VIENNA — Five Austrian school students are being investigated for playing Nazi guards as part of coursework designed to teach them about the risks of indoctrination, a prosecutor says Wednesday.
“This is the first such case as far as I know… an investigation has been opened based on the law against Nazi activities,” prosecutor Johann Fuchs tells AFP, confirming a report in the daily Kurier.
The students allegedly put on the role play during breaks after a teacher at their school in Zurndorf in Burgenland state asked them to study the 1981 American film “The Wave” and the book of the same name by Todd Strasser, alias Morton Rhue.
Used frequently around the world, these works are based on a 1967 real-life experiment in California by a history teacher.
Seeking to highlight Nazi indoctrination mechanisms, the teacher enlisted students in a fascist experiment but instead of revulsion, it drew more enthusiasm from them than anyone expected.
At the Zurndorf school, some students pretended to be SS guards, while others took on the roles of “dirty Jews,” the Kurier newspaper said. The supposed leader, 15, demanded to be addressed with the Nazi salute; those who resisted were locked into a “gas chamber.”
— AFP
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