Holocaust Survivors Demand Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Alleged Anti-Jewish Statements.

A collective of Holocaust survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage be honest and express remorse for alleged antisemitic comments he is said to have made toward Jewish students during his youth.

The Reform UK leader has said he never racially abused anyone with the aim to hurt, framing it may have been mere "childish teasing".

"Being Shoah survivors, we comprehend the deadly peril of hateful words – for we have witnessed where such words inevitably end," declared the survivors in a letter.

"Let us be clear: praising Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not teasing. Not on a schoolyard. Not anywhere."

A Pointed Inquiry

The document puts forth straightforward questions to the public figure: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your peers to bigoted harassment?"

The Survivors

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

• Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her family.
• Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before escaping in 1942 and living through the rest of the war as a fugitive.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved to Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated.

The remaining survivors include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.

Increasing Allegations

This public letter comes after the rejection of related accounts by more than two dozen alumni and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a high-ranking official.

After the story broke, further individuals from that era have shared their stories. Twenty-eight former pupils and teachers now state they saw prejudiced actions by him.

One prominent account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who has stated that a teenage Farage would sidle up to him and say the phrases "Hitler was right" and "send them to the gas chambers", sometimes including a long hiss to imitate the sound of gas chambers.

A Broader Pattern

Additional alumni from minority ethnic backgrounds have also spoken publicly with allegations of targeted insults.

• Cyrus Oshidar said he was called a "Paki" and has dismissed the claim that such actions were devoid of malice.
• Another individual with Asian roots characterised him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "racial bullying".

The Ultimate Question

The final appeal puts forth an ultimate dilemma to Farage: "By denying saying those words, are you claiming that 20 former classmates and teachers are fabricating their stories? If you did say them, now is the moment to admit your error and make amends."

"Individuals who seek to govern our country should never create division by ethnicity or faith. Antisemitic hatred must always be confronted. This moment is about personal accountability. The path forward is yours, Mr Farage."