Holocaust Victims Urge Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Alleged Anti-Jewish Remarks.

A coalition of Holocaust survivors has called for that Nigel Farage be honest and apologise for reported antisemitic taunts attributed to him toward Jewish pupils during his school days.

The Reform UK leader has said he never racially abused anyone with deliberate cruelty, suggesting it may have been mere "playground banter".

"Being Shoah survivors, we comprehend the deadly peril of bigoted language – for we have witnessed where such words ultimately lead," wrote the survivors in a missive.

"We must be unambiguous: lauding Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not simple joking. Not among children. Not under any circumstances."

An Unequivocal Demand

The document puts forth blunt questions to the political figure: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your fellow pupils to antisemitic abuse?"

The Survivors

The group of 11 survivors contains individuals with devastating personal experiences from the Holocaust.

• Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her family.
• Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before escaping 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.

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

Mounting Testimony

This intervention comes after the rejection of similar testimony by more than several dozen alumni and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a senior party figure.

After the story broke, more contemporaries have come forward. 28 people connected to the school now assert they saw bigoted conduct by him.

One notable allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who said that a teenage Farage would sidle up to him and utter the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "gas them", at times including a prolonged hissing sound to mimic the sound of gas chambers.

Additional Claims

Other former pupils from diverse backgrounds have also shared experiences with allegations of direct abuse.

• Cyrus Oshidar said he was branded a "racial slur" and has rejected the claim that such actions were not meant to hurt.
• Another individual with Asian roots described him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "racial intimidation".

A Concluding Demand

The survivors' letter puts forth an ultimate question to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, do you mean that dozens of individuals are lying? If the words were spoken, now is the opportunity to take responsibility and apologise."

"Individuals who hope to lead our country should never divide people by ethnicity or faith. Antisemitic hatred must never be normalised. This moment is about moral responsibility. The decision is your own, Mr Farage."