Third Graders Instructed to Re-enact Events From Holocaust: Report

WASHINGTON, DC — An elementary school staff member in Washington, D.C., instructed third grade students to re-enact scenes from the Holocaust and, when asked by the children why the Germans committed the atrocities, the staff member said it was “because the Jews ruined Christmas,” according to news reports.

The third graders at Watkins Elementary School in southeast D.C. were told to re-enact the digging of mass graves and the shooting of victims as part of a library class, the Washington Post reported Sunday.

The staff member who led the class was placed on leave Friday.

“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,” Watkins Elementary School Principal MScott Berkowitz said in an email to the third graders’ parents.

One student was instructed to act as Adolf Hitler and then pretend to commit suicide at the end of the re-enactment, as Hitler did in April 1945.

In his letter sent to the parents, Berkowitz said the re-enactment included "students being asked to portray participants from the Holocaust like Adolf Hitler, digging ditches to serve as mass graves, and simulated shootings. It was also alleged that the staff member leading the lesson also made anti-Semitic statements."

One of the parents said her child told her that when the children asked why the Germans did this, the staff member said it was “because the Jews ruined Christmas,” the Washington Post reported.

Another third grader's mother said the staff member who gave the lesson instructed the students not to tell their parents. The mother said the students told their homeroom teacher, who reported the incident.

D.C. Public Schools said in a statement Sunday that the Holocaust re-enactment "was not an approved lesson plan." The school system apologized to the students and families "who were subjected to this incident."

The school system said it has launched an investigation into what happened.

A librarian at the school told FOX5 that "somebody’s misquoting what happened in the library that day."

There was no Holocaust re-enactment during the instruction period in the library, the librarian said. "I’m going to wait for the investigation. I was shocked to see it myself," she said, referring to the principal's letter sent to parents, according to FOX5.

The entire class met with the school’s mental health response team after the Friday incident, according to Berkowitz’s email.