Holocaust Victims Call On Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Alleged Antisemitic Remarks.

A group of Shoah survivors has called for that Nigel Farage be honest and issue an apology for reported antisemitic comments attributed to him toward Jewish students during his youth.

The political party leader has claimed he never racially abused anyone with malicious intent, suggesting it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".

"As Holocaust survivors, we comprehend the deadly peril of bigoted language – for we have witnessed where such words inevitably end," wrote the survivors in a missive.

"It is crucial to understand: praising Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not banter. Not in a playground. Not under any circumstances."

An Unequivocal Demand

The document asks straightforward questions to the public figure: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your classmates to bigoted harassment?"

Those Who Signed

The group of 11 survivors features individuals with deeply traumatic personal histories from the Nazi genocide.

• Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her family.
• Simon Winston, who was confined to a ghetto before breaking out in 1942 and living through the rest of the war as a fugitive.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later transferred to 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 is a response to the dismissal of corroborating accounts by more than several dozen former pupils and teachers as "complete fiction" by a high-ranking official.

Since the initial report, further individuals from that era have spoken out. Twenty-eight ex-students and educators now assert they observed racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.

One well-known account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who has stated that a young Farage would sidle up to him and utter the phrases "Hitler was right" and "send them to the gas chambers", sometimes adding a long hiss to imitate the sound of poison gas.

A Broader Pattern

Other former pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds have also shared experiences with allegations of personal harassment.

• Cyrus Oshidar stated he was referred to as a "Paki" and has rejected the notion that such actions were devoid of malice.
• Another student of Asian heritage characterised him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial bullying".

The Survivors' Final Appeal

The survivors' letter asks a concluding question to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, are you claiming that scores of witnesses are fabricating their stories? If the words were spoken, now is the time to take responsibility and say sorry."

"People who hope to lead our country should not ever create division by ethnicity or faith. Anti-Jewish bigotry must always be confronted. This moment is about ethical duty. The decision is yours, Mr Farage."