Andover Pulls Yearbook After Nazi Senior Quote

ANDOVER, MA — A high school that had been plagued by what were investigated as hate crimes this year is pulling its yearbook after it was discovered a senior used a Nazi quote.

Andover High School Principal Philip Conrad said Wednesday in a letter to the school community school officials were "horrified" to discover one quote, which is unattributed in the yearbook, is usually attributed to either Adolph Hitler or Joseph Goebbels "about propagating lies and having people believe those lies to be the truth.”

Conrad did not reveal who wrote the quote. He said the student got it without knowing its history and "hateful background."

WCVB identified the quote as, "Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it." A Google search of the quote brings up several references to Hitler, Goebbels, and Nazi Germany.

"Quoting a racist dictator bent on genocide or his minister of propaganda has no place in our school or our community and it is deeply upsetting to all of us," Conrad said.

At least three times this year swastikas were found at the school. In December, three swastikas were found drawn on a desk in a Jewish teacher's classroom just before the beginning of Hanukkah.

The school will not sell the yearbook until the page with the quote is replaced. Students can return the yearbook to the school and have the publisher replace the page, or can pick up a sticker and have the yearbook sent to them.

"Every year, our yearbook students spend hours upon hours working on what we always hope will be a perfect yearbook, reflective of our year here in Andover and inclusive of this student body," Conrad said. "This year, however, despite our careful vetting process, a senior quote made it to publication that does not have a home in our yearbook, our school, or our community."

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