Holocaust Survivors Call On Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Claimed Antisemitic Comments.

A coalition of Holocaust survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage admit the facts and issue an apology for alleged antisemitic comments attributed to him toward Jewish schoolmates during his school days.

The Reform UK leader has said he never insulted anyone with malicious intent, suggesting it may have been mere "childish teasing".

"As Shoah survivors, we grasp the deadly peril of bigoted language – because we have seen where such words inevitably end," declared the survivors in a open letter.

"Let us be clear: lauding Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not simple joking. Not in a playground. Not ever."

A Direct Question

The document poses blunt questions to the public figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you expose your classmates to bigoted harassment?"

Those Who Signed

The collective of 11 survivors includes individuals with devastating personal experiences from the Nazi genocide.

• Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 27 members of her family.
• Simon Winston, who was held in a ghetto before breaking out in 1942 and living through the rest of the war as a fugitive.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to 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 action follows the dismissal of corroborating testimony by more than two dozen alumni and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a senior party figure.

Since the initial report, further individuals from that era have spoken out. Nearly thirty ex-students and educators now claim they witnessed bigoted conduct by him.

One well-known account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who recalls 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 including a hiss to simulate the sound of the gas chambers.

A Broader Pattern

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

• Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was branded a "racial slur" and has rejected the idea that such actions were devoid of malice.
• Another pupil of Asian descent portrayed him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "racial bullying".

A Concluding Demand

The survivors' letter asks a concluding dilemma to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, are you claiming that dozens of individuals are lying? If you did say them, now is the time to take responsibility and say sorry."

"Individuals who seek to govern our country should under no circumstances create division by ethnicity or faith. Antisemitic hatred must always be confronted. This moment is about ethical duty. The choice is yours, Mr Farage."