Holocaust Survivors Call On Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Alleged Anti-Jewish Statements.

A group of Shoah survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage be honest and apologise for alleged antisemitic taunts he is said to have made toward Jewish students during his youth.

The Reform UK leader has previously stated he never targeted anyone with malicious intent, framing it may have been mere "childish teasing".

"Being Shoah survivors, we grasp the deadly peril of words of hatred – because we have seen where such words can lead," declared the survivors in a missive.

"Let us be clear: praising Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not simple joking. Not among children. Not anywhere."

An Unequivocal Demand

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

The Signatories

The collective of eleven 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 spending the rest of the war as a fugitive.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to 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 follows the characterisation of corroborating accounts by more than several dozen former pupils and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a deputy leader.

Following the publication, further individuals from that era have spoken out. Nearly thirty people connected to the school now assert they saw racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.

One notable allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who recalls that a young Farage would come near him and utter the phrases "Hitler was right" and "send them to the gas chambers", sometimes adding a hiss to mimic the sound of the gas chambers.

Additional Claims

Other former pupils from ethnic minorities have also spoken publicly with accounts of targeted insults.

• Cyrus Oshidar stated he was branded a "racial slur" and has dismissed the notion that such actions were not meant to hurt.
• Another individual with Asian roots described 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 poses a final question to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, are you claiming that 20 former classmates and teachers are not telling the truth? If the words were spoken, now is the opportunity to acknowledge you were wrong and say sorry."

"Those who seek to govern our country should not ever create division by background or belief. Antisemitic hatred must always be confronted. This moment is about ethical duty. The path forward is yours, Mr Farage."