Holocaust Survivors Demand Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Claimed Antisemitic Comments.

A group of Shoah survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage tell the truth and issue an apology for reported anti-Jewish abuse attributed to him toward Jewish students during his school days.

The Reform UK leader has previously stated he never insulted anyone with deliberate cruelty, suggesting it may have been mere "childish teasing".

"As Holocaust survivors, we understand the deadly peril of bigoted language – because we have experienced firsthand where such words inevitably end," wrote the survivors in a letter.

"It is crucial to understand: expressing admiration for Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not teasing. Not in a playground. Not ever."

An Unequivocal Demand

The correspondence puts forth blunt questions to the political 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 collective of eleven survivors includes individuals with deeply traumatic personal histories from the Holocaust.

• 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.

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

Increasing Allegations

This intervention follows the characterisation of similar allegations by more than two dozen former pupils and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a senior party figure.

After the story broke, further individuals from that era have come forward. Twenty-eight people connected to the school now state they saw bigoted conduct by him.

One notable account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who recalls that a young Farage would come near him and repeat the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "send them to the gas chambers", at times including a prolonged hissing sound to simulate the sound of the gas chambers.

Additional Claims

Additional alumni from ethnic minorities have additionally come forward with stories of personal harassment.

• Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was called a "racial slur" and has dismissed the claim that such actions were without intent.
• Another student of Asian heritage portrayed him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "ethnic harassment".

A Concluding Demand

The final appeal poses a final question to Farage: "By denying saying those words, are you claiming that 20 former classmates and teachers are lying? Should the allegations be true, now is the time to take responsibility and make amends."

"Individuals who seek to govern our country should under no circumstances divide people by race or religion. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never become acceptable. This moment is about ethical duty. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."