🔗 Share this article Shoah Survivors Demand Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Reported Anti-Jewish Comments. A group of Shoah survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage admit the facts and express remorse for reported antisemitic comments he is said to have made toward Jewish schoolmates during his time at school. The Reform UK leader has said he never targeted anyone with deliberate cruelty, suggesting it may have been mere "playground banter". "As Shoah survivors, we grasp the grave risk of words of hatred – because we have seen where such words ultimately lead," declared the survivors in a letter. "We must be unambiguous: praising Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not simple joking. Not on a schoolyard. Not under any circumstances." A Direct Question The document poses straightforward questions to the party leader: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your classmates to bigoted harassment?" The Signatories The collective of eleven survivors features individuals with harrowing personal histories 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 fleeing in 1942 and spending the rest of the war concealed. Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later transferred to Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated. 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 is a response to the rejection of corroborating accounts by more than several dozen alumni and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a high-ranking official. Following the publication, more contemporaries have come forward. Nearly thirty ex-students and educators now state they saw prejudiced actions by him. One notable account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who recalls that a young Farage would sidle up to him and say the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "gas them", on occasion including a prolonged hissing sound to mimic the sound of poison gas. A Broader Pattern Additional alumni from ethnic minorities have additionally spoken publicly with accounts of targeted insults. Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was called a "Paki" and has dismissed the claim that such actions were devoid of malice. Another pupil of Asian descent described him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "racial intimidation". A Concluding Demand The final appeal poses a final question to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, do you mean that dozens of individuals are not telling the truth? If the words were spoken, now is the opportunity to acknowledge you were wrong and apologise." "Individuals who aspire to lead our country should under no circumstances divide people by background or belief. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never become acceptable. This moment is about personal accountability. The choice is your own, Mr Farage."
A group of Shoah survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage admit the facts and express remorse for reported antisemitic comments he is said to have made toward Jewish schoolmates during his time at school. The Reform UK leader has said he never targeted anyone with deliberate cruelty, suggesting it may have been mere "playground banter". "As Shoah survivors, we grasp the grave risk of words of hatred – because we have seen where such words ultimately lead," declared the survivors in a letter. "We must be unambiguous: praising Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not simple joking. Not on a schoolyard. Not under any circumstances." A Direct Question The document poses straightforward questions to the party leader: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your classmates to bigoted harassment?" The Signatories The collective of eleven survivors features individuals with harrowing personal histories 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 fleeing in 1942 and spending the rest of the war concealed. Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later transferred to Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated. 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 is a response to the rejection of corroborating accounts by more than several dozen alumni and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a high-ranking official. Following the publication, more contemporaries have come forward. Nearly thirty ex-students and educators now state they saw prejudiced actions by him. One notable account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who recalls that a young Farage would sidle up to him and say the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "gas them", on occasion including a prolonged hissing sound to mimic the sound of poison gas. A Broader Pattern Additional alumni from ethnic minorities have additionally spoken publicly with accounts of targeted insults. Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was called a "Paki" and has dismissed the claim that such actions were devoid of malice. Another pupil of Asian descent described him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "racial intimidation". A Concluding Demand The final appeal poses a final question to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, do you mean that dozens of individuals are not telling the truth? If the words were spoken, now is the opportunity to acknowledge you were wrong and apologise." "Individuals who aspire to lead our country should under no circumstances divide people by background or belief. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never become acceptable. This moment is about personal accountability. The choice is your own, Mr Farage."