Aussie school under fire for photos of students in blackface, Hitler costume

A school in a small town in Australia was forced to apologize this week after sharing photos of students dressed in blackface and as Adolf Hitler.

The photos, which were published on Rowena Public School’s Facebook page, included one of the principal smiling next to a student wearing blackface as African-American track star Jesse Owens, a gold medalist at the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany.

Another photo showed the student in the Jesse Owens costume alongside two other students, one of whom was dressed as Hitler.

Following an uproar over the images, the school issued an apology before taking down its Facebook page.

“The school unreservedly apologizes for two photos that were published yesterday on our Facebook page. They have been removed. These photos were unacceptable. Rowena Public School is a caring and supportive learning environment. We reject racism in all its forms,” it wrote.

The school, located in the New South Wales town of Rowena, has just 25 students, two teachers, and a principal, according to Australia’s New Matilda news site. Rowena itself has a population of some 200.

The costumes were part of a day held by the school to honor famous historical figures, the news site said.

The chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission, an Australian Jewish civil rights group, called the photos “egregious” and said the incident should not be dismissed as “innocent prank.”

“This is a wake up call that we all have much work to do in ensuring that all students understand the evils of the Holocaust, as well as the ugly history, dehumanization and pure bigotry that the blackface represents,” Dvir Abramovich said in a statement Thursday.

“We should all be asking themselves: where did these young people learn that it was OK to dress up in such costumes? And why did the principal, who is supposed to be a role model, exhibit such a serious lapse in judgement by approving of such conduct and posting those images,” Abramovich added.

He said he accepted the school’s apology but said the incident showed the need for Australia’s government to introduce mandatory Holocaust education and anti-bias programs.

The photos were the latest this year of Australian students to court controversy, after one from June of university students dressed in Nazi uniforms, concentration camp prisoner clothing, and Ku Klux Klan robes.