Holocaust Survivors Call On Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Claimed Antisemitic Remarks.

A collective of Shoah survivors has called for that Nigel Farage be honest and issue an apology for alleged anti-Jewish taunts he reportedly directed toward Jewish schoolmates during his school days.

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

"As Shoah survivors, we grasp the profound danger of hateful words – for we have witnessed where such words ultimately lead," declared the survivors in a missive.

"Let us be clear: lauding Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not simple joking. Not among children. Not under any circumstances."

A Direct Question

The document poses blunt questions to the party leader: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you target your fellow pupils to anti-Jewish taunts?"

The Signatories

The collective of eleven survivors includes individuals with harrowing personal histories from the Holocaust.

• Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
• Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before escaping in 1942 and spending the rest of the war concealed.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent 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 follows the dismissal of similar testimony by more than several dozen alumni and teachers as "complete fiction" by a high-ranking official.

After the story broke, more contemporaries have come forward. Nearly thirty former pupils and teachers now state they observed prejudiced actions by him.

One notable account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who said that a teenage Farage would come near him and repeat the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "send them to the gas chambers", sometimes adding a hiss to mimic the sound of gas chambers.

A Broader Pattern

Other former pupils from ethnic minorities have additionally come forward with stories of personal harassment.

• Cyrus Oshidar stated he was branded a "Paki" and has labelled as rubbish the idea that such actions were not meant to hurt.
• Another individual with Asian roots characterised him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial bullying".

The Survivors' Final Appeal

The survivors' letter puts forth an ultimate challenge to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, is your position that dozens of individuals are fabricating their stories? Should the allegations be true, now is the time to acknowledge you were wrong and apologise."

"People who aspire to lead our country should never divide people by race or religion. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never become acceptable. This moment is about ethical duty. The decision is your own, Mr Farage."