Shoah Victims Call On Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Claimed Antisemitic Statements.

A group of Shoah survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage tell the truth and apologise for alleged antisemitic comments he reportedly directed toward Jewish pupils during his time at school.

The political party leader has claimed he never racially abused anyone with deliberate cruelty, suggesting it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".

"Being 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 letter.

"It is crucial to understand: expressing admiration for Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not simple joking. Not on a schoolyard. Not under any circumstances."

An Unequivocal Demand

The correspondence puts forth blunt questions to the public figure: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you target your peers to anti-Jewish taunts?"

The Signatories

The group of eleven survivors includes individuals with harrowing personal histories 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 spending the rest of the war as a fugitive.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later transferred 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.

Increasing Allegations

This public letter is a response to the dismissal of related testimony by more than two dozen or more ex-schoolmates and teachers as "complete fiction" by a high-ranking official.

After the story broke, further individuals from that era have come forward. 28 people connected to the school now state they witnessed bigoted conduct by him.

One prominent account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who has stated that a young Farage would sidle up to him and utter the phrases "Hitler was right" and "send them to the gas chambers", on occasion adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas chambers.

Further Allegations

Additional alumni from minority ethnic backgrounds have additionally shared experiences with allegations of personal harassment.

• Cyrus Oshidar stated he was branded a "racial slur" and has rejected the notion that such actions were without intent.
• Another pupil of Asian descent described him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "racial bullying".

A Concluding Demand

The missive from survivors puts forth an ultimate challenge to Farage: "By denying saying those words, is your position that 20 former classmates and teachers are fabricating their stories? If you did say them, now is the time to acknowledge you were wrong and apologise."

"People who seek to govern our country should under no circumstances sow discord by race or religion. Antisemitic hatred must never become acceptable. This moment is about moral responsibility. The choice is yours, Mr Farage."