Holocaust Survivors Urge Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Reported Antisemitic Remarks.

A group of Shoah survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage be honest and apologise for alleged anti-Jewish abuse he is said to have made toward Jewish pupils during his time at school.

The Reform UK leader has said he never targeted anyone with malicious intent, proposing it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".

"As Holocaust survivors, we grasp the profound danger of hateful words – for we have witnessed where such words inevitably end," stated the survivors in a letter.

"It is crucial to understand: praising Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not teasing. Not in a playground. Not ever."

A Pointed Inquiry

The letter poses direct questions to the political figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your peers to bigoted harassment?"

The Signatories

The collective of 11 survivors includes individuals with devastating personal histories from the Holocaust.

• Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
• Simon Winston, who was held in a ghetto before breaking out in 1942 and spending the rest of the war as a fugitive.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported 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 action is a response to the dismissal of similar testimony by more than two dozen or more ex-schoolmates and teachers as "complete fiction" by a senior party figure.

Following the publication, more contemporaries have come forward. 28 ex-students and educators now assert they saw bigoted conduct by him.

One well-known account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who said that a young Farage would come near him and say the phrases "Hitler was right" and "send them to the gas chambers", sometimes including a hiss to mimic the sound of the gas chambers.

A Broader Pattern

Other former pupils from ethnic minorities have likewise spoken publicly with accounts of personal harassment.

• Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was called a "Paki" and has labelled as rubbish the claim that such actions were devoid of malice.
• Another pupil of Asian descent described him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "ethnic harassment".

A Concluding Demand

The missive from survivors puts forth an ultimate dilemma to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, are you claiming that 20 former classmates and teachers are lying? Should the allegations be true, now is the moment to admit your error and say sorry."

"Individuals who seek to govern our country should never sow discord by background or belief. Hatred of Jews must always be confronted. This moment is about personal accountability. The decision is yours, Mr Farage."