Story Archive

Springtime for You-Know-Who

“There is no context in a public high school where a swastika is appropriate,” says Bob Pritchard, superintendent of schools in South Orangetown, N.Y. So he decided the Nazi symbol could not be displayed on the Tappan Zee High School stage — even though the school is presenting The Producers, the Mel Brooks musical that features a show-within-a-show called “Springtime for Hitler.” Pritchard said “The optic, the visual, to me was very disturbing. I considered it to be an obscenity like any obscenity.” But high-school actor Tyler Lowe, himself a Jew, said he wasn’t offended. “It’s satire, not supposed to be taken seriously.” (AC/WCBS New York) ...A better reason to omit the swastikas: students in 2016 need to learn to identify Nazis without them.