A group of Holocaust survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage admit the facts and express remorse for alleged antisemitic comments attributed to him toward Jewish pupils during his time at school.
The Reform UK leader has claimed he never racially abused anyone with deliberate cruelty, proposing it may have been mere "playground banter".
"Being Shoah survivors, we comprehend the profound danger of words of hatred – for we have experienced firsthand where such words can lead," stated the survivors in a letter.
"It is crucial to understand: lauding Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not teasing. Not on a schoolyard. Not under any circumstances."
A Pointed Inquiry
The correspondence 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 bigoted harassment?"
Those Who Signed
The group of eleven survivors features individuals with harrowing personal stories 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 spending 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 rescued.
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 characterisation of corroborating accounts by more than several dozen former pupils and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a deputy leader.
Following the publication, more contemporaries have come forward. Twenty-eight people connected to the school now claim they observed racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.
One well-known testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who has stated that a teenage Farage would approach him and utter the phrases "Hitler was right" and "gas them", at times adding a hiss to simulate the sound of gas chambers.
A Broader Pattern
Other former pupils from ethnic minorities have also come forward with stories of direct abuse.
- Cyrus Oshidar said he was referred to as a "racial slur" and has rejected the claim that such actions were devoid of malice.
- Another student of Asian heritage portrayed him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "ethnic harassment".
The Survivors' Final Appeal
The missive from survivors poses a final dilemma to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, are you claiming that 20 former classmates and teachers are not telling the truth? If the words were spoken, now is the opportunity to take responsibility and say sorry."
"People who seek to govern our country should not ever create division by ethnicity or faith. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never be normalised. This moment is about ethical duty. The decision is your own, Mr Farage."
