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

A group of Holocaust survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage be honest and express remorse for alleged antisemitic abuse attributed to him toward Jewish pupils during his school days.

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

"As Shoah survivors, we grasp the deadly peril of words of hatred – for we have witnessed where such words ultimately lead," wrote the survivors in a letter.

"It is crucial to understand: praising Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not teasing. Not in a playground. Not anywhere."

A Pointed Inquiry

The correspondence puts forth blunt questions to the party leader: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your fellow pupils to antisemitic abuse?"

Those Who Signed

The collective of eleven survivors features individuals with devastating personal experiences from the Nazi genocide.

• Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 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 in hiding.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to 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.

Mounting Testimony

This public letter is a response to the characterisation of related allegations by more than two dozen or more alumni and teachers as "complete fiction" by a high-ranking official.

Following the publication, additional former pupils have spoken out. Nearly thirty people connected to the school now state they saw prejudiced actions by him.

One notable allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who has stated that a young Farage would approach him and utter the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "gas them", sometimes including a hiss to imitate the sound of gas chambers.

Further Allegations

Other former pupils from diverse backgrounds have also spoken publicly with allegations of direct abuse.

• Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was called a "racial slur" and has dismissed the notion that such actions were devoid of malice.
• Another student of Asian heritage described him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "ethnic harassment".

A Concluding Demand

The final appeal asks a concluding challenge to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, is your position that 20 former classmates and teachers are fabricating their stories? If the words were spoken, now is the time to acknowledge you were wrong and make amends."

"Individuals who aspire to lead our country should never create division by background or belief. Anti-Jewish bigotry must always be confronted. This moment is about personal accountability. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."