🔗 Share this article Shoah Survivors Urge Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Reported Antisemitic Comments. A coalition of Shoah survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage be honest and apologise for alleged anti-Jewish abuse he reportedly directed toward Jewish students during his youth. The Reform UK leader has said he never racially abused anyone with malicious intent, suggesting it may have been mere "schoolyard talk". "As Shoah survivors, we comprehend the deadly peril of hateful words – for we have witnessed where such words inevitably end," declared the survivors in a letter. "We must be unambiguous: expressing admiration for Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not teasing. Not in a playground. Not anywhere." A Direct Question The document poses straightforward questions to the political figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you target your fellow pupils to anti-Jewish taunts?" The Signatories The collective of 11 survivors includes individuals with devastating personal experiences from the Nazi genocide. Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her immediate and extended family. Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before escaping in 1942 and spending the rest of the war in hiding. Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at Bergen-Belsen, where she was freed. The remaining survivors include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi. Increasing Allegations This action follows the dismissal of related accounts by more than several dozen former pupils and teachers as "complete fiction" by a deputy leader. Following the publication, more contemporaries have shared their stories. 28 people connected to the school now state they witnessed bigoted conduct by him. One well-known testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who has stated that a young Farage would approach him and say the phrases "Hitler was right" and "gas them", sometimes adding a hiss to simulate the sound of gas chambers. Additional Claims More individuals from ethnic minorities have also spoken publicly with stories of targeted insults. Cyrus Oshidar stated he was referred to as a "Paki" and has dismissed the notion that such actions were without intent. Another pupil of Asian descent described 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 puts forth an ultimate question to Farage: "By denying saying those words, do you mean that dozens of individuals are not telling the truth? If you did say them, now is the opportunity to take responsibility and make amends." "Those who seek to govern our country should under no circumstances divide people by background or belief. Antisemitic hatred must never be normalised. This moment is about ethical duty. The choice is your own, Mr Farage."
A coalition of Shoah survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage be honest and apologise for alleged anti-Jewish abuse he reportedly directed toward Jewish students during his youth. The Reform UK leader has said he never racially abused anyone with malicious intent, suggesting it may have been mere "schoolyard talk". "As Shoah survivors, we comprehend the deadly peril of hateful words – for we have witnessed where such words inevitably end," declared the survivors in a letter. "We must be unambiguous: expressing admiration for Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not teasing. Not in a playground. Not anywhere." A Direct Question The document poses straightforward questions to the political figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you target your fellow pupils to anti-Jewish taunts?" The Signatories The collective of 11 survivors includes individuals with devastating personal experiences from the Nazi genocide. Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her immediate and extended family. Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before escaping in 1942 and spending the rest of the war in hiding. Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at Bergen-Belsen, where she was freed. The remaining survivors include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi. Increasing Allegations This action follows the dismissal of related accounts by more than several dozen former pupils and teachers as "complete fiction" by a deputy leader. Following the publication, more contemporaries have shared their stories. 28 people connected to the school now state they witnessed bigoted conduct by him. One well-known testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who has stated that a young Farage would approach him and say the phrases "Hitler was right" and "gas them", sometimes adding a hiss to simulate the sound of gas chambers. Additional Claims More individuals from ethnic minorities have also spoken publicly with stories of targeted insults. Cyrus Oshidar stated he was referred to as a "Paki" and has dismissed the notion that such actions were without intent. Another pupil of Asian descent described 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 puts forth an ultimate question to Farage: "By denying saying those words, do you mean that dozens of individuals are not telling the truth? If you did say them, now is the opportunity to take responsibility and make amends." "Those who seek to govern our country should under no circumstances divide people by background or belief. Antisemitic hatred must never be normalised. This moment is about ethical duty. The choice is your own, Mr Farage."