Holocaust Survivors Call On Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Reported Anti-Jewish Comments.

A coalition of Holocaust survivors has called for that Nigel Farage be honest and express remorse for alleged anti-Jewish abuse attributed to him toward Jewish pupils during his time at school.

The Reform UK leader has claimed he never racially abused anyone with malicious intent, framing it may have been mere "playground banter".

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

"It is crucial to understand: lauding Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not simple joking. Not among children. Not ever."

An Unequivocal Demand

The correspondence asks blunt questions to the public figure: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your fellow pupils to bigoted harassment?"

Those Who Signed

The collective of eleven survivors features individuals with devastating 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 fleeing in 1942 and spending 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.

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

Growing Accounts

This intervention follows the dismissal of related testimony by more than two dozen ex-schoolmates and teachers as "complete fiction" by a high-ranking official.

Following the publication, additional former pupils have come forward. Nearly thirty ex-students and educators now claim they observed racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.

One well-known allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who recalls that a young Farage would sidle up to him and say the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "send them to the gas chambers", on occasion making a hiss to mimic the sound of gas chambers.

Additional Claims

Other former pupils from ethnic minorities have also spoken publicly with stories of targeted insults.

• Cyrus Oshidar said he was called a "racial slur" and has dismissed the notion that such actions were devoid of malice.
• Another student of Asian heritage characterised him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "ethnic harassment".

The Ultimate Question

The survivors' letter asks a concluding dilemma to Farage: "By denying saying those words, are you claiming that 20 former classmates and teachers are fabricating their stories? If you did say them, now is the time to take responsibility and apologise."

"People who seek to govern our country should under no circumstances create division by ethnicity or faith. Hatred of Jews must never be normalised. This moment is about moral responsibility. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."