Shoah Victims Urge Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Reported Antisemitic Comments.

A group of Holocaust survivors has called for that Nigel Farage admit the facts and issue an apology for alleged anti-Jewish comments he reportedly directed toward Jewish schoolmates during his school days.

The Reform UK leader has said he never racially abused anyone with deliberate cruelty, suggesting it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".

"Being Shoah survivors, we understand the grave risk of words of hatred – because we have experienced firsthand where such words ultimately lead," stated the survivors in a open letter.

"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."

An Unequivocal Demand

The letter poses straightforward questions to the political figure: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your fellow pupils to anti-Jewish taunts?"

Those Who Signed

The collective of 11 survivors features individuals with harrowing personal histories from the Nazi genocide.

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

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

Growing Accounts

This intervention comes after the rejection of similar allegations by more than two dozen former pupils and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a high-ranking official.

Following the publication, more contemporaries have shared their stories. Twenty-eight people connected to the school now assert they saw racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.

One well-known testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who recalls that a teenage Farage would come near him and utter the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "gas them", sometimes adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of gas chambers.

Additional Claims

Additional alumni from ethnic minorities have likewise come forward with allegations of targeted insults.

• Cyrus Oshidar said he was branded a "Paki" and has rejected the notion that such actions were not meant to hurt.
• Another individual with Asian roots described him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "racial intimidation".

A Concluding Demand

The missive from survivors poses a final dilemma to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, do you mean that scores of witnesses are fabricating their stories? Should the allegations be true, now is the time to acknowledge you were wrong and make amends."

"People who aspire to lead our country should under no circumstances create division by ethnicity or faith. Hatred of Jews must always be confronted. This moment is about ethical duty. The decision is your own, Mr Farage."