Anne Frank's Stepsister To Meet Nazi-Saluting Newport Teens

NEWPORT BEACH, CA —The social media display of current and former Newport Harbor High School students saluting a Nazi swastika-shaped game of beer pong is more than a travesty, according to local religious leaders. It is a "teachable moment," Rabbi Reuven Mintz of the Chabad Center For Jewish Life of Newport Beach says.

"It's imperative that today's young people come face to face with the consequences of unchecked hatred," Mintz said.

Together with religious and school leaders, Mintz has organized a meeting with the group of students who attended the now infamous "Nazi Salute" off-campus party and 89-year-old Eva Schloss, a Holocaust survivor.

Schloss, a stepsister of Anne Frank, wrote of her experiences in her book "After Auschwitz: A Story of Heartbreak and Survival." That meeting will be private, organizers say.

"Our hope is that meeting someone who witnessed firsthand the atrocities committed under that same swastika and salute will help guide these students toward a life of tolerance and acceptance, spreading a message of inclusion and love, rather than one of hatred," Mintz said.

Though students may have thought they were embarking in "harmless fun," the off-campus stunt was no laughing matter to school officials and government representatives who have decried the act.

Sen. John Moorlach, R-Costa Mesa criticized the anti-Semitic photo.

"I want to express my condemnation of any and all anti-Semitic acts, and again emphasize my solidarity with the Jewish community in Orange County and elsewhere," Moorlach said.

"This is a personal matter for me," he added. "My folks, ages 91 and 88, suffered in their teenage years as the Nazi blitzkrieg conquered our native Holland in 1940. In 1944-45, they and all Dutch people suffered as the Nazis, their evil nearing defeat, imposed famine in Holland just before the Allies liberated it. My wife is also of partial Jewish ancestry.

"I also have long worked with local Jewish friends and groups to promote tolerance and fight hate. This (incident) also sparked in me an interest in California Jewish history, of which numerous volumes now are in my personal library."

Moorlach said he supports "a response that seeks to educate these students on the real evils of Nazism and the Holocaust is an appropriate resolution to what was likely a poor and ill-informed high school gag."

Schloss, whose father, brother and stepsister Anne Frank perished in the Holocaust, and others, will gather with the group of Newport Beach students involved in the incident in the hope of impacting those who callously disregarded history.

JSerra Catholic High School President Rich Meyer, Principal Eric Stroupe and Vice President of Mission and Faith Patrick Reidy co-signed a letter to parents condemning the photo and announcing that one of their students, who was involved in the stunt, has left the San Juan Capistrano school.

The images left school officials "angry, embarrassed and disappointed," the educators wrote in the letter sent to parents on Tuesday. "We later learned a JSerra student was in the photographs, which only amplified our emotions.

"While it is our policy to keep matters of student discipline confidential, we feel it is important to let you know the JSerra student in the photographs is now a former student," the letter says. "In speaking with the student and the student's parents, we fundamentally believe there is extreme remorse and contrition.

Accordingly, we ask that you, as merciful people of faith who believe in redemption, please keep the student and the student's family in your prayers as the student's actions will have painful, long-lasting consequences. We fear people will seek retribution, when instead we should provide forgiveness."

The JSerra educators emphasized that the school "has always included students and families of the Jewish faith" and "profusely apologize on behalf of the school."

They said JSerra teachers focus on the "horrors of World War II" in the school's curriculum, and, particularly, sophomore English students "spend the entirety of the second quarter working on the Genocide Project, where students are explicitly taught about the Holocaust." And many JSerra students often choose to participate in Chapman University's Holocaust Writing and Art Contest, they said.
But JSerra officials said they believe they can do more. In coming talks with students, the school "will focus on the scourge of racist attitudes and behaviors, addressing the issue from theological and moral perspectives," they wrote.

A community meeting with parents will take place on Thursday at 6 p.m. at Corona Del Mar High School.

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OC High School Students Play Swastika Beer Pong, Nazi Salute: Report

City News Service contributed to this report.