Holocaust Victims Urge Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Alleged Antisemitic Remarks.

A collective of Shoah survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage tell the truth and issue an apology for reported antisemitic comments he is said to have made toward Jewish schoolmates during his time at school.

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

"As Shoah survivors, we understand the deadly peril of words of hatred – for we have experienced firsthand where such words inevitably end," declared the survivors in a letter.

"Let us be clear: praising Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not banter. Not on a schoolyard. Not anywhere."

A Direct Question

The correspondence asks straightforward questions to the party leader: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you target your classmates to anti-Jewish taunts?"

The Signatories

The group of 11 survivors contains individuals with devastating personal histories from the Nazi genocide.

• Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 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 concealed.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent 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.

Mounting Testimony

This intervention comes after the dismissal of corroborating allegations by more than two dozen former pupils and teachers as "complete fiction" by a high-ranking official.

After the story broke, more contemporaries have spoken out. Twenty-eight people connected to the school now claim they witnessed prejudiced actions by him.

One notable allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who said that a young Farage would come near him and say the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "gas them", on occasion including a hiss to mimic the sound of poison gas.

A Broader Pattern

Other former pupils from diverse backgrounds have likewise spoken publicly with accounts of targeted insults.

• Cyrus Oshidar said he was called a "racial slur" and has rejected the idea that such actions were without intent.
• Another individual with Asian roots portrayed him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial bullying".

The Ultimate Question

The final appeal asks a concluding challenge to Farage: "By denying saying those words, are you claiming that scores of witnesses are not telling the truth? If you did say them, now is the moment to acknowledge you were wrong and apologise."

"People who aspire to lead our country should under no circumstances sow discord by background or belief. Antisemitic hatred must always be confronted. This moment is about personal accountability. The choice is yours, Mr Farage."