Holocaust Victims Call On Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Reported Antisemitic Statements.

A collective of Holocaust survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage tell the truth and issue an apology for reported antisemitic taunts he is said to have made toward Jewish schoolmates during his school days.

The Reform UK leader has previously stated he never insulted anyone with deliberate cruelty, suggesting it may have been mere "childish teasing".

"As Shoah survivors, we understand the grave risk of words of hatred – for we have experienced firsthand where such words ultimately lead," stated the survivors in a open letter.

"Let us be clear: expressing admiration for Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not simple joking. Not on a schoolyard. Not under any circumstances."

A Direct Question

The document asks blunt questions to the public figure: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you target your fellow pupils to antisemitic abuse?"

Those Who Signed

The group of eleven survivors includes individuals with harrowing personal stories from the Nazi genocide.

• Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
• Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before breaking out in 1942 and living through the rest of the war concealed.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at 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.

Growing Accounts

This intervention comes after the rejection of related testimony by more than two dozen or more former pupils and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a deputy leader.

Since the initial report, additional former pupils have come forward. Twenty-eight ex-students and educators now claim they witnessed racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.

One notable testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who recalls that a young Farage would sidle up to him and say the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "gas them", at times making a prolonged hissing sound to mimic the sound of gas chambers.

A Broader Pattern

More individuals from diverse backgrounds have additionally come forward with allegations of personal harassment.

• Cyrus Oshidar stated he was called a "Paki" and has dismissed the claim that such actions were not meant to hurt.
• Another individual with Asian roots portrayed him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "ethnic harassment".

The Ultimate Question

The missive from survivors poses a final challenge to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, do you mean that scores of witnesses are not telling the truth? If the words were spoken, now is the moment to admit your error and make amends."

"Those who hope to lead our country should under no circumstances create division by background or belief. Antisemitic hatred must never become acceptable. This moment is about personal accountability. The choice is your own, Mr Farage."