Holocaust Survivors Urge Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Reported Antisemitic Statements.

A coalition of Shoah survivors has called for that Nigel Farage tell the truth and apologise for reported antisemitic taunts he reportedly directed toward Jewish pupils during his youth.

The Reform UK leader has previously stated he never targeted anyone with the aim to hurt, proposing it may have been mere "childish teasing".

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

"We must be unambiguous: praising Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not teasing. Not on a schoolyard. Not under any circumstances."

A Direct Question

The letter poses straightforward questions to the party leader: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your peers to antisemitic abuse?"

The Signatories

The group of 11 survivors includes individuals with devastating personal stories from the Holocaust.

• Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
• Simon Winston, who was held in a ghetto before breaking out in 1942 and living through the rest of the war in hiding.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at Bergen-Belsen, where she was rescued.

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 rejection of related accounts by more than two dozen ex-schoolmates and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a high-ranking official.

Since the initial report, more contemporaries have come forward. Twenty-eight people connected to the school now claim they saw prejudiced actions by him.

One notable testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who recalls that a teenage Farage would approach him and utter the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "send them to the gas chambers", at times making a long hiss to imitate the sound of gas chambers.

Further Allegations

Other former pupils from ethnic minorities have additionally come forward with allegations of personal harassment.

• Cyrus Oshidar stated he was branded a "Paki" and has rejected the idea that such actions were devoid of malice.
• Another individual with Asian roots portrayed him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "racial bullying".

The Ultimate Question

The survivors' letter asks a concluding challenge to Farage: "By denying saying those words, do you mean that 20 former classmates and teachers are not telling the truth? If you did say them, now is the opportunity to take responsibility and apologise."

"People who seek to govern our country should never divide people by race or religion. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never become acceptable. This moment is about moral responsibility. The path forward is yours, Mr Farage."