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

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

The political party leader has claimed he never insulted anyone with malicious intent, framing it may have been mere "playground banter".

"As Shoah survivors, we comprehend the profound danger of bigoted language – for we have witnessed where such words inevitably end," stated the survivors in a letter.

"We must be unambiguous: praising Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not teasing. Not on a schoolyard. Not ever."

A Direct Question

The letter asks direct questions to the political figure: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your classmates to antisemitic abuse?"

The Signatories

The group of 11 survivors features individuals with deeply traumatic personal experiences from the Holocaust.

• Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her family.
• Simon Winston, who was confined to 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 incarcerated at 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.

Mounting Testimony

This intervention comes after the dismissal of corroborating accounts by more than several dozen former pupils and teachers as "complete fiction" by a deputy leader.

Since the initial report, more contemporaries have spoken out. 28 former pupils and teachers now assert they witnessed racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.

One prominent allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who has stated that a teenage Farage would approach him and say the phrases "Hitler was right" and "send them to the gas chambers", sometimes making a prolonged hissing sound to mimic the sound of poison gas.

Further Allegations

Other former pupils from diverse backgrounds have likewise spoken publicly with accounts of direct abuse.

• Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was called a "Paki" and has labelled as rubbish the idea that such actions were devoid of malice.
• Another pupil of Asian descent characterised him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "racial intimidation".

The Ultimate Question

The final appeal asks a concluding challenge to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, do you mean that 20 former classmates and teachers are not telling the truth? If the words were spoken, now is the time to admit your error and make amends."

"People who aspire to lead our country should under no circumstances divide people by background or belief. Antisemitic hatred must never be normalised. This moment is about ethical duty. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."