{"id":23652,"date":"2025-11-03T21:18:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T21:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/23652\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T21:18:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T21:18:10","slug":"pennsylvania-schools-halloween-float-with-auschwitz-sign-draws-apologies-condemnation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/23652\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania school’s Halloween float with Auschwitz sign draws apologies, condemnation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jewish and Catholic faith leaders condemned a Halloween parade float that carried a replica of the gate to the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz as the designer behind it apologized, saying he made it \u201cwith no ill intent.\u201d<\/p>\n

The replica gate, topped with the sign, \u201cArbeit macht frei\u201d (work will set you free), was included on the float made for Saint Joseph Catholic School in Hanover for a parade Thursday. Hanover is in a rural area about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Baltimore.<\/p>\n

Nazi German forces murdered over a million people<\/a> at the Auschwitz site in southern Poland between 1940 and 1945. Most of their victims were Jews killed on an industrial scale in gas chambers, but victims also included Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war, gay people and others. <\/p>\n

A video of the parade shows the float, towed by a pickup truck, go through the central square in Hanover, decorated with pumpkins, ghosts and a sign reading \u201cSHAM ROCK-N-ROLL,\u201d as \u201cTutti Frutti\u201d by Little Richard plays in the background. About a dozen kids and some adults, many dressed in green, walked beside it as the parade commentator urged spectators to cheer. The sign was at the back of the float.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t like people threw tomatoes at them,\u201d said Matthew Jackson, a Hanover resident and longtime advocate for equality and social justice. \u201cI think a lot of people didn\u2019t know what it meant. But that doesn\u2019t take away the harm of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Catholic bishop whose territory includes the school, the Rev. Timothy C. Senior in Harrisburg, issued a written apology on Saturday.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel.<\/p>\n

\t\t
\n \tFollow on
\n \t\t\"WhatsApp\"\/
\n \t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe inclusion of this image \u2014 one that represents the horrific suffering and murder of millions of innocent people, including six million Jews during the Holocaust \u2014 is profoundly offensive and unacceptable,\u201d Senior wrote. \u201cWhile the original, approved design for this float did not contain this imagery, it does not change the fact that this highly recognizable symbol of hate was included.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Jewish Federation of Greater Harrisburg condemned the float\u2019s display, saying the depiction of the Auschwitz gate is never acceptable outside of an educational setting. <\/p>\n

Galen S. Shelly, who designed the float, told Pennlive.com this weekend that he made it with \u201cno ill intent\u201d and apologized: \u201cI made a mistake and I am deeply sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

A phone message seeking comment from Shelly was left on Monday. He told Pennlive he turned to the Auschwitz gate when a lighted archway he ordered did not arrive on time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to illustrate the idea none of us get out of this life alive,\u201d he told the news organization. \u201cI never intended anything to be like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson said Monday the episode shows the community \u201cneeds to do a much better job of interracial and interfaith dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was told that there weren\u2019t that many people that were even aware of it, which to me speaks to a larger problem, which is cultural literacy and awareness,\u201d Jackson said.<\/p>\n

Police said the incident prompted a threatening and obscene voicemail to be left on voicemail early Saturday for the Saint Joseph principal, claiming the school\u2019s children were in danger. The parish canceled youth events over the weekend as a result and a suburban Philadelphia man was charged with making terroristic threats and other criminal counts. <\/p>\n

The Jewish Federation said Jewish organizations were working to invite the institutions involved \u201cto partner for opportunities that may bring better understanding to the history of these symbols and images and help ensure that \u2018Never Again\u2019 is a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jewish and Catholic faith leaders condemned a Halloween parade float that carried a replica of the gate to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[15709,38,15710,37,6303,15707,40,28,30,29,69,903,12441,15708,44,301],"class_list":["post-23652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-galen-s-shelly","tag-general-news","tag-hannover","tag-harrisburg","tag-judaism","tag-matthew-jackson","tag-pa-state-wire","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-philadelphia","tag-prisons","tag-religion","tag-timothy-c-sr","tag-u-s-news","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}