Published
Horror among the parents of school children in Washington, DC: A teacher apparently let third graders play with concentration camp inmates and Nazis. The children are said to have even digged virtual graves and “died” in gas chambers. Now the authorities are investigating.
Schoolchildren had the task of playing dying concentration camp inmates in gas chambers. In the picture: the Auschwitz extermination camp.
Imago
Around six million Jews were killed by the Nazis in the Third Reich. In the picture: the Holocaust memorial in Berlin.
Imago
As part of a school lesson in Washington, DC, third graders allegedly had to re-enact scenes from the Holocaust.
They would have had to dig virtual graves or die in gas chambers. A Jewish student had to act as Adolf Hitler.
According to their parents, many children are now traumatized. The school apologized and are investigating the incident.
In a letter to the parents of the affected students at Watkins Elementary School in the US capital, the headmaster wrote that, according to feedback, the children should have “portrayed characters from the Holocaust like Adolf Hitler, digging graves for mass burials and staging simulated shootings” . Allegedly, the teacher also made anti-Semitic remarks, as reported by “Fox5”. Others who played the victims of the extermination camps simulated death by suffocation in a gas chamber. When the children asked why the Nazis treated the Jews that way, the teacher said: “Because the Jews ruined Christmas,” as the Washington Post writes.
As the children told their parents, of all people, a Jewish boy had been selected for the role of Adolf Hitler. At the end of the role-play he had to re-enact the dictator’s suicide. As one parent stated to the news portal, the boy was “not doing well” after the school event.
Children traumatized after the performance
The traumatizing performance was carried out as part of a “library lesson”, a kind of history lesson. The children should have prepared for their roles. The teacher told the students not to tell anything at home, but the incident came to light. “You are traumatized,” reports an affected mother. “When my husband picked our child up from school, there was a lot of crying and sobbing.” Other children have nightmares – and one thing is afraid that the responsible teacher is hiding in his room.
The Washington, DCPS School Board is investigating the incident. The responsible teacher was released on Friday. A communiqué stated: “DC Public Schools is committed to creating an environment that is inviting for all students. Last week we received a report on a lesson that included various aspects of the Holocaust. Schoolchildren should never be given the task of reenacting any cruelty, especially war or genocide. ” It was not a planned school activity and they sincerely apologize. An investigation has been opened.
“Fox5” spoke to the teacher who led the library lesson. “I think someone misinterpreted something that happened there,” she said. “I was shocked myself when I saw this letter to my parents.” There was no reenactment of the Holocaust or hate speech, she said. You are now waiting for the result of the examination.
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