Holocaust Victims Demand Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Reported Anti-Jewish Comments.

A coalition of Holocaust survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage admit the facts and issue an apology for reported anti-Jewish abuse attributed to him toward Jewish students during his time at school.

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

"As Shoah survivors, we understand the grave risk of words of hatred – for we have seen where such words inevitably end," wrote the survivors in a open letter.

"We must be unambiguous: praising Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not banter. Not among children. Not ever."

An Unequivocal Demand

The letter puts forth straightforward questions to the public figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you expose your peers to antisemitic abuse?"

Those Who Signed

The collective of 11 survivors contains individuals with deeply traumatic personal experiences from the Holocaust.

• Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
• Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and living through the rest of the war as a fugitive.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at Bergen-Belsen, where she was freed.

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

Increasing Allegations

This intervention comes after the dismissal of corroborating testimony by more than two dozen former pupils and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a high-ranking official.

After the story broke, more contemporaries have shared their stories. 28 former pupils and teachers now claim they observed bigoted conduct by him.

One notable account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who recalls that a teenage Farage would approach him and say the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "gas them", at times adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas chambers.

Further Allegations

Additional alumni from ethnic minorities have likewise shared experiences with accounts of personal harassment.

• Cyrus Oshidar stated he was referred to as a "Paki" and has dismissed the notion that such actions were not meant to hurt.
• Another pupil of Asian descent portrayed him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial intimidation".

The Ultimate Question

The survivors' letter asks a concluding challenge to Farage: "By denying saying those words, is your position that 20 former classmates and teachers are lying? If the words were spoken, now is the moment to take responsibility and apologise."

"Those who seek to govern our country should under no circumstances sow discord by race or religion. Hatred of Jews must never become acceptable. This moment is about ethical duty. The path forward is your own, Mr Farage."