Shoah Survivors Urge Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Alleged Antisemitic Statements.

A collective of Shoah survivors has called for that Nigel Farage tell the truth and express remorse for alleged anti-Jewish comments he reportedly directed toward Jewish schoolmates during his school days.

The Reform UK leader has previously stated he never insulted anyone with deliberate cruelty, proposing it may have been mere "childish teasing".

"As Holocaust survivors, we understand the grave risk of hateful words – because we have experienced firsthand where such words can lead," declared the survivors in a missive.

"Let us be clear: praising Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not teasing. Not on a schoolyard. Not anywhere."

An Unequivocal Demand

The document poses blunt questions to the party leader: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you target your peers to antisemitic abuse?"

The Survivors

The collective of eleven survivors features individuals with harrowing personal stories from the Holocaust.

• Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
• Simon Winston, who was confined to a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and living through the rest of the war in hiding.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later transferred to 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.

Increasing Allegations

This intervention follows the dismissal of related testimony by more than two dozen former pupils and teachers as "complete fiction" by a deputy leader.

Following the publication, further individuals from that era have come forward. Nearly thirty former pupils and teachers now claim they saw racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.

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

A Broader Pattern

Additional alumni from diverse backgrounds have also shared experiences with stories of personal harassment.

• Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was branded a "racial slur" and has dismissed the idea that such actions were devoid of malice.
• Another individual with Asian roots characterised him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "ethnic harassment".

The Ultimate Question

The missive from survivors asks a concluding dilemma to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, is your position that dozens of individuals are not telling the truth? If the words were spoken, now is the opportunity to take responsibility and apologise."

"Individuals who hope to lead our country should not ever divide people by ethnicity or faith. Hatred of Jews must never become acceptable. This moment is about ethical duty. The choice is your own, Mr Farage."