🔗 Share this article Holocaust Victims Call On Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Claimed Anti-Jewish Remarks. A collective of Shoah survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage be honest and issue an apology for reported antisemitic taunts attributed to him toward Jewish pupils during his time at school. The Reform UK leader has claimed he never targeted anyone with deliberate cruelty, proposing it may have been mere "childish teasing". "Being Shoah survivors, we grasp the profound danger of bigoted language – because we have witnessed where such words inevitably end," stated the survivors in a letter. "We must be unambiguous: praising Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not teasing. Not in a playground. Not anywhere." A Pointed Inquiry The correspondence asks blunt questions to the party leader: "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?" The Signatories The group of 11 survivors includes individuals with deeply traumatic personal histories from the Holocaust. Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her family. Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and living through the rest of the war concealed. Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to 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. Mounting Testimony This action follows the characterisation of similar testimony by more than two dozen or more alumni and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a senior party figure. Following the publication, further individuals from that era have come forward. Twenty-eight ex-students and educators now claim they observed prejudiced actions by him. One prominent testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who said that a teenage Farage would approach him and utter the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "gas them", on occasion adding a hiss to imitate the sound of gas chambers. A Broader Pattern Additional alumni from minority ethnic backgrounds have also come forward with accounts of personal harassment. Cyrus Oshidar stated he was branded a "racial slur" and has labelled as rubbish the idea that such actions were not meant to hurt. Another student of Asian heritage 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 survivors' letter asks a concluding dilemma to Farage: "By denying saying those words, do you mean that dozens of individuals are lying? If you did say them, now is the moment to take responsibility and apologise." "Those who seek to govern our country should never create division by race or religion. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never become acceptable. This moment is about moral responsibility. The decision is yours, Mr Farage."
A collective of Shoah survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage be honest and issue an apology for reported antisemitic taunts attributed to him toward Jewish pupils during his time at school. The Reform UK leader has claimed he never targeted anyone with deliberate cruelty, proposing it may have been mere "childish teasing". "Being Shoah survivors, we grasp the profound danger of bigoted language – because we have witnessed where such words inevitably end," stated the survivors in a letter. "We must be unambiguous: praising Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not teasing. Not in a playground. Not anywhere." A Pointed Inquiry The correspondence asks blunt questions to the party leader: "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?" The Signatories The group of 11 survivors includes individuals with deeply traumatic personal histories from the Holocaust. Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her family. Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and living through the rest of the war concealed. Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to 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. Mounting Testimony This action follows the characterisation of similar testimony by more than two dozen or more alumni and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a senior party figure. Following the publication, further individuals from that era have come forward. Twenty-eight ex-students and educators now claim they observed prejudiced actions by him. One prominent testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who said that a teenage Farage would approach him and utter the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "gas them", on occasion adding a hiss to imitate the sound of gas chambers. A Broader Pattern Additional alumni from minority ethnic backgrounds have also come forward with accounts of personal harassment. Cyrus Oshidar stated he was branded a "racial slur" and has labelled as rubbish the idea that such actions were not meant to hurt. Another student of Asian heritage 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 survivors' letter asks a concluding dilemma to Farage: "By denying saying those words, do you mean that dozens of individuals are lying? If you did say them, now is the moment to take responsibility and apologise." "Those who seek to govern our country should never create division by race or religion. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never become acceptable. This moment is about moral responsibility. The decision is yours, Mr Farage."