Shoah Victims Demand Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Claimed Antisemitic Statements.

A collective of Shoah survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage tell the truth and express remorse for reported anti-Jewish taunts attributed to him toward Jewish schoolmates during his youth.

The Reform UK leader has said he never targeted anyone with the aim to hurt, suggesting it may have been mere "childish teasing".

"As Shoah survivors, we grasp the profound danger of words of hatred – because we have experienced firsthand where such words ultimately lead," wrote the survivors in a letter.

"We must be unambiguous: lauding Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not simple joking. Not among children. Not ever."

A Pointed Inquiry

The letter asks direct questions to the public figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your peers to antisemitic abuse?"

Those Who Signed

The collective of eleven survivors includes individuals with harrowing personal experiences from the Nazi genocide.

• Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 27 members of her 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 sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved to Bergen-Belsen, where she was rescued.

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

Growing Accounts

This public letter comes after the rejection of corroborating testimony by more than two dozen alumni and teachers as "complete fiction" by a senior party figure.

Since the initial report, further individuals from that era have come forward. Twenty-eight former pupils and teachers now state they witnessed bigoted conduct by him.

One notable testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who has stated that a teenage Farage would approach him and say the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "gas them", at times including a prolonged hissing sound to imitate the sound of the gas chambers.

Further Allegations

Additional alumni from diverse backgrounds have likewise spoken publicly with accounts of targeted insults.

• Cyrus Oshidar said he was referred to as a "Paki" and has rejected the idea that such actions were not meant to hurt.
• Another pupil of Asian descent characterised him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "racial bullying".

The Survivors' Final Appeal

The survivors' letter asks a concluding question to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, do you mean that 20 former classmates and teachers are lying? If you did say them, now is the time to admit your error and make amends."

"People who seek to govern our country should not ever create division by ethnicity or faith. Hatred of Jews must never become acceptable. This moment is about personal accountability. The choice is yours, Mr Farage."