Holocaust Survivors Call On Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Reported Antisemitic Remarks.

A coalition of Shoah survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage tell the truth and apologise for reported anti-Jewish abuse attributed to him toward Jewish students during his youth.

The political party leader has claimed he never targeted anyone with the aim to hurt, proposing it may have been mere "childish teasing".

"Being Shoah survivors, we grasp the grave risk of words of hatred – for we have witnessed where such words ultimately lead," stated the survivors in a missive.

"Let us be clear: expressing admiration for Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not teasing. Not in a playground. Not anywhere."

An Unequivocal Demand

The document asks direct questions to the public figure: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you target your peers to anti-Jewish taunts?"

The Signatories

The group of eleven survivors contains individuals with deeply traumatic personal experiences from the Holocaust.

• Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
• Simon Winston, who was confined to a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and spending the rest of the war as a fugitive.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later transferred 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.

Increasing Allegations

This public letter is a response to the dismissal of corroborating allegations by more than several dozen ex-schoolmates and teachers as "complete fiction" by a deputy leader.

After the story broke, more contemporaries have shared their stories. 28 former pupils and teachers now claim they witnessed racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.

One well-known account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who said that a young Farage would sidle up to him and repeat the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "gas them", sometimes including a hiss to simulate the sound of poison gas.

Further Allegations

Other former pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds have additionally come forward with accounts of personal harassment.

• Cyrus Oshidar said he was called a "racial slur" and has labelled as rubbish the notion that such actions were without intent.
• Another student of Asian heritage portrayed him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "ethnic harassment".

The Survivors' Final Appeal

The final appeal poses a final dilemma to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, is your position that 20 former classmates and teachers are fabricating their stories? Should the allegations be true, now is the opportunity to admit your error and make amends."

"People who seek to govern our country should never create division by background or belief. Hatred of Jews must never be normalised. This moment is about personal accountability. The decision is your own, Mr Farage."