Shoah Survivors Demand Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Alleged Antisemitic Comments.

A group of Shoah survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage be honest and issue an apology for alleged antisemitic taunts attributed to him toward Jewish pupils during his school days.

The political party leader has previously stated he never racially abused anyone with the aim to hurt, suggesting it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".

"Being Shoah survivors, we grasp the grave risk of bigoted language – for we have experienced firsthand where such words can lead," stated the survivors in a letter.

"We must be unambiguous: lauding Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not banter. Not in a playground. Not under any circumstances."

An Unequivocal Demand

The correspondence puts forth straightforward questions to the political figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your classmates to bigoted harassment?"

The Survivors

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

• Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
• Simon Winston, who was confined to a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and spending the rest of the war concealed.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved to Bergen-Belsen, where she was rescued.

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

Mounting Testimony

This public letter follows the rejection of corroborating accounts by more than two dozen or more alumni and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a deputy leader.

Following the publication, more contemporaries have shared their stories. 28 ex-students and educators now assert they observed racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.

One prominent testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who recalls that a young Farage would come near him and say the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "send them to the gas chambers", at times making a long hiss to mimic the sound of poison gas.

Additional Claims

Other former pupils from ethnic minorities have also spoken publicly with accounts of targeted insults.

• Cyrus Oshidar stated he was branded a "racial slur" and has rejected the idea that such actions were devoid of malice.
• Another pupil of Asian descent described him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "ethnic harassment".

A Concluding Demand

The survivors' letter asks a concluding dilemma to Farage: "Should you continue to 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 time to admit your error and say sorry."

"Individuals who seek to govern our country should not ever create division by ethnicity or faith. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never become acceptable. This moment is about moral responsibility. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."