CA Students Form Human Swastika On Football Field, Post Hitler Quote: Reports

SAN JOSE, CA — A viral photo of high school students forming a human swastika lying on their campus football field has sent shockwaves through Silicon Valley.

The photo of eight Branham High School students was posted on Wednesday to Instagram, along with an antisemitic 1939 quote from Adolf Hitler. The post was removed by Friday morning, The Jewish News of Northern California reported.

Although the post and account were removed from Instagram, screenshots of the post and image have circulated on places like Nextdoor and Reddit.

The eight students in the photo have not been publicly identified by law enforcement.

Branham High School Principal Beth Silbergeld, who is Jewish, decried the incident in a statement to parents.

“The incident is being investigated in accordance with district procedures, and appropriate follow-up will occur. We want to be clear: Branham stands firmly against all forms of hate, discrimination, and intolerance. Acts that target, demean, or threaten others have no place on our campus," she said.

Silbergeld said that the school is working with local police, the Anti-Defamation League and the Bay Area Jewish Coalition: “to ensure that we receive appropriate support and guidance as we work to repair the harm that’s been done to our community,” The Jewish News reported.

The principal said the incident will be addressed with the student body.

“Personally, I am horrified by this act. Professionally, I am confident and hopeful that our school community can learn from this moment and emerge stronger and more united," she told the Los Angeles Times.

Jewish students and their parents have expressed distress following the incident.

“I was really scared, my identity feels threatened right now,” a Jewish senior at the school told the newspaper, under the condition of anonymity. “There are people at my school who think they can get away with this. And for me, that was just really, really scary to know.”

In the quote used in the post, which was translated from German through a function of Instagram, Hitler proclaimed that if there was another world war, it would be the fault of Jewish people and that such a war would lead to the "annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe," according to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.