Students apologise for Holocaust jokes

STUDENTS who made Holocaust jokes on Facebook have apologised after the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies (JBOD) contacted their schools.

One student posted, “How many Jews can you fit in a car? 2 in the front 3 in the back and 1000 in the ashtray”, while another posted a meme of Anne Frank with the words “What’s burning? Oh, It’s my family”.

A parent in the community saw the posts online and contacted JBOD, who tracked down where the students were from and contacted the schools.

JBOD chief executive officer Vic Alhadeff said the material posted was sickening and their lack of understanding of the Holocaust and the hurt they caused highly disturbing.

“The upside is that every one of the principals was appalled, emphasising that their schools do not tolerate bigotry and that they would take appropriate action,” Alhadeff said.

“The messages of apology we received indicate that the episode will hopefully prove to be a learning experience for them all.”

One of the students apologised for her “distasteful, insensitive and hurtful comments” referring to “devastating events inflicted on the Jewish people” in a letter to Alhadeff.

“I deeply regret posting such filth, as my comments were very uncalled for, non-deserved and being an Aboriginal citizen myself, I know how much racism hurts and how damaging it is to see such horrid events being used for humorous purposes which attacks and offends defenceless individuals that have passed.”

The principal from one of the schools wrote to Alhadeff to express his personal “abhorrence at the highly offensive images” and that the messages showed an “an appalling lack of understanding of the terrible events of the Holocaust and anti-Semitism”.

“I find these totally opposed to the values we try to teach our students and to the values that we as a nation should be upholding.”

The principal said that his student who had posted online “will complete an after-school detention to reinforce that the school cannot tolerate actions that promote intolerance or are seen to trivialise or endorse acts of atrocity”.

The names of the students and schools have been withheld, due to the age of the students and the positive responses from principals.

JOSHUA LEVI