A group of Holocaust survivors have demanded Nigel Farage tell the truth and apologise for the antisemitic comments that fellow pupils of Dulwich College allege he made toward Jewish pupils.
The Reform UK leader has said he never racially abused anyone with intent but may have engaged in “banter in a playground”.
But in a letter to Farage seen by the Guardian, the 11 survivors said: “As Holocaust survivors, we understand the danger of hateful words – because we have seen where such words lead.
“Let us be clear: praising Hitler, mocking gas chambers, or hurling racist abuse is not banter. Not in a playground. Not anywhere.
“When allegations arise about invoking Nazi attitudes toward Jewish children, the responsible response is honesty, reflection, and commitment to truth.
“So we ask you: did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your classmates to antisemitic abuse?”
The survivors include Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her family in the Holocaust. Another member of the group, Simon Winston, was held in a ghetto before escaping in September 1942 and spending the rest of the war in hiding.
Another signatory is Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau where she spent nearly a year. In October 1944, she was moved to Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated by the British in April 1945.
The eight others are Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Their intervention follows comments made by Reform UK’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, to describe the testimony of more than two dozen people as “made-up twaddle”.
Since the Guardian published its investigation about Farage two weeks ago, more contemporaries have come forward. Twenty-eight former pupils and teachers say they witnessed racist or antisemitic behaviour by him at Dulwich College in south London.
Peter Ettedgui, a Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who is Jewish, has said that a teenage Farage would sidle up to him and say “Hitler was right” and “gas them”, sometimes adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas chambers.
Eight other contemporaries have offered accounts to corroborate the claim that Farage targeted Ettedgui at school. Most of them have done so on the record. Only one is active in party politics, as the chair of the Liberal Democrats in Salisbury.
Among the new schoolmates to come forward since the first story by the Guardian is Nick Hearn. A banker who described himself as a “conservative with a small c’, he said he had regularly seen Ettedgui being abused by the Reform leader, and called on him to “come clean”.
Tice told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Ettedgui was a liar and the former pupils coming forward had a “political axe to grind”.
The survivors have asked Farage whether – since he has denied abusing Ettedgui – he was saying that Ettedgui and the others were lying.
They said: “If you deny saying those words, are you saying that 20 former classmates and teachers are lying? If you did say them, now is the time to acknowledge you were wrong, and apologise.
“Those who hope to lead our country should never divide people by race or religion. Antisemitic hatred must never be normalised. This moment is about moral responsibility. The choice is yours, Mr Farage.”
Other former pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds have said Farage directly abused them. They include Cyrus Oshidar, who said Farage would call him a “Paki” and has described as “rubbish” the claim that Farage did not act with intent to hurt.
Another student of Asian heritage, who was in the same year as Farage, described him as an open racist who would say “Enoch Powell was right” to him as a form of “racial intimidation”.
Reform UK has been approached for comment.
