Shoah Survivors Demand Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Alleged Anti-Jewish Remarks.

A collective of Holocaust survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage tell the truth and apologise for reported anti-Jewish comments attributed to him toward Jewish schoolmates during his school days.

The Reform UK leader has previously stated he never insulted anyone with malicious intent, suggesting it may have been mere "playground banter".

"Being Holocaust survivors, we grasp the deadly peril of bigoted language – because we have witnessed where such words can lead," wrote the survivors in a letter.

"Let us be clear: praising Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not simple joking. Not on a schoolyard. Not anywhere."

A Direct Question

The document puts forth direct questions to the party leader: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you subject your peers to antisemitic abuse?"

The Survivors

The group of eleven 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 held in a ghetto before escaping in 1942 and living through the rest of the war concealed.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved to Bergen-Belsen, where she was freed.

Other signatories include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.

Mounting Testimony

This action comes after the rejection of corroborating accounts by more than several dozen ex-schoolmates and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a senior party figure.

Following the publication, more contemporaries have spoken out. 28 former pupils and teachers now state they observed racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.

One notable account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who said that a teenage Farage would approach him and repeat the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "send them to the gas chambers", at times adding a hiss to imitate the sound of the gas chambers.

Additional Claims

Other former pupils from ethnic minorities have also shared experiences with allegations of personal harassment.

• Cyrus Oshidar said he was branded a "racial slur" and has rejected the notion that such actions were without intent.
• Another individual with Asian roots portrayed him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "ethnic harassment".

The Ultimate Question

The missive from survivors asks a concluding dilemma to Farage: "By denying saying those words, is your position that scores of witnesses are fabricating their stories? Should the allegations be true, now is the time to take responsibility and say sorry."

"People who aspire to lead our country should never sow discord by background or belief. Anti-Jewish bigotry must always be confronted. This moment is about moral responsibility. The choice is yours, Mr Farage."