Less that one month ago the stepsister of Anne Frank, Eva Schloss, traveled to Newport Beach, California; however, she was not there for vacation. Eva Schloss went to a high school to speak about the holocaust, and Nazi Germany.
She was called to speak at the high school because of a party that occurred. At this party the people attending made a solo cup swastika and were seen to be hailing Hitler.
There were also hateful messages saying things such as “German rage cage,” “German engineering,” and “master race” and much more.
When Schloss was speaking to the students she saw them tearing up and claims that she could tell that “They didn’t realize the impact. They were very sorry” because they were tearing up and even apologizing for their hateful actions. The students spoke with regret. Some students said things along the lines of “My actions were disgusting, appalling, irresponsible” or “The horrible, horrible things that I said were a terrible attempt to be funny.” Students even claimed that they did not think before acting.
However, the day after Schloss spoke at the school there were flyers plastering the school with swastikas and more hate filled comments a long the lines of Hitler did the right thing and prevented the Jews from taking over the world. Authorities do not know if those who posted the flyers were the kids at the party or if they were another group, some think that it might not have been students and could have been community members.
The holocaust occurred over 70 years ago, yet acts of anti semitism have increased nearly 94% in 2017 alone, and only 11 states in the US legally require them to educated their students about the holocaust.
These acts are racist and target people with specific religious backgrounds. How are these actions helping bring equal treatment, or equal respect to those with values that differ from ours. Although these acts are not violent, or have yet to turn towards violence, how do they differ from those such as the New Zealand Mosque shootings, or even the holocaust it self? Comments, actions, and beliefs are what led to the mosque shooting and even the holocaust. What can we do to prevent these things from happening?
Reading the articles I was wondering what punishment are these students facing. This lead me to ask, If they are not receiving punishment (or even only receiving a small one) what is keeping them from doing this again? With 38 states not requiring the students to be educated of the holocaust, what steps can our government take? Should the students be forgiven for their hatred and insensitivity?
On a similar note, in my high school (a small charter school in Thornton, Colorado) there were increasing rates of anti semitism towards the teachers who were Jewish throughout my junior and senior year. People carved swastikas in the lab benches, and on calculator screens. They even posted memes about teachers comparing them to jewish people who died in concentration camps and geotagged it in Auschwitz. What can you as an individual do to prevent or stop actions that are racist toward people with religious backgrounds that are not congruent to yours?
Articles used :
https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/12/us/california-swastikas-at-school/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/08/us/california-holocaust-survivor-talks-to-students/index.html
Work cited
Becker, Stephanie. “High School Plastered with Swastikas after Holocaust
Survivor Visit.” CNN, Cable News Network, 13 Mar. 2019, http://www.cnn.com/2019/03/12/us/california-swastikas-at-school/index.html.
Simon, Mallory, and Sara Sidner. “Anne Frank’s Stepsister Meets Teens Who Partied with Swastika.” CNN, Cable News Network, 8 Mar. 2019, http://www.cnn.com/2019/03/08/us/california-holocaust-survivor-talks-to-students/index.html.
contemporaryamericanreligion 
I find this so disheartening. It is appalling to me that this history is not mandatory in public education in the U.S. These students deserve a very harsh punishment; but it should be something that forces them to really look at this history and the impact it had on survivors. Sometimes teens need to be scared straight and the complete lack of respect in this situation leads me to think they are in need of some serious community service time as well as a lengthy research assignment on the holocaust. I think a traveling holocaust museum would be a very impactful addition to education of all ages.
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Great post! I love how you used questions in this to get the reader to think about what you were writing while presenting the information. I agree with you when you talked about that if the students don’t receive punishment, they won’t learn from their actions. I actually just learned about this from an education standpoint in my education class today! Students need to be punished for their actions in order to learn how to properly behave.
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I find it really disturbing whenever I hear about events where kids are being extremely intolerant of other people. I’m not sure if it the fault lies with the public education system, where it doesn’t adequately teach them what is and is not acceptable with regards to disagreeing with other people’s opinion, or if this problem stems solely from the individual regardless of education. I understand the students apologizing, but I still feel that this situation is totally avoidable. No student should need to be prompted to be tolerant of other people’s religions and/or ethnic backgrounds. I also wonder what kind of punishment these students are facing, and what kind of punishment is even appropriate for this kind of behavior. I am sure that the school is not handling this incident to the extent that it deserves.
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Like other classmates have stated, I also find this really disturbing. I feel like the students need to be held accountable for their actions. Although bringing a speaker in to play to their emotions can definitely help, I think it doesn’t always prevent this kind of behavior. It reminds me of the scare tactics they used to prevent drinking and drug use in high school. For many, it worked. I always wonder how much schools can intervene beyond making sure students have adequate information on why these things are wrong. Do you think schools have the authority to punish students for behavior like this, such as suspension or expulsion?
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I also find this disturbing, but I can relate to it in a sense because kids in my old high school back in South Dakota used to do this, they also did it when the Confederate flag was getting blasted around social media. Two very different things, but it reminded me of that because even though it offended students and staff, with each thing kinds kept doing it so much so that we finally just had to ignore it. It’s awful. In my mind, I think ISS or OSS would’ve been the best option for “punishments.” IF you can et ISS for speaking out in class about something along these lines on the other side of the situation then you should if you’re physically acting out like this for attention.
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