Iowa school officials apologize after quoting World War II Nazi in morning announcements

DES MOINES, Iowa — An Iowa school district has apologized after using a quote tied to World War II Nazis as part of its morning announcements.

In an email shared with the Des Moines Register, part of the USA TODAY Network, the Indianola Community School District apologized for using a quote by Heinrich Himmler — a high-ranking Nazi considered to be the architect of the Holocaust. The quote "My honor is my loyalty" was the "Respect Quote of the Day" that was shared over Indianola Middle School's public address system and in an email to families on Monday, KCCI reported.

The phrase was used in Nazi Germany by the Schutzstaffel or SS, the Nazi Party's paramilitary group, to show their loyalty to Adolf Hitler, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The school district later apologized to families in an email, saying that a "staff member did not realize that the quote was from a highly inappropriate source."

"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.

"I first want to apologize for the oversight," Ihns added. "While it was completely unintentional, I understand that some of those who saw the quote and realized the source were offended."

Ihns said district 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.

District officials did not respond to the Register's emails or phone calls seeking additional information.

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'Words have power'

Experts stress that school 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 academic institutions of their "federal legal obligations to ensure nondiscriminatory environments" for all students amid an increase in "antisemitic incidents and threats to Jewish, Israeli, Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian students on college campuses and in P-12 schools."

Rise in hate incidents across the U.S.

Since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, there has been a spike in antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents across the country.

According to the ADL, the group has documented 832 antisemitic incidents of assault, vandalism, and harassment between Oct. 7 and Nov. 7. And the Council On American Islamic Relations has received 1,283 requests for help and reports of bias between Oct. 7 and Nov. 4.

The Israel-Hamas war has also stirred tensions at academic institutions, with numerous schools drawing national attention for dueling protests, alleged hate incidents, and criticism of how university leaders are handling students' behavior.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Education said its Office of Civil Rights opened seven investigations related to alleged antisemitic and anti-Muslim harassment at six colleges and in one K-12 school district since the war began. The schools are accused of violating federal laws prohibiting discrimination or harassment based on a person’s shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics.

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Nazi quotes slip into school settings

Indianola is not the only school district that has used quotes attributed to Nazis 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.

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 (it) 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."

Contributing: Zachary Schermele, USA TODAY

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.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa school district apologizes for using Nazi quote in announcement