Holocaust Survivors Demand Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Reported Antisemitic Statements.

A coalition of Holocaust survivors has called for that Nigel Farage admit the facts and issue an apology for reported anti-Jewish taunts attributed to him toward Jewish schoolmates during his youth.

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

"As Shoah survivors, we grasp the deadly peril of hateful words – because we have seen where such words ultimately lead," wrote the survivors in a missive.

"It is crucial to understand: expressing admiration for Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not banter. Not on a schoolyard. Not anywhere."

A Direct Question

The letter asks straightforward questions to the public figure: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you target your peers to anti-Jewish taunts?"

The Survivors

The collective of eleven survivors features individuals with deeply traumatic personal experiences from the Holocaust.

• Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
• Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and living through the rest of the war concealed.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved to 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.

Mounting Testimony

This intervention follows the characterisation of related accounts by more than two dozen alumni and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a deputy leader.

Since the initial report, further individuals from that era have shared their stories. Nearly thirty people connected to the school now state they saw racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.

One prominent testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who said that a young Farage would approach him and say the phrases "Hitler was right" and "send them to the gas chambers", on occasion including a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas chambers.

Additional Claims

Other former pupils from diverse backgrounds have additionally come forward with accounts of direct abuse.

• Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was branded a "Paki" and has labelled as rubbish the notion that such actions were without intent.
• Another pupil of Asian descent portrayed him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "ethnic harassment".

A Concluding Demand

The missive from survivors puts forth an ultimate challenge to Farage: "By denying saying those words, is your position that scores of witnesses are not telling the truth? If you did say them, now is the opportunity to admit your error and apologise."

"Those who seek to govern our country should not ever divide people by background or belief. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never become acceptable. This moment is about ethical duty. The choice is your own, Mr Farage."