Iowa school officials apologize after mistakenly quoting WWII Nazi who devised Holocaust
Indianola Community School District has apologized after mistakenly using a quote by Heinrich Himmler — a high-ranking Nazi considered to be the architect of the Holocaust — as part of its morning announcements.
The quote "My honor is my loyalty" attributed to Heinrich was the Nov. 20 Respect Quote of the Day, according KCCI. The quote was shared over the middle school's public address system and in an email to families.
The phrase "loyalty is my honor” was used in Nazi Germany by the Schutzstaffel or SS to show their loyalty to Adolf Hitler, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The Anti-Defamation League or ADL aims to "stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all."
District officials shared the apology letter with the Des Moines Register but did not respond to emails or phone calls seeking additional information.
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The letter included an apology to district families for the mistake, Iowa Public Radio reported Monday.
"This morning (Nov. 20), an administrative staff member accidentally posted a Respect Quote of the Day before checking the source of the quote," Indianola Superintendent Ted Ihns wrote in the email. "The staff member did not realize that the quote was from a highly inappropriate source."
Ihns wrote that officials plan to implement a new process for double-checking the quotes going forward. He did not give details on what the change would include.
Related: State party chair calls on University of Iowa Democrats to resign after 'anti-Semitic' post
'Words have power' experts say
Experts stress schools officials need to remember that words can influence people.
"Taking a step back, what are you trying to communicate?" said Jarad Bernstein, Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines executive director, in an interview with the Register. "Maybe it is a powerful tool to help educate, but because you're gonna go down that route, know what you are doing, because words have power."
Bernstein recommends officials do a Google search before using any quotes in the future.
The Indianola quote incident comes just weeks after the U.S. Department of Education released a "Dear Colleague" letter to remind officials of their "federal legal obligations to ensure nondiscriminatory environments" for all students amid an increase in "anti-Semitic incidents and threats to Jewish, Israeli, Muslim, Arab and Palestinian students on college campuses and in P-12 schools."
The increase in antisemitic incidents is due to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Bernstein said.
Nazi quotes slip into school settings
Indianola is not alone in quotes attributed to Nazis being used in schools.
In May 2019, a Green Bay Area Public Schools high school senior in Green Bay, Wisconsin, used "'If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.' - Adolf Hitler" as his yearbook quote. The quote is a paraphrase of a statement by Hitler’s propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels.
Related: Humanity 'experienced tremendous loss' with death of Des Moines' last Holocaust survivor
At the time, the district announced it would discontinue the practice of allowing senior quotes in yearbooks.
In February of 2021, Westside Community School District officials in Omaha, Nebraska, apologized after a staff member displayed the quote “The man who has no sense of history is like a man with no ears or eyes" — which is attributed to Hitler — in an eighth-grade hallway, WOWT reported at the time.
Bernstein hopes the use of the Himmler quote was an honest mistake because the incident could have an impact on the school's overall climate.
"The Nazi regime was an enemy of the United States," he said. "What would you do if you googled the quote and turned out to be from Robert Lee? Do you think that would be appropriate? No. If you're trying to communicate an idea, find a better way or a better source."
Samantha Hernandez covers education for the Register. Reach her at svhernandez@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @svhernandez or Facebook at facebook.com/svhernandezreporter.
Read the school district's entire letter
Dear Families,
This morning, an administrative staff member accidentally posted a “Respect Quote of the Day” before checking the source of the quote. The staff member did not realize that the quote was from a highly inappropriate source.
The quote was included in our morning email announcement to families and read over the PA system at school.
I first want to apologize for the oversight. While it was completely unintentional, I understand that some of those who saw the quote and realized the source were offended. Again, we are very sorry for this mistake.
Moving forward, we will implement a new process for our Respect Quote of the Day to be sure that we are double-checking all sources and ensuring the quotes are appropriate for our students.
I appreciate your patience and understanding as we navigate this issue. Thank you for your attention to this update.
Sincerely,
Ted Ihns
Superintendent
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Indianola schools officials promise change after using Nazi quote
