A Wisconsin school district is investigating after a photo showing dozens of students giving the one-arm Nazi salute before their prom last spring surfaced on social media.
In a letter to parents, Baraboo Schools Superintendent Lori Mueller confirmed the viral photo featured Baraboo High School students but that it wasn’t taken on school grounds or at a school-organized event, Madison 365 reported.
A student says it was the photographer who encouraged the teens to make the Nazi salute. (Image courtesy of Twitter)
“The school district is investigating this situation and is working with parents, staff and local authorities,” Mueller wrote. “If the gesture is what it appears to be, the district will pursue any and all available and appropriate actions, including legal, to address the issue.”
She continued, “With that, we want to be very clear: the Baraboo School District is a hate-free environment where all people, regardless of race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin or ancestry, are respected and celebrated.”
The newspaper reported the photo was first published on the website of a local motorcycle photographer named Peter Gust. It was later shared to Twitter by @GoBaraboo, which dubs itself a “parody account.”
“We even got the black kid to throw it up #BarabooProud,” the page captioned the photo before deleting it.
Jordan Blue, a BHS student seen in the photo refusing to participate in the crude gesture, said it was the photographer who encouraged the teens to give the salute.
I spoke with the only student who is visibly not comfortable with the “salute”, he provided this statement. pic.twitter.com/HbNBc8xLOK
— Jules Suzdaltsev (@jules_su) November 12, 2018
“I couldn’t leave the photo as it was taken within five seconds … ,” Blue told Vice News contributor Jules Suzdaltsev. “The photographer took the photos telling us to make the sign. I knew what my morals were and it was not to salute something I firmly didn’t believe in.”
“I truly & firmly believe we need to make a change to this horrible act,” Blue continued, noting how uncomfortable, disappointed and scared he was with what was happening. “It needs to stop.”
Gust, who’s the parent of a Baraboo High School Student, denied this, however, saying he simply instructed the teens to wave “goodbye” to their parents.
“At the time I took the picture, there are all different stages of waving goodbye,” Gust told ABC station WISN. “I didn’t tell them to salute anything.
Gust has since removed the entire prom photo album from his website.
Still, the photo drew swift outrage and even caught the attention of the Auchwitz Memorial Museum, who decried the image via Twitter.
“It is so hard to find words…,” it began. “This is why every single day we work hard to educate. We need to explain what is the danger of hateful ideology rising. Auschwitz with its gas chambers was at the very end of the long process of normalizing and accommodating hatred.”
In a statement, the Baraboo Police Department said they were aware of the offensive photo and are aiding the district in its investigation.
Watch more in the video below.
A Wisconsin school district is investigating a photo of a group of high school boys giving what appears to be a Nazi salute, drawing a strong rebuke on social media. @ABonTV has the latest. pic.twitter.com/wwVsW98xA3
— Good Morning America (@GMA) November 13, 2018
