Holocaust Victims Call On Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Reported Anti-Jewish Comments.

A collective of Holocaust survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage tell the truth and apologise for reported anti-Jewish comments attributed to him toward Jewish pupils during his youth.

The Reform UK leader has previously stated he never racially abused anyone with the aim to hurt, framing it may have been mere "childish teasing".

"As Holocaust survivors, we understand the deadly peril of words of hatred – for we have experienced firsthand where such words can lead," wrote the survivors in a missive.

"Let us be clear: expressing admiration for Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not teasing. Not among children. Not under any circumstances."

A Direct Question

The document poses blunt questions to the political figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you target your classmates to anti-Jewish taunts?"

The Signatories

The collective of eleven survivors contains individuals with devastating personal experiences from the Holocaust.

• Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
• Simon Winston, who was confined to a ghetto before escaping in 1942 and living through the rest of the war concealed.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated.

Other signatories include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.

Increasing Allegations

This intervention comes after the rejection of corroborating testimony by more than several dozen alumni and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a high-ranking official.

After the story broke, more contemporaries have spoken out. Nearly thirty ex-students and educators now claim they witnessed racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.

One well-known account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who has stated that a teenage Farage would approach him and say the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "send them to the gas chambers", sometimes adding a long hiss to imitate the sound of the gas chambers.

Further Allegations

Other former pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds have likewise shared experiences with accounts of targeted insults.

• Cyrus Oshidar stated he was called a "racial slur" and has rejected the idea that such actions were not meant to hurt.
• Another student of Asian heritage characterised him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "racial intimidation".

The Survivors' Final Appeal

The survivors' letter poses a final dilemma to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, is your position that 20 former classmates and teachers are not telling the truth? If you did say them, now is the moment to take responsibility and make amends."

"People who aspire to lead our country should never sow discord by race or religion. Antisemitic hatred must always be confronted. This moment is about moral responsibility. The path forward is yours, Mr Farage."