🔗 Share this article Shoah Victims Call On Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Alleged Antisemitic Statements. A coalition of Holocaust survivors has called for that Nigel Farage tell the truth and express remorse for alleged antisemitic taunts he is said to have made toward Jewish schoolmates during his youth. The Reform UK leader has claimed he never racially abused anyone with deliberate cruelty, framing it may have been mere "childish teasing". "As Holocaust survivors, we comprehend the profound danger of words of hatred – for we have experienced firsthand where such words inevitably end," wrote the survivors in a letter. "We must be unambiguous: lauding Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not teasing. Not among children. Not anywhere." A Pointed Inquiry The correspondence poses straightforward questions to the party leader: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you target your classmates to antisemitic abuse?" The Signatories The collective of 11 survivors includes individuals with devastating personal histories from the Nazi genocide. Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her family. Simon Winston, who was held in a ghetto before escaping in 1942 and spending the rest of the war in hiding. Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at 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. Increasing Allegations This intervention is a response to the dismissal of related allegations by more than two dozen or more ex-schoolmates and teachers as "complete fiction" by a deputy leader. Since the initial report, further individuals from that era have shared their stories. Nearly thirty former pupils and teachers now assert they saw racist or antisemitic behaviour by him. One notable account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who recalls that a teenage Farage would approach him and utter the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "gas them", at times including a prolonged hissing sound to imitate the sound of the gas chambers. Further Allegations Other former pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds have also come forward with allegations of direct abuse. Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was branded a "racial slur" and has labelled as rubbish the notion that such actions were not meant to hurt. Another pupil of Asian descent portrayed him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial bullying". The Survivors' Final Appeal The final appeal asks a concluding challenge to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, are you claiming that scores of witnesses are fabricating their stories? If you did say them, now is the moment to take responsibility and say sorry." "Those who hope to lead our country should under no circumstances create division by ethnicity or faith. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never become acceptable. This moment is about moral responsibility. The decision is yours, Mr Farage."
A coalition of Holocaust survivors has called for that Nigel Farage tell the truth and express remorse for alleged antisemitic taunts he is said to have made toward Jewish schoolmates during his youth. The Reform UK leader has claimed he never racially abused anyone with deliberate cruelty, framing it may have been mere "childish teasing". "As Holocaust survivors, we comprehend the profound danger of words of hatred – for we have experienced firsthand where such words inevitably end," wrote the survivors in a letter. "We must be unambiguous: lauding Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not teasing. Not among children. Not anywhere." A Pointed Inquiry The correspondence poses straightforward questions to the party leader: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you target your classmates to antisemitic abuse?" The Signatories The collective of 11 survivors includes individuals with devastating personal histories from the Nazi genocide. Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her family. Simon Winston, who was held in a ghetto before escaping in 1942 and spending the rest of the war in hiding. Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at 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. Increasing Allegations This intervention is a response to the dismissal of related allegations by more than two dozen or more ex-schoolmates and teachers as "complete fiction" by a deputy leader. Since the initial report, further individuals from that era have shared their stories. Nearly thirty former pupils and teachers now assert they saw racist or antisemitic behaviour by him. One notable account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who recalls that a teenage Farage would approach him and utter the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "gas them", at times including a prolonged hissing sound to imitate the sound of the gas chambers. Further Allegations Other former pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds have also come forward with allegations of direct abuse. Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was branded a "racial slur" and has labelled as rubbish the notion that such actions were not meant to hurt. Another pupil of Asian descent portrayed him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial bullying". The Survivors' Final Appeal The final appeal asks a concluding challenge to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, are you claiming that scores of witnesses are fabricating their stories? If you did say them, now is the moment to take responsibility and say sorry." "Those who hope to lead our country should under no circumstances create division by ethnicity or faith. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never become acceptable. This moment is about moral responsibility. The decision is yours, Mr Farage."