Holocaust Survivors Demand Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Claimed Anti-Jewish Comments.

A coalition of Shoah survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage be honest and express remorse for alleged antisemitic comments attributed to him toward Jewish students during his youth.

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

"As Shoah survivors, we comprehend the deadly peril of words of hatred – for we have seen where such words can lead," wrote the survivors in a open letter.

"We must be unambiguous: expressing admiration for Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not banter. Not on a schoolyard. Not ever."

A Pointed Inquiry

The correspondence poses direct questions to the party leader: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you target your peers to bigoted harassment?"

Those Who Signed

The group of 11 survivors includes individuals with harrowing personal experiences from the Nazi genocide.

• Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her 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 moved to 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.

Mounting Testimony

This public letter is a response to the rejection of corroborating testimony by more than two dozen former pupils and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a deputy leader.

After the story broke, more contemporaries have come forward. 28 former pupils and teachers now claim they observed bigoted conduct by him.

One well-known account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who recalls that a teenage Farage would come near him and utter the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "gas them", at times adding a hiss to imitate the sound of gas chambers.

Additional Claims

More individuals from minority ethnic backgrounds have additionally come forward with stories of direct abuse.

• Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was called a "racial slur" and has labelled as rubbish the notion that such actions were not meant to hurt.
• Another pupil of Asian descent portrayed him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "racial intimidation".

The Ultimate Question

The survivors' letter asks a concluding challenge to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, is your position that 20 former classmates and teachers are fabricating their stories? If the words were spoken, now is the time to acknowledge you were wrong and say sorry."

"People who seek to govern our country should not ever sow discord by background or belief. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never be normalised. This moment is about ethical duty. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."