Holocaust Survivors Urge Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Claimed Anti-Jewish Remarks.

A group of Holocaust survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage admit the facts and express remorse for reported antisemitic abuse he reportedly directed toward Jewish students during his youth.

The political party leader has claimed he never insulted anyone with the aim to hurt, framing it may have been mere "childish teasing".

"Being Shoah survivors, we comprehend the deadly peril of words of hatred – because we have seen where such words ultimately lead," wrote the survivors in a missive.

"It is crucial to understand: praising Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not banter. Not in a playground. Not anywhere."

An Unequivocal Demand

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

The Signatories

The collective of 11 survivors contains individuals with deeply traumatic personal stories from the Holocaust.

• Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
• Simon Winston, who was held in a ghetto before fleeing 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.

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 related accounts by more than two dozen alumni and teachers as "complete fiction" by a deputy leader.

Following the publication, more contemporaries have spoken out. Nearly thirty people connected to the school now claim they saw racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.

One well-known testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who has stated that a young Farage would come near him and say the phrases "Hitler was right" and "gas them", sometimes adding a prolonged hissing sound to mimic the sound of poison gas.

Further Allegations

Additional alumni from diverse backgrounds have likewise come forward with allegations of direct abuse.

• Cyrus Oshidar said he was branded a "racial slur" and has dismissed the notion that such actions were without intent.
• Another pupil of Asian descent described him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "ethnic harassment".

A Concluding Demand

The missive from survivors puts forth an ultimate dilemma to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, are you claiming that 20 former classmates and teachers are fabricating their stories? If you did say them, now is the opportunity to take responsibility and say sorry."

"People who hope to lead our country should under no circumstances create division by ethnicity or faith. Antisemitic hatred must always be confronted. This moment is about personal accountability. The choice is yours, Mr Farage."