School yearbook quotes Hitler as teacher's 'favourite person in history'
A New York school district will hand out “improved” versions of the yearbook because a teacher was quoted naming Adolf Hitler as his “favourite person in history”.
On a yearbook page with a blurb called, “Meet the new guy on the block”, new Whitesville Central School history teacher Jeff Acor praised the German dictator responsible for the Holocaust that executed six million Jewish people in WW2.
According to WIVB, when asked to name his favourite person in history, Mr Acor said: “Adolf Hitler, who did many great things for Germany, and their youth, before the infamous Holocaust.
“Adolf was ousted and faced many hardships early in life, which a lot of people can relate to.
“Adolf is arguably the greatest public speaker in the history of the world. Adolf made many great strides to make Germany a world super power.”
Laurie Sanders, the superintendent of the Whitesville Central School District, told WIVB Mr Acor’s message was lost.
“I don’t believe he was joking. He was really looking it at through the lens of history and not, he wasn’t applauding anything he did,” she said.
“It’s questions that were asked of him and written down and he never got to see the entire writing.”
There were other “errors” too, Ms Sanders explained.
“When we read it, we felt that anything that promoted, or maybe perceived to imply hate, regardless of the intent, does not belong in the yearbook or at our school,” she said.
In a school-wide letter, Sanders wrote Mr Acor’s statement was “incomplete” and “mistakenly taken out of context”.
The yearbook committee will publish a “more accurate and complete quote form the teacher”.
Ms Sanders told the Olean Times Herald “no action has been taken” after a district investigation.
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