Shoah Survivors Call On Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Claimed Anti-Jewish Comments.

A group of Shoah survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage tell the truth and issue an apology for alleged antisemitic taunts attributed to him toward Jewish pupils 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".

"Being Shoah survivors, we comprehend the grave risk of bigoted language – for we have experienced firsthand where such words can lead," stated the survivors in a missive.

"Let us be clear: praising Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not teasing. Not in a playground. Not under any circumstances."

An Unequivocal Demand

The correspondence puts forth direct questions to the public figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you target your peers to antisemitic abuse?"

Those Who Signed

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

• Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her family.
• Simon Winston, who was held in a ghetto before breaking out in 1942 and living through the rest of the war in hiding.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later transferred to Bergen-Belsen, where she was freed.

Additional names on the letter 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 related testimony by more than two dozen alumni and teachers as "complete fiction" by a deputy leader.

Since the initial report, more contemporaries have spoken out. Twenty-eight people connected to the school now claim they observed bigoted conduct by him.

One notable allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who recalls that a young Farage would sidle up to him and repeat the phrases "Hitler was right" and "gas them", at times adding a hiss to simulate the sound of poison gas.

Additional Claims

Additional alumni from ethnic minorities have additionally shared experiences with stories of personal harassment.

• Cyrus Oshidar stated he was called a "racial slur" and has rejected the idea that such actions were devoid of malice.
• Another student of Asian heritage portrayed him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "racial intimidation".

A Concluding Demand

The survivors' letter asks a concluding question to Farage: "By denying saying those words, is your position that scores of witnesses are fabricating their stories? If the words were spoken, now is the moment to take responsibility and make amends."

"Those who aspire to lead our country should under no circumstances create division by ethnicity or faith. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never become acceptable. This moment is about moral responsibility. The choice is yours, Mr Farage."