Holocaust Survivors Urge Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Alleged Antisemitic Comments.

A group of Shoah survivors has called for that Nigel Farage be honest and express remorse for reported anti-Jewish abuse attributed to him toward Jewish pupils during his youth.

The political party leader has claimed he never targeted anyone with deliberate cruelty, proposing it may have been mere "playground banter".

"As Shoah survivors, we understand the deadly peril of words of hatred – because we have seen where such words inevitably end," wrote the survivors in a missive.

"Let us be clear: expressing admiration for Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not simple joking. Not in a playground. Not under any circumstances."

A Pointed Inquiry

The letter puts forth blunt questions to the political figure: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you target your peers to bigoted harassment?"

The Survivors

The collective of 11 survivors contains individuals with deeply traumatic personal experiences from the Nazi genocide.

• Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
• Simon Winston, who was confined to a ghetto before breaking out 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.

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 testimony by more than two dozen or more alumni and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a senior party figure.

After the story broke, additional former pupils have spoken out. Twenty-eight former pupils and teachers now claim they witnessed racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.

One notable allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who recalls that a young Farage would sidle up to him and utter the phrases "Hitler was right" and "gas them", at times including a long hiss to imitate the sound of gas chambers.

Additional Claims

More individuals from ethnic minorities have likewise spoken publicly with accounts of targeted insults.

• Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was referred to as a "Paki" and has dismissed the claim that such actions were not meant to hurt.
• Another pupil of Asian descent described him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial bullying".

A Concluding Demand

The survivors' letter asks a concluding challenge to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, are you claiming that dozens of individuals are lying? Should the allegations be true, now is the moment to acknowledge you were wrong and make amends."

"People who hope to lead our country should under no circumstances divide people by race or religion. Antisemitic hatred must never become acceptable. This moment is about moral responsibility. The decision is your own, Mr Farage."