Holocaust Victims Urge Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Claimed Anti-Jewish Statements.

A collective of Holocaust survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage be honest and apologise for alleged antisemitic abuse he is said to have made toward Jewish pupils during his youth.

The Reform UK leader has said he never targeted anyone with deliberate cruelty, suggesting it may have been mere "playground banter".

"Being Shoah survivors, we understand the deadly peril of bigoted language – for we have experienced firsthand where such words ultimately lead," stated the survivors in a open letter.

"We must be unambiguous: expressing admiration for Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not teasing. Not in a playground. Not ever."

An Unequivocal Demand

The letter puts forth blunt questions to the public figure: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you expose your fellow pupils to bigoted harassment?"

Those Who Signed

The group of eleven survivors features individuals with devastating personal histories from the Holocaust.

• Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her family.
• Simon Winston, who was held in a ghetto before escaping in 1942 and living through 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 rescued.

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

Growing Accounts

This intervention comes after the rejection of related testimony by more than several dozen alumni and teachers as "complete fiction" by a senior party figure.

Since the initial report, more contemporaries have come forward. 28 ex-students and educators now claim they saw bigoted conduct by him.

One prominent allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who said that a teenage Farage would come near him and say the phrases "Hitler was right" and "send them to the gas chambers", at times including a long hiss to simulate the sound of gas chambers.

Further Allegations

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

• Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was referred to as a "Paki" and has labelled as rubbish the notion 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 right" as a form of "racial intimidation".

The Ultimate Question

The missive from survivors puts forth an ultimate question to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, are you claiming that scores of witnesses are fabricating their stories? Should the allegations be true, now is the moment to take responsibility and make amends."

"Those who hope to lead our country should not ever divide people by background or belief. Hatred of Jews must never be normalised. This moment is about personal accountability. The choice is your own, Mr Farage."