Shoah Survivors Call On Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Reported Antisemitic Comments.

A collective of Holocaust survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage tell the truth and apologise for alleged antisemitic comments he is said to have made toward Jewish students during his school days.

The political party leader has said he never racially abused anyone with malicious intent, proposing it may have been mere "playground banter".

"As Shoah survivors, we comprehend the deadly peril of words of hatred – because we have seen where such words inevitably end," stated the survivors in a open letter.

"It is crucial to understand: praising Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not simple joking. Not on a schoolyard. Not under any circumstances."

An Unequivocal Demand

The letter poses direct questions to the public figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your peers to anti-Jewish taunts?"

Those Who Signed

The collective of 11 survivors contains individuals with devastating personal stories from the Nazi genocide.

• Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her family.
• Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before breaking out in 1942 and living through the rest of the war concealed.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated.

Other signatories include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.

Increasing Allegations

This intervention follows the dismissal of related accounts by more than two dozen or more former pupils and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a high-ranking official.

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

One well-known allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who has stated that a young Farage would sidle up to him and say the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "send them to the gas chambers", on occasion including a prolonged hissing sound to imitate the sound of gas chambers.

Further Allegations

Additional alumni from ethnic minorities have likewise spoken publicly with allegations of personal harassment.

• Cyrus Oshidar said he was branded a "Paki" and has dismissed the claim that such actions were without intent.
• Another student of Asian heritage characterised him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "ethnic harassment".

A Concluding Demand

The final appeal puts forth an ultimate question to Farage: "By denying saying those words, is your position that 20 former classmates and teachers are fabricating their stories? If the words were spoken, now is the opportunity to acknowledge you were wrong and make amends."

"Those who seek to govern our country should under no circumstances divide people by background or belief. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never become acceptable. This moment is about ethical duty. The decision is your own, Mr Farage."