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

A coalition of Shoah survivors has called for that Nigel Farage tell the truth and express remorse for alleged anti-Jewish abuse he is said to have made toward Jewish pupils during his school days.

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

"Being Holocaust survivors, we understand the grave risk of words of hatred – because we have experienced firsthand where such words can lead," stated the survivors in a missive.

"It is crucial to understand: expressing admiration for Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not banter. Not on a schoolyard. Not ever."

An Unequivocal Demand

The correspondence asks blunt questions to the party leader: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you target your fellow pupils to bigoted harassment?"

Those Who Signed

The group of eleven survivors features individuals with deeply traumatic personal histories from the Nazi genocide.

• 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 as a fugitive.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved to Bergen-Belsen, where she was rescued.

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 is a response to the dismissal of corroborating testimony by more than two dozen alumni and teachers as "complete fiction" by a senior party figure.

Since the initial report, more contemporaries have spoken out. Nearly thirty ex-students and educators now state they saw bigoted conduct by him.

One notable allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who recalls that a teenage Farage would sidle up to him and utter the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "gas them", on occasion adding a hiss to mimic the sound of poison gas.

A Broader Pattern

More individuals from ethnic minorities have likewise shared experiences with accounts of direct abuse.

• Cyrus Oshidar stated he was branded a "racial slur" and has labelled as rubbish the notion that such actions were not meant to hurt.
• Another student of Asian heritage portrayed him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "ethnic harassment".

A Concluding Demand

The final appeal puts forth an ultimate challenge to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, is your position that 20 former classmates and teachers are fabricating their stories? If the words were spoken, now is the moment to take responsibility and say sorry."

"Individuals who aspire to lead our country should not ever sow discord by background or belief. Hatred of Jews must never be normalised. This moment is about moral responsibility. The path forward is yours, Mr Farage."