A class of eight- and nine-year-olds was allegedly forced to re-enact the Holocaust a teacher who told them to shoot victims and dig up mass graves to imitate the ruthless acts of the Nazi regime.
Third-grade pupils at the Watkins Elementary School in Washington, US, were in a library lesson on Friday when they were reportedly asked by their instructor to stage the harrowing events of the Holocaust, during which six million Jews were killed.
One pupil, said to be Jewish, was asked to act as Adolf Hitler and re-enact the moment he took his own life, an email from the school’s Principal MScott Berkowitz to the third-graders’ parents read, according to The Washington Post.
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“I want to acknowledge the gravity of this poor instructional decision, as students should never be asked to act out or portray any atrocity, especially genocide, war, or murder,” Mr Berkowitz said.
The pupils were reportedly told by the instructor not to tell anyone about the simulation, but they told their classroom teacher once they got back.
According to one parent, a pupil was asked to pretend he was a Jew on a train to a concentration camp, then die in a gas chamber. He was also told to act as if he were shooting Hitler’s victims, the parent, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
A spokesperson for the DC Public Schools’ Comprehensive Alternative Resolution (DCPS), to which the incident has been reported, told The Washington Post: “This was not an approved lesson plan, and we sincerely apologise to our students and families who were subjected to this incident.”
The instructor also allegedly used hate speech during the lesson, as she told the class the Holocaust happened because the “Jews ruined Christmas”.
She is now on leave pending an investigation.
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