Holocaust Survivors Call On Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Claimed Antisemitic Remarks.

A group of Holocaust survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage admit the facts and express remorse for alleged anti-Jewish taunts he is said to have made toward Jewish pupils during his youth.

The political party leader has previously stated he never targeted anyone with malicious intent, proposing it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".

"As Holocaust survivors, we grasp the grave risk of bigoted language – because we have experienced firsthand where such words can lead," declared the survivors in a open letter.

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

A Pointed Inquiry

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

The Signatories

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

• Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
• Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and spending the rest of the war as a fugitive.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated.

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 follows the dismissal of similar allegations by more than several dozen former pupils and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a senior party figure.

After the story broke, further individuals from that era have spoken out. 28 ex-students and educators now assert they witnessed racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.

One prominent testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who recalls that a teenage Farage would come near him and repeat the phrases "Hitler was right" and "gas them", at times including a prolonged hissing sound to mimic the sound of the gas chambers.

A Broader Pattern

More individuals from minority ethnic backgrounds have likewise spoken publicly with allegations of direct abuse.

• Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was branded a "Paki" and has labelled as rubbish the idea that such actions were devoid of malice.
• Another individual with Asian roots described him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "ethnic harassment".

The Survivors' Final Appeal

The missive from survivors puts forth an ultimate question to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, is your position that dozens of individuals are fabricating their stories? Should the allegations be true, now is the moment to take responsibility and make amends."

"Individuals who seek to govern our country should never create division by background or belief. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never become acceptable. This moment is about moral responsibility. The path forward is yours, Mr Farage."