Shoah Victims Call On Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Claimed Anti-Jewish Statements.

A collective of Shoah survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage admit the facts and apologise for reported antisemitic comments attributed to him toward Jewish schoolmates during his time at school.

The political party leader has previously stated he never insulted anyone with the aim to hurt, proposing it may have been mere "playground banter".

"As Shoah survivors, we comprehend the profound danger of words of hatred – because we have witnessed where such words ultimately lead," stated the survivors in a open letter.

"We must be unambiguous: expressing admiration for Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not simple joking. Not on a schoolyard. Not anywhere."

A Pointed Inquiry

The letter asks direct questions to the public figure: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your peers to bigoted harassment?"

The Signatories

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

• Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her family.
• Simon Winston, who was confined to a ghetto before escaping in 1942 and spending the rest of the war as a fugitive.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at 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.

Growing Accounts

This intervention is a response to the characterisation of corroborating accounts by more than two dozen ex-schoolmates and teachers as "complete fiction" by a senior party figure.

Since the initial report, further individuals from that era have come forward. Nearly thirty ex-students and educators now state they observed racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.

One notable account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who said that a young Farage would approach him and utter the phrases "Hitler was right" and "send them to the gas chambers", on occasion adding a prolonged hissing sound to simulate the sound of poison gas.

Further Allegations

More individuals from ethnic minorities have additionally come forward with allegations of personal harassment.

• Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was branded a "racial slur" and has dismissed the idea that such actions were not meant to hurt.
• Another student of Asian heritage characterised him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial bullying".

The Survivors' Final Appeal

The final appeal asks a concluding dilemma to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, is your position that dozens of individuals are not telling the truth? If you did say them, now is the opportunity to take responsibility and say sorry."

"People who hope to lead our country should never divide people by ethnicity or faith. Antisemitic hatred must always be confronted. This moment is about personal accountability. The decision is your own, Mr Farage."