Shoah Victims Call On Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Alleged Anti-Jewish Comments.

A group of Holocaust survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage be honest and issue an apology for alleged antisemitic comments he is said to have made toward Jewish pupils during his time at school.

The political party leader has said he never targeted anyone with deliberate cruelty, proposing it may have been mere "childish teasing".

"As Holocaust survivors, we comprehend the grave risk of bigoted language – because we have seen where such words ultimately lead," wrote the survivors in a missive.

"We must be unambiguous: expressing admiration for Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not banter. Not on a schoolyard. Not under any circumstances."

An Unequivocal Demand

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

Those Who Signed

The collective of 11 survivors includes individuals with deeply traumatic personal experiences 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 breaking out in 1942 and spending the rest of the war concealed.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at 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 follows the rejection of related allegations by more than several dozen alumni and teachers as "complete fiction" by a senior party figure.

Since the initial report, further individuals from that era have come forward. Nearly thirty people connected to the school now state they observed racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.

One well-known account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who recalls that a young Farage would sidle up to him and repeat the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "gas them", sometimes including a hiss to mimic the sound of the gas chambers.

Further Allegations

Other former pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds have also shared experiences with allegations of personal harassment.

• Cyrus Oshidar stated he was branded a "racial slur" and has rejected the idea that such actions were not meant to hurt.
• Another individual with Asian roots described 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 puts forth an ultimate question to Farage: "By denying saying those words, do you mean that dozens of individuals are fabricating their stories? Should the allegations be true, now is the time to take responsibility and make amends."

"Those who hope to lead our country should not ever create division by background or belief. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never be normalised. This moment is about personal accountability. The choice is your own, Mr Farage."