Shoah Survivors Demand Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Alleged Antisemitic Statements.

A coalition of Holocaust survivors has called for that Nigel Farage tell the truth and apologise for reported antisemitic abuse attributed to him toward Jewish pupils during his school days.

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

"Being Shoah survivors, we comprehend the grave risk of words of hatred – because we have seen where such words ultimately lead," stated the survivors in a missive.

"We must be unambiguous: lauding Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not teasing. Not on a schoolyard. Not ever."

A Direct Question

The document puts forth straightforward questions to the party leader: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your fellow pupils to anti-Jewish taunts?"

The Survivors

The group of 11 survivors contains individuals with deeply traumatic personal histories from the Nazi genocide.

• Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her family.
• Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and spending the rest of the war as a fugitive.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved 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.

Increasing Allegations

This public letter follows the characterisation of corroborating allegations by more than two dozen or more former pupils and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a high-ranking official.

After the story broke, more contemporaries have come forward. Twenty-eight former pupils and teachers now assert they observed bigoted conduct by him.

One well-known account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who said that a young Farage would come near him and utter the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "send them to the gas chambers", at times making a prolonged hissing sound to simulate the sound of gas chambers.

Additional Claims

Additional alumni from ethnic minorities have likewise shared experiences with accounts of direct abuse.

• Cyrus Oshidar said he was called a "racial slur" and has rejected the idea that such actions were not meant to hurt.
• Another individual with Asian roots described him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "racial bullying".

A Concluding Demand

The final appeal asks a concluding dilemma to Farage: "By denying saying those words, is your position that scores of witnesses are lying? If you did say them, now is the time to acknowledge you were wrong and apologise."

"People who hope to lead our country should not ever create division by ethnicity or faith. Antisemitic hatred must always be confronted. This moment is about personal accountability. The choice is yours, Mr Farage."