Pennsylvania town apologizes after Halloween parade features Auschwitz gate replica

A Halloween parade in the quiet Pennsylvania town of Hanover drew national attention last week after a float included a replica of the Auschwitz death camp gate, complete with the infamous Nazi slogan “Arbeit Macht Frei” — “Work Sets You Free.”

The display, part of a presentation by St. Joseph Catholic School, appeared among traditional Halloween symbols such as pumpkins, ghosts and tombstones. While the text on the gate wasn’t visible from all angles, the recognizable iron frame sparked outrage among onlookers.

A float in Hanover, Pennsylvania’s Halloween parade featured a replica of the Auschwitz gate with the Nazi slogan ‘Arbeit Macht Frei,’ drawing national outrage

(Photo: Hanover Halloween Parade 2025, CommunityMedia)

One attendee, longtime Hanover educator Debra Smith, who holds a master’s degree in genocide studies, said she was stunned to see a Holocaust death camp gate used as parade décor.

“Auschwitz is not fodder for a float—1.1 million were murdered at Auschwitz during the Holocaust, and close to one million of those were Jews,” she said. “Those symbols are something, and they mean something. You can’t just put ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ on a float and not know that that means something to a lot of people and to our history.”

Hanover, a town of about 16,000 residents founded in 1745 and named after the German city, is better known today for its snack food factories, including Snyder’s and Utz. Like many American communities, the annual Halloween parade is a cherished tradition — one now overshadowed by controversy.

The backlash prompted a formal apology from Bishop Timothy Senior of the Diocese of Harrisburg, who called the display “profoundly offensive and unacceptable.” In a statement, he wrote: “I was shocked and appalled. The inclusion of this image — one that represents the horrific suffering and murder of millions of innocent people, including six million Jews during the Holocaust — is profoundly offensive and unacceptable.” Senior said he would work with Jewish organizations to prevent such incidents from recurring.

According to the bishop, the original approved design for the float did not include the Auschwitz imagery. The metal frame bearing the notorious slogan reportedly appeared during the parade without prior notice. A video posted on YouTube showed the float driving through Hanover’s main street, followed by costumed students and onlookers clapping.

Following public criticism, Galen Shelly, a resident of nearby Littlestown who created the gate, took responsibility. In an online apology, he said he meant no harm and viewed the phrase as an “eternal perspective about life.” He admitted choosing it when he couldn’t find a cemetery gate and acknowledged he hadn’t understood its historical weight.

Shelly wrote that he had a “vision in my heart and knew exactly what it all meant to me, I did not know what it could mean to others.”

“Words misplaced or misunderstood and words within symbols can harm deeply and for that I offer my humblest apology to St. Joseph’s Church, as well as the School program and to Metcalf Family Cleaning.”

In the statement, St. Joseph’s Church leadership acknowledged the phrase as “a symbol that is not subject to the viewer but objectively evil.”

The church said it had not participated in the parade for several years and saw this as a “wonderful opportunity amidst the ghosts and goblins and all the witchy stuff there to show something different,” but it would now review its approval process for future events. The company that provided the float truck also issued an apology, claiming it was unaware of the meaning of the inscription at the time.

Jewish communities in Philadelphia, York, and Harrisburg condemned the incident. In a joint statement, the York Jewish Community Center and local Jewish federations said, “The recent use of Nazi imagery on a float in a Halloween parade in Hanover is another painful reminder that hateful symbols and rhetoric still find their way into public spaces. These acts, intentional or not, contribute to fear and anxiety among Jewish individuals and all who understand the devastating history those symbols represent.” They thanked the bishop for his response and called for educational efforts to raise awareness about the Holocaust and antisemitism.