Shoah Survivors Urge Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Reported Anti-Jewish Statements.

A group of Holocaust survivors has called for that Nigel Farage admit the facts and express remorse for alleged antisemitic abuse attributed to him toward Jewish schoolmates during his time at school.

The Reform UK leader has previously stated he never racially abused anyone with deliberate cruelty, proposing it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".

"As Shoah survivors, we understand the profound danger of bigoted language – because we have experienced firsthand where such words ultimately lead," stated the survivors in a letter.

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

An Unequivocal Demand

The document asks blunt 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?"

The Signatories

The group of eleven survivors includes individuals with deeply traumatic personal stories from the Holocaust.

• Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her family.
• Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before breaking out in 1942 and spending the rest of the war in hiding.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved to Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated.

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

Growing Accounts

This public letter follows the characterisation of corroborating allegations by more than two dozen or more alumni and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a high-ranking official.

Since the initial report, further individuals from that era have shared their stories. 28 former pupils and teachers now assert they observed racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.

One notable account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish 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", sometimes including a prolonged hissing sound to imitate the sound of the gas chambers.

A Broader Pattern

More individuals from ethnic minorities have additionally come forward with allegations of direct abuse.

• Cyrus Oshidar stated he was called a "racial slur" and has rejected the notion that such actions were devoid of malice.
• Another individual with Asian roots characterised him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "ethnic harassment".

The Survivors' Final Appeal

The missive from survivors asks a concluding question to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, do you mean that scores of witnesses are not telling the truth? If you did say them, now is the moment to take responsibility and apologise."

"Individuals who hope to lead our country should under no circumstances divide people by ethnicity or faith. Anti-Jewish bigotry must always be confronted. This moment is about moral responsibility. The choice is your own, Mr Farage."