Californian pupils get lesson from survivor
NEWPORT BEACH: The high school party took an ugly turn. Drink cups were used to form a crude swastika. Nazi salutes flashed. Cameras clicked.
What appears to have been a woefully misguided attempt at humour turned into a national embarrassment for the Southern California city of Newport Beach, leaving behind outrage, disbelief and finally, hope for change.
Yesterday, the stepsister of Anne Frank visited privately with pupils who attended the party and described an emotional meeting in which she recounted her experiences at the Auschwitz death camp.
When she was freed at 16, Holocaust survivor Eva Schloss (now 89) was left with only her mother. The rest of her family perished.
When the students saluted the swastika at the party last weekend, ‘‘they didn’t realise what it really meant,’’ she said. ‘‘They just thought it was a joke.’’
They apologised profusely during the meeting, which also included parents, community members and pupil leaders from Newport Harbour High School.
Schloss said she hoped there would be more education about the Holocaust and a war now 75 years in the past. The photo was a reminder that the warning of the Holocaust a never forget a sometimes is.
The pupils ‘‘don’t realise what those signs really mean to victims who have gone through this period,’’ she said.
She expressed confidence that the students ‘‘have learned a lesson for life.’’
The photo shocked the wealthy seaside enclave known for its beaches and placid streets dotted with palms. Hundreds of people came to a meeting at the school to express outrage.
‘‘I thought it was horrible what they did,’’ Alan Ramirez (15) a secondyear student at Newport Harbor, said yesterday.
He said he was disappointed because the photo gave the school a bad image, but he did not think any of those involved were actually embracing Nazism or intending to vilify Jewish people. Rather, he said, they were ‘‘caught in the moment, going with the crowd.’’ —