Holocaust Victims Urge Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Claimed Antisemitic Comments.

A collective of Holocaust survivors has called for that Nigel Farage be honest and issue an apology for reported anti-Jewish abuse he is said to have made toward Jewish students during his time at school.

The Reform UK leader has said he never targeted anyone with the aim to hurt, suggesting it may have been mere "playground banter".

"As Holocaust survivors, we comprehend the grave risk of bigoted language – for we have witnessed where such words ultimately lead," wrote the survivors in a letter.

"It is crucial to understand: lauding Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not teasing. Not in a playground. Not under any circumstances."

A Pointed Inquiry

The correspondence puts forth straightforward questions to the political figure: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you target your classmates to bigoted harassment?"

The Survivors

The group of eleven survivors includes individuals with devastating personal histories from the Holocaust.

• Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
• Simon Winston, who was held in a ghetto before breaking out in 1942 and spending the rest of the war in hiding.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at 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 public letter comes after the characterisation of similar testimony by more than two dozen or more alumni and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a senior party figure.

Following the publication, additional former pupils have shared their stories. Twenty-eight people connected to the school now state they saw racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.

One notable allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who said that a teenage Farage would come near him and repeat the phrases "Hitler was right" and "send them to the gas chambers", sometimes adding a prolonged hissing sound to mimic the sound of gas chambers.

Further Allegations

More individuals from ethnic minorities have likewise shared experiences with allegations of targeted insults.

• Cyrus Oshidar stated he was branded a "racial slur" and has rejected the notion that such actions were devoid of malice.
• Another pupil of Asian descent portrayed him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "racial bullying".

The Ultimate Question

The missive from survivors poses a final challenge to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, is your position that dozens of individuals are not telling the truth? If you did say them, now is the time to acknowledge you were wrong and make amends."

"People who hope to lead our country should not ever divide people by background or belief. Hatred of Jews must never be normalised. This moment is about ethical duty. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."