Holocaust Victims Demand Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Alleged Antisemitic Comments.

A collective of Holocaust survivors has insisted that Nigel Farage admit the facts and apologise for reported antisemitic comments he is said to have made toward Jewish students during his youth.

The political party leader has claimed he never racially abused anyone with the aim to hurt, framing it may have been mere "childish teasing".

"As Shoah survivors, we understand the deadly peril of words of hatred – for we have witnessed where such words inevitably end," stated the survivors in a open letter.

"We must be unambiguous: expressing admiration for Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not simple joking. Not on a schoolyard. Not ever."

A Pointed Inquiry

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

The Survivors

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

• Hedi Argent, who saw the murder of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
• Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before escaping in 1942 and spending the rest of the war in hiding.
• 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.

Increasing Allegations

This intervention is a response to the rejection of related allegations by more than two dozen or more ex-schoolmates and teachers as "complete fiction" by a deputy leader.

Since the initial report, more contemporaries have shared their stories. 28 ex-students and educators now state they saw racist or antisemitic behaviour by him.

One well-known account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born award-winning director, who has stated that a young Farage would sidle up to him and say the phrases "Hitler was right" and "gas them", at times adding a prolonged hissing sound to imitate the sound of gas chambers.

Further Allegations

More individuals from diverse backgrounds have also come forward with stories of direct abuse.

• Cyrus Oshidar said he was referred to as a "Paki" and has rejected the claim 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 was correct" as a form of "racial intimidation".

A Concluding Demand

The survivors' letter puts forth an ultimate challenge to Farage: "Should you continue to deny saying those words, is your position that dozens of individuals are lying? If the words were spoken, now is the opportunity to acknowledge you were wrong and say sorry."

"People who seek to govern our country should never divide people by race or religion. Hatred of Jews must always be confronted. This moment is about personal accountability. The choice is your own, Mr Farage."