Teacher placed on leave after making students re-enact the Holocaust

A DC school teacher was placed on leave after having third graders re-enact scenes from the Holocaust.

Her instruction methods supposedly included students pretending to dig mass graves, simulating mass shootings, and having a Jewish student play Adolf Hitler.

According to the New York Post, the teacher was from Watkins Elementary School, and made a statement to parents concerning the issue. Scott Berkowitz added that it was “alleged that the staff member leading the lesson made anti-Semitic statements.” As a result, the educator has been placed on leave since Friday.

“I want to acknowledge the gravity of this poor instructional decision, as students should never be asked to act out our portray any atrocity, especially genocide, war, or murder,” Berkowitz said in his statements.

Parents complained to the school, and reported emotional distress from their children. One parent said her son was told to pretend to be on a train to a concentration camp, to pretend to shoot his peers, and then pretend to die in a gas chamber.

When kids asked the teacher why they had to do this, her response was “because the Jews ruined Christmas.” Several parents spoke up about their children after the incident. “They are traumatized. One parent said that their child was worried the teacher in question was hiding at their house. Children are having nightmares and generally having a very hard time,” one mother said.

The children have since met with the school’s mental health response team. The librarian has denied the events taking place in the library, and has stated that she will wait until a proper investigation.