A New Jersey middle school has recalled its yearbooks and launched an investigation after a photograph of Adolf Hitler as a baby was discovered in a section meant for students' childhood pictures.
The incident occurred at East Brook Middle School in Paramus, New Jersey, where graduating eighth-grade students had submitted baby photos for a commemorative yearbook collage. Among the images was a black-and-white photograph believed to show Hitler shortly after his birth in 1889. School officials said the image was submitted by a student and was not identified before the yearbook went to print.
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Photo discovered after students began signing yearbooks
According to reports, the yearbooks had already been distributed when the issue came to light. A teacher reportedly noticed the image while students were exchanging signatures and messages in one another's yearbooks earlier this month. The discovery immediately raised questions about how the photograph made it through the submission, editing and proofreading process without being flagged.
School administrators quickly collected the yearbooks before students could take them home and began working on a replacement version.
Principal calls the image 'unacceptable'
In a letter sent to families, Principal Ryan Aupperlee strongly condemned the inclusion of the image.
"Earlier today, after students had already received their yearbooks, we learned that the baby pictures section of the yearbook contained an image that was later identified as an infant photograph of Adolf Hitler."
He added: "We immediately collected the yearbooks so the image would not remain in circulation."
"I want to be direct with you: the presence of this image is unacceptable. Even if the image was not immediately recognizable to those paging through the book, its inclusion in an official school publication is a severe breach of our values."
He continued: "Adolf Hitler represents hatred, antisemitism, and the horrors of the Holocaust, including the murder of six million Jews. An image of him has no place in a yearbook created for our students. It does not reflect who we are or what East Brook stands for, and we condemn its inclusion without reservation."
