To feel uncomfortable about the Nazi symbols on ds's shirt and arm? (Y11 shirt-signing day)

[GoodyGoodyGumdrops]

Y11s were signing each other's schools shirts today, the last day before Study Leave begins.

There's the expected complement of hearts and cocks-and-balls on ds's shirt. (Surprisingly little swearing.) Also many Stars of David - which I have no issue about, we're Jewish.

But I feel uncomfortable about the many swastikas and the number inked onto his left forearm.

Ds says that he wasn't picked out for the swastikas. Some boys were signing there name with one on everybody's shirt. TBH I don't know whether to believe him.

The swastikas are pure bad taste IMO. But the number on ds's forearm really bugs me.

I don't know what, if anything, to do about it.

THe number is just vindictive though

Wrenika - free/cheap swastika day? Wtf?!?!?! It matters not in the slightest that the symbol has been used before - it was used by a genocidal regime. It can be retired. A symbol does not have feelings, we do not need to destigmatize it. Can't you see how anxious/angry/threatened it makes Jews feel?

As to the kids - little bastards. Was history class rigour over their heads then? It's really not difficult to grasp: murder millions of innocent children, women, and men = bad = do not joke about it draw their symbol. I despair of people at times.

I guess the numbers were "just" numbers then because they've been used elsewhere before?

Utterly disgusting and shocking. I'm not in in a group affected by the holocaust, but if my child came home like that I'd be furious. If my child partook in it, we'd be on a not very fun trip to Poland shortly after followed by a written apology.

Southwinds the number was sharpied on his arm, his skin, not his shirt.

Wrenika 'destigmatise the swastika' I think not. I am sorry for the Hindus whose symbol has been degraded. However I am sorrier for the people who were degraded, abused and murdered. Not just Jews, but homosexuals, Gypsies, disabled, Communists and more. And the people who grew up knowing that this was their parents' legacy - to be the child of murderers and collaborators in murder.

No, the swastika can never be 'destigmatised'.

The shop my OH gets his tattoos done at does a yearly free/cheap swastika tattoo day - to help destigmatize the swastika.

!??!

'The shop my OH gets his tattoos done at does a yearly free/cheap swastika tattoo day - to help destigmatize the swastika.'

WTAF!? That is one symbol that is not going to be destigmatised. And if I saw someone with it tattooed on their skin I'd think they were, at best, an arsehole.

I'm not Jewish either and this horrifies me. Definitely report to the school.

Hindu symbols are differently oriented as a previous poster said. I think it's safe to assume that these children were not drawing hindu symbols - it was the Nazi swastika, plain and simple.

My eldest DS has a child in his class whose parents came here from India and she's called Swastika - probably a very normal name in India but definitely raises some eyebrows here. Hope school takes this seriously OP and that your DS isn't upset by the actions of his classmates.

FGS you are not going to make 1 iota of difference to those kids other than making your son the target of bullies, if he wasn't offended by it then leave it alone. He's 16, old enough to stand up for himself!

Yeah ImYourMama - complaining about racism is just going to lead to bullying so let's pretend it's not really very important

Did you know that the number of anti-Semitic attacked has rocketed in recent years? www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/02/reports-of-antisemitic-incidents-increase-to-record-levels-in-uk

I am gobsmacked it has ever been common to put into people's shirts! No swastikas on dd1s shirt. I certainly can't see my dd2 not letting rip if some idiot signed her shirt that way!

I'm shocked, saddened and very sorry this has happened. The numbers on the arm part in particular horrifies me.

I would report it for sure. There are too many anti Semitic attacks nowadays and if people think they can do this without consequence then who knows what they may do next. They clearly knew what they were doing.

for you.

Hi there
I work with young people and sometimes signs such as the swastica and numbers (18 and 88) relate to gang identification.
I'm not saying this is what it is, just chucking it out there as there might be more than meets the eye with those who drew them.

'Destigmatise the swastika'

I have fucking heard it all now, I swear.

Op well done for reporting. My 7 and 11 year old know the significance of the swastika and have studied the holocaust and would never do anything so inappropriate. What is wrong with these 16 year olds???

Good grief-that is appalling. I hope the school comes down like a tonne of bricks. That is absolutely too far and extremely offensive.
No excuse for teenagers to not understand the significance of what they have done.

I agree. Report it to the school and demand that they deal with it. The numbers on the arm is beyond the pale.

Wrenika

The shop my OH gets his tattoos done at does a yearly free/cheap swastika tattoo day - to help destigmatize the swastika.

The swastika should never be destigmatized!!
Do you understand what you're saying?! The symbol that represents NAZIS, a group that tortured and murdered 6MILLION Jews should be accepted and integrated into main stream society?! That the holocaust and what that sign represents should be forgotten?

A despicable statement like that could only be made by an exceptionally stupid human being or a vile and racist one. Which are you Wrenika?

I'm not Jewish and I'm upset by this too. Was never seen of as a 'joke' in my schooldays.
I would report to school. Not so that individuals get into trouble, but so a whole class assembly can be arranged to discuss the unacceptable-ness of this. And next year it should be pre-empted.

I'm not sure I like the idea of destigmatising the swastika either, however the man behind it (who seems a little odd to say the least) says his aunt and cousin were in Auschwitz.

He calls it reclaiming rather than destigmatising. www.vice.com/en_uk/article/manwoman-is-taking-back-the-swastika

"But I feel uncomfortable about the many swastikas and the number inked onto his left forearm."

Just uncomfortable? As opposed to utterly horrified?

Hmm.

I would have a very serious talk with DS, including asking him why he allowed it to stay on his shirt. He should absolutely have covered it with more pen or taken off the shirt. He should not have stood still while someone wrote on his arm and he should then have gone and immediately washed it off.

Then contact the school.
He can be furious, let him. I would get him to explain why he's furious about your interfering instead of furious about what his so-called friends have done, and why he's bent on protecting these idiots.

A lot of memory work has been done to ensure that current and future generations are educated correctly - it's an ongoing process though.

Really the more you are horrified at something kids of this age do, the more they will do it. Po-faced horror is delightful to them. Especially the po-faced horror of adults who are taking it deathly serious and considering "reporting it". It would be like all their Christmasses at once to the average high school kid to discover there was a post on mumsnet about it. Between themselves it may just be bonding behaviour.

I see no evidence of meaning serious harm beyond taking the piss and outraging people, which seems like it will be healthy behaviour for some kids in Y11. You can't reward it by taking it super seriously you will turn it into a problem.

I disagree struggling. kids messing about ia one thing. there is plenty of images that they can be shown to make them see that this symbol is more than messing about.

if you do nothing, let it go, then it will get worse as it deems it acceptable

16 year olds should understand what this means... no excuses, no minimising.

From the comfort of never having been in this situation, I would seriously consider speaking to the police / community liaison.

Destigmatising the swastika? the day there is no hate in the world and people are treated equally regardless of race, colour, gender or creed, sure, I would be in line for understanding the Hindi origins of the symbol but until that day... hell no!!!

Normally I would agree with you struggling but this is beyond the realms of messing around. They need a massive bollocking and immediate education