ANDOVER, MASS. (WHDH) - High school seniors are often asked to choose meaningful quotes to place under their yearbook pictures.
Like many other schools, Andover High School allows students to choose some words of wisdom to share with their classmates. However, school administrators were shocked to find out that one of their graduating seniors had chosen to quote a Nazi in his yearbook bio.
“Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it and eventually they will believe it” was the message that the student chose. It is attributed to Adolph Hitler’s propaganda minister Joseph Gobells.
Andover Rabbi Robert Goldstein says the school told him the student had no idea who was behind those words.
“The reality is,” Goldstein said, ” I don’t really believe there was an intention on part of the student to find some Nazi quote – I think he liked the quote. It probably reflected what he’s been thinking about and what people have been talking about.”
Lawrence high school senior Ariel Depena agreed, saying the student probably found the quote on social media and didn’t know who said it.
The principal admits that included the quote in the yearbook was an oversight on the school’s part, saying that any association to a racist dictator or his cohorts is deeply upsetting to the community and has no place in the school.
The school has decided to stop all yearbook sales in response to this incident.
The controversy over the yearbook quote comes on the heels of reports of swastikas drawn on desks at the high school.
Goldstein does not believe that the two incidents are connected. But rather, just an “unfortunate but relatively innocent mistake.”
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