AIBU to not want to see school children dressed in swastikas?

[Ben10sMum]

My DS is in Y2 at a small CofE school. We are of Jewish heritage but non-practising & I wanted DC to go to the village school. A large part of my GPs & GGPs siblings were killed by the Nazis.

When I went to pick him up the other day, I noticed 2 costumes with swastikas all over them hanging up in the Y6 classroom. I asked the head teacher what they were for. Apparently, Y6 are for a cluster schools drama production about rationing in WW2. The costumes are for the 'squander bugs' who are comedy characters of dubious nazi allegiance who go round squandering all the food supply (or something like that). The head said they've had all the history explained.
AIBU to think its inappropriate to dress children in swastikas and to hang the outfits in the school window. I would be horrified to go to a play only to see DS covered in swastikas and I'm not sure nazism is appropriate comedy at primary school.

Or am I being too easily bothered by this and should I just let it go? Or should I complain?

No given your family history this is inappropriate. I would go to the head and just have a quiet word. Explain your personal reasons and then leave it up to them.

FWIW I can understand that at the time they would have made fun of hitler and nazis using such costumes for squander bugs. But for me I feel that holding them up for ridicule is inappropriate in our day and age.

They are playing characters in a play who are nazi's so it is appropriate, ergo, sound of music.

Sorry to hear about your family's background - I can understand why you'd not be thrilled by the idea, but it does have historical precedent:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squander_Bug

So at least they are being accurate. I wonder how much a Y2 pupil can really grasp about WWII, in terms of the human cost? (Don't have school-age children.)

Given the context, no I really don't think they're being unreasonable. They're doing a play which happens to have Nazis in them.
Therefore, it stands to reason they'd have costumes on display.
I can understand you'd be upset given your family background, but you can't airbrush history.

I'm not sure that age group can really grasp what Nazis did, I would be concerned that using swastikas would be inappropriate with children not comprehending the implications.

It a serious subject, not to be brushed over.

Thanks for the objective views - really helpful.

I had a quiet word with head explaining our situation & just requested that my DCs weren't asked to play those kind of roles in future productions.

I can see why you feel uncomfortable about it with such young children and in a production that treats the whole thing as a bit of a joke, but I wouldn't put down any blanket bans for the future.

In a few years time your children will be far more mature and aware and may well want to act in such a play (e.g. Anne Frank's diary) exactly because they do understand the concept and want to raise awareness?

I can understand your feelings about it, bit I think the fact that you have reason to feel the way you do is one of the major reasons why children have to be taught about WW2, with an appropriate amount of detail. Children often learn about it in Y6, and I think that by that age they are able to understand the reality as much as anyone who wasn't there can.

I think doing a play that includes Nazi characters is a reasonable thing to do, children often do plays and drama productions about what they have been learning and this is no different.

Whaaaaa? I cannot believe these responses! Yes OP it is offensive, unsettling and upsetting especially for people whose parents and grandparents died in the holocaust...this is recent history.

It is NOT reasonable or necessary to actually wear Nazi uniforms or Swastikas at a primary school. The play can be done in generic military without this if necessary.

This is not about covering up history or shielding kids from what they need to learn, but about sensitivity and not bearing such a dreadful logo with such horrific, emotional connotations.

Military uniform, I meant

It's the year 6 children not year 2?

If so yabu. They can't please everyone and change the curriculum to suit individuals.

Ben10smum - wow, I'm sorry about these responses. I don't think you are being U at all as I said above.

To me it's only offensive if they portray nazis to be something other than what they were.

We can't write them or their symbol out of history, and to be scared of allowing children to see a swastika in any way other than a text book is to give the symbol more power than it is worthy of.

I can understand how you feel given your family history but this was a significant time in history. Yes it was awful but to ignore it would be to deny it happened.

A gay friend of dd is taking part in a production of the Laramie project. Very difficult for his friends who have to speak these horrible homophobic lines in front of him (apparently some broke down in tears in audition and couldn't go on), but I can totally see why he wants to do it.

It's a question of age and awareness, isn't it? Yr 2 does seem to suggest a jolly cuddly approach which would seem more offensive.

No given your family history this is inappropriate.

Given history, family or otherwise, it is inappropriate.

Yes it may well have been used at the time, but the general public only knew the swastika as a German symbol, the 'final solution' was not generally known (although governments did know).

How many series of 'Allo Allo' were there? Not a swastika in sight.

It's a tricky one - I'm on the fence. Of course I understand why you feel so uncomfortable, and the "comedy Nazi" role is very unsettling. But then - you could argue that anything that promotes awareness of the (still recent) past is important. Isn't it better to have this than to have a lack of knowledge?

I think it depends entirety on how the symbols are presented. It would be wrong to pretend they never existed. Providing they are shown as representing a hateful regime to be despised by the children and by history then I would approve of their use.

I'm not sure how you can teach the holocaust without swastikas involved.

Retropear

They are not teaching the holocaust, not at 6 years old. I believe in Y2 they look at WW2 from the point of view of life in Britain at the time, they don't cover the holocaust until they are 10 and can understand it better.

I remember squander bugs - from when we studied WWII in what would now be called Y6. They're not exactly comic characters. They are from posters urging people not to waste food - so convey how the cumulative effect of small choices at home can help the enemy - and are quite nasty looking. The swastikas convey that the nazis could benefit, it was a tactic to get people's attention and get them to take waste seriously.

So the characters might seem comic, as they're bugs but in a very menacing way. They represent the 'villain' but it's a play, not a pantomime and I think 10-11yo will be very well aware of that and of the reality behind the subject matter. As such, the swastikas are simply the symbol of the enemy, which is factually correct and it would seem really odd to pretend otherwise.

Actually I think that in a play about WWII the nazis have to be represented somehow and that using a fantastical character from a British poster is a cleverly considered way of doing that. Far preferable to having a child acting as a German - that could be really problematic.

Honestly, I don't think one person's family history is a reason to change school activity (unless it's a child's direct experience) - because WWII and the holocaust are part of European history, human history as a whole and should always be treated appropriately by everyone always, regardless of any individual's heritage. It would not be ok to make light of the subject just because there was no-one present likely to be personally offended.

The children involved are not 6!

Year 6 is 10-11, final year juniors.

Actually sashh that's a good point about what the swastika represented then - the enemy in war, as opposed to now - murderous hatred and genocide. That is a good reason not to use them at all.

We did a secondary school play about WWII in the late 80s and I suspect there were swastikas. The only professional plays I can think of have been slightly oblique, so used an alternative symbol, same colours.

Films are different because the desired performance is captured - no room for uncomfortable errors or deliberate subversion by a performer - and the costume is not 'live' in a room full of other people.

Also only professional actors take part. No room for confusion with acceptable dressing up costume for example.

So yes, I think the subject matter is entirely appropriate for the age group (especially a focus on the domestic front, as our studies at that age did) but wearing the swastika is not.

History is history.
I am just pleased children are engaging with it.
Only by each successive generation learning of the wickedness of the Nazis will we stop it from happening again.

Travel to India and you'll see swastikas everywhere. The swastika is used by a huge number of cultures and has been around for over a millennium.
www.sanskrit.org/www/Hindu%20Primer/swastika.html

So I'm sorry OP, while I understand your sensitivities, they aren't getting dressed up for a fancy dress party.

i have to agree with harticus, you are being a little unreasonable.

you can't be ok with learning history and leaving out the parts that are particularly offensive to you.