Holocaust Survivors Call On Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Alleged Antisemitic Remarks.

A collective of Holocaust survivors has called for that Nigel Farage tell the truth and issue an apology for alleged antisemitic comments attributed to him toward Jewish students during his school days.

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

"As Shoah survivors, we grasp the deadly peril of words of hatred – for we have seen where such words ultimately lead," declared the survivors in a missive.

"We must be unambiguous: lauding Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not teasing. Not on a schoolyard. Not under any circumstances."

A Direct Question

The letter asks straightforward questions to the political figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you target your fellow pupils to anti-Jewish taunts?"

The Survivors

The group of eleven survivors includes individuals with deeply traumatic personal stories from the Holocaust.

• Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her family.
• Simon Winston, who was confined to a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and living through the rest of the war concealed.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at 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 intervention comes after the characterisation of corroborating accounts by more than two dozen or more alumni and teachers as "complete fiction" by a deputy leader.

After the story broke, further individuals from that era have spoken out. Nearly thirty people connected to the school now assert they witnessed bigoted conduct by him.

One well-known allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who has stated that a teenage Farage would come near him and say the phrases "Hitler was right" and "gas them", at times making a long hiss to mimic the sound of gas chambers.

Further Allegations

Other former pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds have also shared experiences with allegations of personal harassment.

• Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was called a "racial slur" and has rejected the idea that such actions were without intent.
• Another student of Asian heritage portrayed him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "ethnic harassment".

A Concluding Demand

The final appeal asks a concluding challenge to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, is your position that 20 former classmates and teachers are lying? If you did say them, now is the time to acknowledge you were wrong and say sorry."

"People who aspire to lead our country should not ever divide people by race or religion. Hatred of Jews must never become acceptable. This moment is about moral responsibility. The choice is yours, Mr Farage."