Holocaust Victims Urge Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Alleged Antisemitic Remarks.

A coalition of Holocaust survivors has called for that Nigel Farage admit the facts and issue an apology for reported antisemitic abuse he reportedly directed toward Jewish students during his time at school.

The Reform UK leader has said he never racially abused anyone with the aim to hurt, proposing it may have been mere "playground banter".

"Being Shoah survivors, we understand the profound danger of words of hatred – for we have experienced firsthand where such words can lead," stated the survivors in a missive.

"It is crucial to understand: expressing admiration for Hitler, mimicking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not banter. Not in a playground. Not under any circumstances."

A Pointed Inquiry

The document puts forth straightforward questions to the party leader: "Are the claims accurate that you stated ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ accompanied by mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your peers to bigoted harassment?"

The Signatories

The collective of eleven survivors contains individuals with harrowing personal stories 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 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.

Increasing Allegations

This public letter comes after the rejection of related accounts by more than two dozen or more former pupils and teachers as "complete fiction" by a senior party figure.

After the story broke, more contemporaries have shared their stories. Twenty-eight former pupils and teachers now claim they saw racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.

One well-known testimony comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who recalls that a young Farage would sidle up to him and utter the phrases "Hitler had the correct idea" and "send them to the gas chambers", at times including a prolonged hissing sound to imitate the sound of gas chambers.

A Broader Pattern

More individuals from diverse backgrounds have additionally come forward with accounts of direct abuse.

• Cyrus Oshidar claimed he was called a "Paki" and has dismissed the idea that such actions were without intent.
• Another individual with Asian roots portrayed him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "racial bullying".

A Concluding Demand

The missive from survivors puts forth an ultimate dilemma to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, are you claiming that dozens of individuals are lying? Should the allegations be true, now is the moment to acknowledge you were wrong and apologise."

"People who aspire to lead our country should never divide people by background or belief. Antisemitic hatred must always be confronted. This moment is about personal accountability. The decision is your own, Mr Farage."