Shoah Survivors Demand Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Claimed Antisemitic Comments.

A coalition of Holocaust survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage be honest and issue an apology for alleged antisemitic comments attributed to him toward Jewish students during his time at school.

The Reform UK leader has claimed he never racially abused anyone with malicious intent, suggesting it may have been mere "playground banter".

"Being Holocaust survivors, we understand the grave risk of words of hatred – because we have witnessed where such words ultimately lead," stated the survivors in a missive.

"Let us be clear: lauding Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not banter. Not among children. Not anywhere."

A Direct Question

The correspondence puts forth direct questions to the party leader: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you target your fellow pupils to antisemitic abuse?"

The Signatories

The group of eleven survivors contains individuals with harrowing personal stories from the Nazi genocide.

• 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 as a fugitive.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated.

Additional names on the letter 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 characterisation of corroborating testimony by more than several dozen alumni and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a deputy leader.

Following the publication, additional former pupils have spoken out. Twenty-eight former pupils and teachers now state they witnessed racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.

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

Further Allegations

More individuals from minority ethnic backgrounds have additionally come forward with allegations of direct abuse.

• Cyrus Oshidar said he was referred to as a "Paki" and has labelled as rubbish the idea that such actions were without intent.
• Another individual with Asian roots described him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial bullying".

The Survivors' Final Appeal

The final appeal asks a concluding question to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, are you claiming that 20 former classmates and teachers are lying? If the words were spoken, now is the opportunity to take responsibility and say sorry."

"Individuals who aspire to lead our country should not ever sow discord by ethnicity or faith. Anti-Jewish bigotry must always be confronted. This moment is about personal accountability. The choice is yours, Mr Farage."