Holocaust Survivors Demand Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Claimed Anti-Jewish Remarks.

A collective of Shoah survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage be honest and apologise for alleged antisemitic taunts attributed to him toward Jewish students during his youth.

The political party leader has said he never racially abused anyone with malicious intent, framing it may have been mere "childish teasing".

"As Holocaust survivors, we comprehend the grave risk of words of hatred – for we have experienced firsthand where such words inevitably end," wrote the survivors in a open letter.

"We must be unambiguous: praising Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not simple joking. Not on a schoolyard. Not anywhere."

A Pointed Inquiry

The document asks direct questions to the public figure: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you expose your peers to bigoted harassment?"

The Signatories

The collective of 11 survivors contains individuals with devastating personal histories from the Nazi genocide.

• Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
• Simon Winston, who was confined to a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and spending the rest of the war as a fugitive.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at 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.

Growing Accounts

This intervention comes after the dismissal of corroborating accounts by more than two dozen ex-schoolmates and teachers as "complete fiction" by a senior party figure.

Since the initial report, more contemporaries have shared their stories. 28 ex-students and educators now claim they observed racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.

One well-known account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who recalls that a teenage Farage would sidle up to him and say the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "send them to the gas chambers", sometimes making a long hiss to imitate the sound of the gas chambers.

A Broader Pattern

Other former pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds have additionally come forward with accounts of direct abuse.

• Cyrus Oshidar said he was branded a "Paki" and has dismissed the claim that such actions were without intent.
• Another individual with Asian roots described him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "racial bullying".

The Survivors' Final Appeal

The missive from survivors puts forth an ultimate challenge to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, are you claiming that scores of witnesses are not telling the truth? Should the allegations be true, now is the moment to admit your error and apologise."

"Those who seek to govern our country should never sow discord by race or religion. Anti-Jewish bigotry must never become acceptable. This moment is about ethical duty. The decision is your own, Mr Farage."