The Jewish Community Council of Victoria has offered to help educate the teachers and students at Richmond Primary School, after a parent noticed a pro-Hitler school project displayed in a classroom.
Sarah Lyford, who is in the process of converting to Judaism and whose husband is Jewish, visited Richmond Primary School where her son is in the first grade.
“I noticed a swastika on the display board [in one of the classrooms],” Lyford said.
“I went in for a closer look, thinking to myself that it was probably in the context of a project on the Holocaust. What I found was a project on German culture with written text stating that Hitler was ‘one of the many great things about Germany’ and ‘one of the world’s most powerful dictators ever’.”
Lyford said that if her child had created the project, she would have been “appalled”.
“As a community, we must hold ourselves accountable for the way we allow our children to present information,” she said.
“Awareness and education are the only ways to prevent anything like the Holocaust happening again and the place to keep that in check is obviously our children.”
Richmond Primary School principal Megan Smith told The Sunday Herald Sun the wording was “unfortunate”.
“However, it does not in any way glorify Hitler or the Nazis … We do not condone what Hitler or the Nazis did. I am sure no offence was meant,” Smith said.
JCCV president Anton Block has written to Victoria’s Education Minister Bronwyn Pike.
Block said the JCCV’s concern was not with the young student’s project, rather he is worried that teachers saw fit to put the project on display on a school open day.
“Even more than that, they failed to use this event as an opportunity to educate children – and apparently staff – about the evils and repercussions of hatred,” Block wrote to Pike.
“To permit and then excuse this display was both scandalous and a missed learning opportunity,” Block wrote, adding that the JCCV was happy to help “fill this seeming hole” in the teachers’ and students’ education.
(Source: Australian Jewish News)
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2 Responses
Another reminded we are in Golus.
History is repeating it self.
It all leads to point out that when we get to comfortable with our lives Hashem send us messages through incidents like this swastika for us to do Teshuva.
I am appealing to all of Klall Yisroel to open up your hearts and remember that, WE are all in Golus none of us came to this world to wine and dine, even though it’s loads of fun to live that way, now that we are very settled in the golden Medina (USA, Europe etc.) we have to watch ourselves to see if the almighty is happy with our every day life style and many of us would agree that we need the change.
It’s not by chance that the pres. elect in USA has been compared to Hitler-YMS its a clear message from Somayim, that we must wake up on time because very soon it will be to late, the doors of USA are slowly shutting down, many businesses have already closed and many more on the way down, expect the stock market to dwindle to absolutely ZERO, the “false” system of make believe, is almost completely bankrupt, WHY IS ALL THIS HAPPENING in order to get us closer to Hashem, by doing Teshuva.
By doing Teshuva the Geula will be here in no time.
May we all be Zocha to see the third everlasting Bais HaMidosh in Israel and serve Hashem for ever more with Mitzvos as described in the holy Torah.