🔗 Share this article Holocaust Victims Demand Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Claimed Antisemitic Comments. A coalition 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 time at school. The Reform UK leader has claimed he never insulted anyone with deliberate cruelty, proposing it may have been mere "playground banter". "Being Holocaust survivors, we understand the deadly peril of words of hatred – for we have witnessed where such words inevitably end," declared the survivors in a missive. "Let us be clear: praising Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not teasing. Not among children. Not under any circumstances." An Unequivocal Demand The letter puts forth straightforward questions to the public figure: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you subject your peers to antisemitic abuse?" Those Who Signed The collective of eleven survivors includes individuals with harrowing personal stories from the Nazi genocide. Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her family. Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before escaping 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 freed. Other signatories include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi. Growing Accounts This action comes after the rejection of related testimony by more than two dozen or more ex-schoolmates and teachers as "complete fiction" by a senior party figure. Since the initial report, more contemporaries have come forward. 28 people connected to the school now assert they saw bigoted conduct by him. One well-known account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who has stated that a teenage Farage would approach him and repeat the phrases "Hitler was right" and "send them to the gas chambers", sometimes adding a long hiss to mimic the sound of poison gas. A Broader Pattern Additional alumni from ethnic minorities have likewise come forward with stories of personal harassment. Cyrus Oshidar stated he was referred to as a "Paki" and has rejected the idea that such actions were not meant to hurt. Another individual with Asian roots portrayed him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "ethnic harassment". The Survivors' Final Appeal The final appeal puts forth an ultimate question to Farage: "By denying saying those words, are you claiming that 20 former classmates and teachers are not telling the truth? 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. Antisemitic hatred must always be confronted. This moment is about moral responsibility. The decision is your own, Mr Farage."
A coalition 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 time at school. The Reform UK leader has claimed he never insulted anyone with deliberate cruelty, proposing it may have been mere "playground banter". "Being Holocaust survivors, we understand the deadly peril of words of hatred – for we have witnessed where such words inevitably end," declared the survivors in a missive. "Let us be clear: praising Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not teasing. Not among children. Not under any circumstances." An Unequivocal Demand The letter puts forth straightforward questions to the public figure: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you subject your peers to antisemitic abuse?" Those Who Signed The collective of eleven survivors includes individuals with harrowing personal stories from the Nazi genocide. Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her family. Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before escaping 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 freed. Other signatories include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi. Growing Accounts This action comes after the rejection of related testimony by more than two dozen or more ex-schoolmates and teachers as "complete fiction" by a senior party figure. Since the initial report, more contemporaries have come forward. 28 people connected to the school now assert they saw bigoted conduct by him. One well-known account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who has stated that a teenage Farage would approach him and repeat the phrases "Hitler was right" and "send them to the gas chambers", sometimes adding a long hiss to mimic the sound of poison gas. A Broader Pattern Additional alumni from ethnic minorities have likewise come forward with stories of personal harassment. Cyrus Oshidar stated he was referred to as a "Paki" and has rejected the idea that such actions were not meant to hurt. Another individual with Asian roots portrayed him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "ethnic harassment". The Survivors' Final Appeal The final appeal puts forth an ultimate question to Farage: "By denying saying those words, are you claiming that 20 former classmates and teachers are not telling the truth? 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. Antisemitic hatred must always be confronted. This moment is about moral responsibility. The decision is your own, Mr Farage."