A staff member at an elementary school in Washington DC allegedly instructed third grade students in a library class to reenact incidents from the Holocaust, telling them to pretend to dig mass graves for their classmates and simulate shooting the victims, the Washington Post reported.
The instructor, who was placed on leave on Friday, allegedly gave each student a specific role, according to an email from Watkins Elementary School Principal M. Scott Berkowitz to the parents of students in the class.
One of the students was given the role of Adolf Hitler by the instructor, the email said. That student is Jewish, according to a parent whose child was asked to take part in the offensive exercise. At the end of the reenactment, the student playing Hitler was told to pretend to commit suicide, simulating Hitler’s final act.
The students had been in library class on Friday for a self-directed project to be presented before winter break. However, the instructor instead used the research period to perform the reenactment, Berkowitz wrote.
“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,” Berkowitz said.
According to a parent of one of the children who spoke to the Washington Post, the instructor allegedly made anti-Semitic statements during the exercise when asked by a student why the Nazis perpetrated the Holocaust. The parent said that the teacher answered that it was “because the Jews ruined Christmas.”
The instructor reportedly told the students not to tell anyone about the reenactment but they notified their homeroom teacher.
In a statement to CNN, DC Public Schools (DCPS) said that the school is under investigation and the teacher was placed on leave pending the outcome.
"This was not an approved lesson plan, and we sincerely apologize to our students and families who were subjected to this incident," DCPS said. “Students are being supported by our DCPS Comprehensive Alternative Resolution and Equity Team."