Holocaust Survivors Demand Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Alleged Antisemitic Comments.

A coalition of Holocaust survivors has publicly demanded that Nigel Farage admit the facts and apologise for alleged anti-Jewish comments he reportedly directed toward Jewish pupils during his school days.

The Reform UK leader has said he never insulted anyone with malicious intent, proposing it may have been mere "playground banter".

"Being Shoah survivors, we comprehend the deadly peril of hateful words – because we have seen where such words can lead," declared the survivors in a open letter.

"Let us be clear: expressing admiration for Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not banter. Not among children. Not anywhere."

A Pointed Inquiry

The letter poses direct questions to the party leader: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your classmates to anti-Jewish taunts?"

The Survivors

The group of 11 survivors includes individuals with deeply traumatic personal experiences from the Nazi genocide.

• Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her family.
• Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before breaking out 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 liberated.

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

Growing Accounts

This intervention follows the dismissal of corroborating allegations by more than two dozen former pupils and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a deputy leader.

After the story broke, more contemporaries have come forward. Twenty-eight people connected to the school now assert they witnessed prejudiced actions by him.

One well-known testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who has stated that a young Farage would come near him and utter the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "gas them", sometimes making a prolonged hissing sound to mimic the sound of gas chambers.

A Broader Pattern

Additional alumni from ethnic minorities have additionally come forward with allegations of direct abuse.

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

A Concluding Demand

The survivors' letter poses a final question to Farage: "By denying saying those words, is your position that dozens of individuals are lying? If the words were spoken, now is the time to take responsibility and make amends."

"People who seek to govern our country should never create division by background or belief. Anti-Jewish bigotry must always be confronted. This moment is about personal accountability. The choice is your own, Mr Farage."