Holocaust Survivors Demand Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Claimed Anti-Jewish Remarks.

A group of Shoah survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage admit the facts and express remorse for alleged anti-Jewish comments attributed to him toward Jewish schoolmates during his school days.

The political party leader has claimed he never targeted anyone with malicious intent, suggesting it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".

"As Holocaust survivors, we comprehend the deadly peril of words of hatred – because we have seen where such words can lead," wrote the survivors in a letter.

"We must be unambiguous: lauding Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not teasing. Not in a playground. Not anywhere."

A Direct Question

The document asks blunt questions to the public figure: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your peers to bigoted harassment?"

Those Who Signed

The group of eleven survivors contains individuals with deeply traumatic personal histories from the Nazi genocide.

• Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
• Simon Winston, who was held 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 freed.

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

Growing Accounts

This public letter follows the characterisation of similar accounts by more than two dozen alumni and teachers as "complete fiction" by a deputy leader.

After the story broke, more contemporaries have shared their stories. Nearly thirty people connected to the school now state they observed racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.

One well-known account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who has stated that a young Farage would come near him and repeat the phrases "Hitler was right" and "send them to the gas chambers", on occasion making a hiss to simulate the sound of poison gas.

A Broader Pattern

Other former pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds have likewise shared experiences with accounts of targeted insults.

• Cyrus Oshidar said he was referred to as a "Paki" and has dismissed the idea that such actions were not meant to hurt.
• Another individual with Asian roots characterised him as an "avowed bigot" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell had a point" as a form of "racial intimidation".

A Concluding Demand

The survivors' letter puts forth an ultimate question to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, do you mean that dozens of individuals are lying? If you did say them, now is the opportunity to take responsibility and make amends."

"Individuals who aspire to lead our country should never create division by race or religion. Hatred of Jews must never be normalised. This moment is about ethical duty. The choice is yours, Mr Farage."