Shoah Victims Call On Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Reported Anti-Jewish Comments.

A coalition of Shoah survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage be honest and apologise for alleged antisemitic abuse he is said to have made toward Jewish students during his time at school.

The political party leader has claimed he never targeted anyone with malicious intent, proposing it may have been mere "playground banter".

"Being Holocaust survivors, we comprehend the deadly peril of hateful words – because we have experienced firsthand where such words inevitably end," declared the survivors in a missive.

"Let us be clear: expressing admiration for Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not teasing. Not among children. Not ever."

A Direct Question

The letter asks direct questions to the public figure: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your peers to bigoted harassment?"

Those Who Signed

The group of 11 survivors includes individuals with harrowing personal stories from the Holocaust.

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

Increasing Allegations

This action comes after the rejection of related testimony by more than several dozen former pupils and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a senior party figure.

Following the publication, further individuals from that era have shared their stories. Nearly thirty ex-students and educators now claim they witnessed bigoted conduct by him.

One notable account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who recalls that a young Farage would approach him and repeat the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "gas them", sometimes adding a hiss to simulate the sound of gas chambers.

A Broader Pattern

Other former pupils from diverse backgrounds have likewise spoken publicly with accounts of targeted insults.

• Cyrus Oshidar said he was called a "Paki" and has dismissed the idea that such actions were not meant to hurt.
• Another individual with Asian roots described him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "racial intimidation".

The Survivors' Final Appeal

The final appeal poses a final dilemma to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, do you mean that 20 former classmates and teachers are not telling the truth? If you did say them, now is the time to admit your error and say sorry."

"People who seek to govern our country should never sow discord by background or belief. Hatred of Jews must never be normalised. This moment is about moral responsibility. The decision is yours, Mr Farage."