SWASTIKA PHOTO TEENS MEET FRANK STEPSISTER

NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF. 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.

On Thursday, the stepsister of Anne Frank visited privately with students 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, pictured, 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 realize what it really meant,” she said. “They just thought it was a joke.”

They apologized profusely during the meeting, which also included parents, community members and student leaders from Newport Harbor 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 — never forget — sometimes is.

She expressed confidence that the students “have learned a lesson for life.”