Holocaust Survivors Urge Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Claimed Anti-Jewish Remarks.

A coalition of Shoah survivors has called for that Nigel Farage admit the facts and apologise for reported anti-Jewish abuse he is said to have made toward Jewish students during his school days.

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

"Being Shoah survivors, we grasp the deadly peril of words of hatred – for we have seen where such words ultimately lead," stated the survivors in a open letter.

"It is crucial to understand: lauding Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not teasing. Not on a schoolyard. Not under any circumstances."

A Pointed Inquiry

The correspondence asks direct questions to the public figure: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your peers to antisemitic abuse?"

The Signatories

The collective of 11 survivors contains individuals with deeply traumatic personal stories from the Holocaust.

• Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her family.
• Simon Winston, who was imprisoned 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 transferred to Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated.

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

Growing Accounts

This action follows the characterisation of related accounts by more than two dozen or more ex-schoolmates and teachers as "complete fiction" by a senior party figure.

Following the publication, additional former pupils have come forward. Nearly thirty ex-students and educators now claim they observed racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.

One notable allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who has stated that a young Farage would approach him and utter the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "gas them", at times adding a long hiss to imitate the sound of gas chambers.

A Broader Pattern

Additional alumni from minority ethnic backgrounds have additionally spoken publicly with accounts of personal harassment.

• Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was branded a "racial slur" and has labelled as rubbish the claim that such actions were without intent.
• Another pupil of Asian descent portrayed him as an "blatant racist" 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 challenge to Farage: "By denying saying those words, do you mean that 20 former classmates and teachers are fabricating their stories? If the words were spoken, now is the opportunity to acknowledge you were wrong and apologise."

"Those who seek to govern our country should never divide people by ethnicity or faith. Antisemitic hatred must always be confronted. This moment is about moral responsibility. The decision is your own, Mr Farage."