Shoah Victims Demand Nigel Farage to Make Amends Over Claimed Anti-Jewish Statements.

A coalition of Shoah survivors has called for that Nigel Farage tell the truth and apologise for reported anti-Jewish abuse he is said to have made toward Jewish schoolmates during his youth.

The Reform UK leader has previously stated he never insulted anyone with malicious intent, framing 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 can lead," wrote the survivors in a open letter.

"It is crucial to understand: lauding Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not simple joking. Not on a schoolyard. Not anywhere."

An Unequivocal Demand

The document poses straightforward questions to the political figure: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you target your fellow pupils to bigoted harassment?"

Those Who Signed

The collective of eleven survivors features individuals with devastating personal stories from the Nazi genocide.

• Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her family.
• Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and living through the rest of the war in hiding.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later incarcerated at 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.

Mounting Testimony

This public letter follows the rejection of similar accounts by more than two dozen ex-schoolmates and teachers as "fabricated nonsense" by a senior party figure.

After the story broke, additional former pupils have spoken out. Nearly thirty people connected to the school now claim they saw racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.

One prominent testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish award-winning director, who said that a teenage Farage would sidle up to him and say the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "send them to the gas chambers", at times including a hiss to mimic the sound of the gas chambers.

A Broader Pattern

More individuals from diverse backgrounds have also spoken publicly with stories of personal harassment.

• Cyrus Oshidar stated he was branded a "Paki" and has rejected the idea that such actions were not meant to hurt.
• Another student of Asian heritage described him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "ethnic harassment".

A Concluding Demand

The missive from survivors poses a final challenge to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, are you claiming that dozens of individuals are fabricating their stories? Should the allegations be true, now is the moment to acknowledge you were wrong and say sorry."

"Those who hope to lead our country should under no circumstances divide people by race or religion. Antisemitic hatred must never be normalised. This moment is about moral responsibility. The choice is yours, Mr Farage."