such actions were without intent. Another individual with Asian roots portrayed him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "ethnic harassment". The Survivors' Final Appeal The survivors' letter poses a final question to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, do you mean that dozens of individuals are lying? If you did say them, now is the moment to acknowledge you were wrong and make amends." "People who seek to govern our country should under no circumstances create division by background or belief. Anti-Jewish bigotry must always be confronted. This moment is about personal accountability. The decision is yours, Mr Farage."