Shoah Survivors Urge Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Alleged Anti-Jewish Statements.

A coalition of Shoah survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage be honest and issue an apology for alleged antisemitic taunts attributed to him toward Jewish students during his time at school.

The Reform UK leader has previously stated he never targeted anyone with malicious intent, framing it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".

"Being Holocaust survivors, we comprehend the profound danger of hateful words – for we have experienced firsthand where such words can lead," declared the survivors in a missive.

"Let us be clear: lauding Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not simple joking. Not among children. Not anywhere."

A Direct Question

The document puts forth blunt questions to the political figure: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your peers to anti-Jewish taunts?"

The Survivors

The group of eleven survivors contains individuals with devastating personal histories from the Holocaust.

• Hedi Argent, who lost 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 freed.

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 intervention is a response to the dismissal of corroborating accounts by more than two dozen alumni and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a deputy leader.

Since the initial report, further individuals from that era have spoken out. Nearly thirty former pupils and teachers now assert they saw bigoted conduct by him.

One notable allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who has stated that a teenage Farage would approach him and utter the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "send them to the gas chambers", sometimes adding a hiss to simulate the sound of gas chambers.

Additional Claims

More individuals from ethnic minorities have additionally come forward with stories of direct abuse.

• Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was branded a "Paki" and has labelled as rubbish the claim that such actions were without intent.
• Another individual with Asian roots characterised him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "racial bullying".

The Ultimate Question

The missive from survivors asks a concluding question to Farage: "By denying saying those words, are you claiming that scores of witnesses are lying? Should the allegations be true, now is the time to take responsibility and apologise."

"Those who seek to govern our country should not ever divide people by background or belief. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never become acceptable. This moment is about moral responsibility. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."