Holocaust Survivors Demand Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Alleged Antisemitic Comments.

A group of Holocaust survivors has called for that Nigel Farage tell the truth and apologise for reported anti-Jewish comments he reportedly directed toward Jewish students during his time at school.

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

"Being Shoah survivors, we understand the grave risk of hateful words – for we have witnessed where such words can lead," declared the survivors in a missive.

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

A Direct Question

The correspondence asks straightforward questions to the public figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your fellow pupils to bigoted harassment?"

The Survivors

The collective of eleven survivors features individuals with devastating personal stories from the Nazi genocide.

• Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
• Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before breaking out in 1942 and spending the rest of the war concealed.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at Bergen-Belsen, where she was freed.

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 intervention comes after the characterisation of similar accounts by more than two dozen ex-schoolmates and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a senior party figure.

After the story broke, further individuals from that era have shared their stories. 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 has stated that a teenage Farage would come near him and repeat the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "gas them", sometimes making a prolonged hissing sound to simulate the sound of the gas chambers.

Additional Claims

More individuals from diverse backgrounds have also spoken publicly with accounts of personal harassment.

• Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was referred to as a "racial slur" and has rejected the claim that such actions were without intent.
• Another pupil of Asian descent described 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 question to Farage: "By denying saying those words, are you claiming that scores of witnesses are not telling the truth? If the words were spoken, now is the moment to take responsibility and make amends."

"Individuals who hope to lead our country should never divide people by background or belief. Antisemitic hatred must always be confronted. This moment is about ethical duty. The path forward is yours, Mr Farage."