Holocaust Survivors Urge Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Alleged Anti-Jewish Statements.

A collective of Holocaust survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage admit the facts and apologise for alleged antisemitic abuse he reportedly directed toward Jewish schoolmates during his school days.

The Reform UK leader has claimed he never targeted anyone with deliberate cruelty, suggesting it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".

"Being Shoah survivors, we comprehend the deadly peril of words of hatred – for we have seen where such words can lead," stated the survivors in a letter.

"It is crucial to understand: praising Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not teasing. Not in a playground. Not under any circumstances."

A Direct Question

The correspondence puts forth direct questions to the political figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you expose your fellow pupils to antisemitic abuse?"

Those Who Signed

The collective of eleven survivors includes individuals with devastating personal stories from the Nazi genocide.

• Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
• Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and living through the rest of the war as a fugitive.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved to Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated.

Additional names on the letter include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.

Increasing Allegations

This intervention comes after the rejection of similar testimony by more than several dozen alumni and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a deputy leader.

Since the initial report, additional former pupils have spoken out. Twenty-eight people connected to the school now claim they saw prejudiced actions by him.

One prominent testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who recalls that a young Farage would come near him and utter the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "gas them", on occasion making a long hiss to imitate the sound of the gas chambers.

Additional Claims

Additional alumni from ethnic minorities have additionally spoken publicly with accounts of targeted insults.

• Cyrus Oshidar said he was referred to as a "racial slur" and has rejected the claim that such actions were without intent.
• Another pupil of Asian descent described 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 puts forth an ultimate challenge to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, is your position that scores of witnesses are fabricating their stories? Should the allegations be true, now is the time to acknowledge you were wrong and say sorry."

"People who hope to lead our country should not ever sow discord by ethnicity or faith. Anti-Jewish bigotry must always be confronted. This moment is about personal accountability. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."