Shoah Victims Urge Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Claimed Antisemitic Remarks.

A collective of Holocaust survivors has called for that Nigel Farage be honest and apologise for reported anti-Jewish taunts he is said to have made toward Jewish schoolmates during his school days.

The Reform UK leader has claimed he never targeted anyone with deliberate cruelty, framing it may have been mere "childish teasing".

"Being Holocaust survivors, we grasp the grave risk of hateful words – for we have witnessed where such words can lead," stated the survivors in a letter.

"It is crucial to understand: expressing admiration for Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not teasing. Not among children. Not under any circumstances."

A Pointed Inquiry

The correspondence asks straightforward questions to the party leader: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your classmates to bigoted harassment?"

The Signatories

The collective of eleven survivors contains individuals with harrowing personal experiences from the Nazi genocide.

• Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
• Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and spending the rest of the war concealed.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved 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 is a response to the characterisation of related testimony by more than several dozen former pupils and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a high-ranking official.

Following the publication, further individuals from that era have come forward. 28 ex-students and educators now state they saw prejudiced actions by him.

One prominent account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who has stated that a young Farage would approach him and repeat the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "send them to the gas chambers", on occasion adding a hiss to simulate the sound of poison gas.

Additional Claims

More individuals from diverse backgrounds have additionally come forward with allegations of targeted insults.

• Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was referred to as a "Paki" and has labelled as rubbish the claim that such actions were without intent.
• Another pupil of Asian descent portrayed him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "racial intimidation".

The Ultimate Question

The survivors' letter 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 opportunity to admit your error and say sorry."

"People who aspire to lead our country should not ever create division by race or religion. Anti-Jewish bigotry must always be confronted. This moment is about ethical duty. The decision is your own, Mr Farage."