Student apologizes for anti-Semitic proposal to a dance

TCJewfolk, which supplied the image here, says it has confirmed that the two people pictured are seniors at Minnetonka High School.

The school district says it’s investigating, which shouldn’t take long because even the gymnasts who regularly come up with reasons why anti-Semitism and racism isn’t anti-Semitism and racism have no weapons on this one.

TCJewfolk says the social media account was deleted but one of the lovebirds posted to a new account:

“I apologize for my stupid mistake. There was no intent to offend anyone. Dm me if you would like to discuss anything.”

It’s entirely possible that the two kids were actually clueless. A survey last spring found two-thirds of millennials don’t know what Auschwitz is. Twenty-two percent haven’t got a clue what the Holocaust was.

“You wonder, in this day and age, how and why could someone still feel that this is an appropriate thing to do and to feel even?” Stu Schulman, who has two daughters who go to Minnetonka High School, tells WCCO.

Schulman and his wife have given presentations to students in the Minnetonka schools.

“At least one of those students has been in one of my own presentations, and my wife’s presentations,” Schulman told WCCO. “Given that experience, I don’t understand why anyone thought this would be acceptable.”

“In Spring 2018, the JCRC organized for local Holocaust survivor, Judith Meisel, to speak to 120 9th– 12th graders at Minnetonka High School,” said Steve Hunegs, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, in a statement. “In light of the situation, the JCRC stands ready to provide additional Holocaust education resources and guidance on how to support the district’s Jewish students and families.”

The school’s principal called the sign “deeply offensive” but won’t talk about any punishment for the students because of privacy concerns.

It might not be a bad idea to go over the history curriculum, though.

Archive: Recounting the Holocaust by podcast (MPR News)

Henry Oertelt’s story (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)