Shoah Survivors Call On Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Reported Antisemitic Comments.

A group of Holocaust survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage admit the facts and apologise for alleged anti-Jewish abuse he is said to have made toward Jewish pupils during his time at school.

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

"Being Shoah survivors, we comprehend the deadly peril of words of hatred – because we have witnessed where such words can lead," declared the survivors in a open letter.

"Let us be clear: lauding Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not banter. Not in a playground. Not anywhere."

An Unequivocal Demand

The correspondence puts forth straightforward questions to the party leader: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you subject your fellow pupils to anti-Jewish taunts?"

The Signatories

The group of 11 survivors features individuals with devastating personal experiences from the Holocaust.

• Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
• Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and spending the rest of the war concealed.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved to Bergen-Belsen, where she was rescued.

Additional names on the letter 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 similar accounts by more than two dozen ex-schoolmates and teachers as "complete fiction" by a high-ranking official.

After the story broke, more contemporaries have come forward. Twenty-eight former pupils and teachers now claim they witnessed racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.

One prominent testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who recalls that a young Farage would sidle up to him and repeat the phrases "Hitler was right" and "send them to the gas chambers", sometimes making a hiss to mimic the sound of the gas chambers.

Further Allegations

Other former pupils from ethnic minorities have additionally shared experiences with allegations of direct abuse.

• Cyrus Oshidar stated he was called a "racial slur" and has dismissed the notion that such actions were not meant to hurt.
• Another student of Asian heritage characterised him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" 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 scores of witnesses are not telling the truth? If you did say them, now is the opportunity to acknowledge you were wrong and make amends."

"Individuals who seek to govern our country should under no circumstances sow discord by background or belief. Hatred of Jews must never become acceptable. This moment is about ethical duty. The choice is yours, Mr Farage."