Newport Beach, CA – Flyers with Nazi swastikas were posted at a California school just days after a Holocaust survivor shared her firsthand horrors with students who had posted antisemitic photographs during a party.
Ten flyers were discovered at Newport Harbor High School on Sunday morning. Police were called and the flyers were removed. While posting the flyers is not a crime, Newport Beach police are investigating.
School principal Sean Boulton said in a statement: “Again we condemn all acts of antisemitism and hate in all their forms. We will continue to be vigilant with our stance, and the care of our students and staff.”
But one senior at the school, Max Drakeford, called the latest episode “super disheartening — a step backward.”
Drakeford, whose grandmother survived the Holocaust, said the posters “send a message that we aren’t welcome at our own school.”
Katrina Foley, mayor of the neighboring city of Costa Mesa, where the party was held, said she felt there was a sinister motive.
“That tells me that there is a small group of people who want to intimidate students from speaking out. We should not allow that to happen, she told CNN’s Sara Sidner. “They are trying to intimidate an entire community from speaking out.”
Rabbi Reuven Mintz, who has been working with the school district to educate students about the Holocaust, said he believed the posters were put up by an outside group, not students.
He had been alarmed by the participation of some Jewish students in the initial incident on March 3 when teenagers posted photos of themselves with arms raised in a Nazi salute around a swastika made of plastic cups. “The fact that they didn’t stop it is disturbing to me.”
