Shoah Victims Demand Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Claimed Anti-Jewish Comments.

A coalition of Holocaust survivors has called for that Nigel Farage be honest and issue an apology for alleged anti-Jewish comments he is said to have made toward Jewish schoolmates during his youth.

The Reform UK leader has said he never targeted anyone with the aim to hurt, proposing it may have been mere "playground banter".

"As Holocaust survivors, we understand the profound danger of hateful words – for we have experienced firsthand where such words can lead," stated the survivors in a open letter.

"We must be unambiguous: expressing admiration for Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not simple joking. Not among children. Not anywhere."

An Unequivocal Demand

The correspondence poses direct questions to the party leader: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your classmates to anti-Jewish taunts?"

Those Who Signed

The group of 11 survivors includes individuals with devastating personal histories from the Holocaust.

• Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 27 members of her family.
• Simon Winston, who was held in a ghetto before breaking out in 1942 and living through the rest of the war as a fugitive.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved to Bergen-Belsen, where she was rescued.

Additional names on the letter include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.

Mounting Testimony

This intervention comes after the rejection of corroborating testimony by more than two dozen or more former pupils and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a high-ranking official.

Following the publication, more contemporaries have shared their stories. Twenty-eight former pupils and teachers now assert they saw prejudiced actions by him.

One notable testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who said that a teenage Farage would approach him and utter the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "gas them", on occasion including a hiss to mimic the sound of the gas chambers.

Additional Claims

Other former pupils from diverse backgrounds have likewise come forward with allegations of direct abuse.

• Cyrus Oshidar said he was branded a "Paki" and has dismissed the claim that such actions were devoid of malice.
• Another individual with Asian roots characterised him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "ethnic harassment".

A Concluding Demand

The final appeal asks a concluding dilemma to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, is your position that scores of witnesses are lying? If the words were spoken, now is the opportunity to admit your error and make amends."

"Individuals who seek to govern our country should not ever create division by race or religion. Anti-Jewish bigotry must always be confronted. This moment is about personal accountability. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."