Shoah Survivors Urge Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Alleged Anti-Jewish Remarks.

A group of Shoah survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage tell the truth and express remorse for reported anti-Jewish taunts he reportedly directed toward Jewish schoolmates during his youth.

The Reform UK leader has claimed he never insulted anyone with malicious intent, suggesting it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".

"As Shoah survivors, we comprehend the grave risk of words of hatred – because we have witnessed where such words can lead," stated the survivors in a open letter.

"It is crucial to understand: praising Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not banter. Not among children. Not under any circumstances."

A Direct Question

The document poses blunt questions to the party leader: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you subject your peers to anti-Jewish taunts?"

The Survivors

The group of 11 survivors includes individuals with devastating personal experiences from the Holocaust.

• Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 27 members of her family.
• Simon Winston, who was confined to a ghetto before escaping in 1942 and living through the rest of the war in hiding.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved 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.

Increasing Allegations

This public letter comes after the characterisation of related accounts by more than two dozen ex-schoolmates and teachers as "complete fiction" by a senior party figure.

Since the initial report, more contemporaries have shared their stories. Nearly thirty former pupils and teachers now state they saw bigoted conduct by him.

One notable testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who said that a teenage Farage would come near him and say the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "send them to the gas chambers", at times adding a prolonged hissing sound to mimic the sound of poison gas.

A Broader Pattern

Other former pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds have also shared experiences with stories of targeted insults.

• Cyrus Oshidar said he was branded a "Paki" and has rejected the notion that such actions were not meant to hurt.
• Another student of Asian heritage described him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial bullying".

A Concluding Demand

The final appeal puts forth an ultimate challenge to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, do you mean that 20 former classmates and teachers are not telling the truth? If you did say them, now is the moment to take responsibility and make amends."

"Those who seek to govern our country should not ever divide people by background or belief. Antisemitic hatred must never become acceptable. This moment is about moral responsibility. The path forward is yours, Mr Farage."