Texas band uses Nazi flag on Jewish new year (Now w/ Video Link)

Arizona Republic ^ | September 30, 2003 | Associated Press

[Recourse]

Texas band uses Nazi flag on Jewish new year

Associated Press Sept. 30, 2003 07:29 AM

DALLAS - A Texas high school band leader is apologizing for his band's half-time performance on Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year.

During a half-time show at a football game at a Dallas high school last Friday, a student from Paris High School went running across the field waving a Nazi flag.

At the time, the band was playing the composition that eventually became known as "Deutschland Uber Alles".

Band director Charles Grissom says it was part of a show entitled "Visions of World War II," in which the flags and music were intended to represent the warring nations.

Grissom says the musicians were booed and cursed, and had things thrown at them. He adds they have learned their lesson. The band's show will likely now include only the U.S. flag.

Grissom tells The Dallas Morning News it was "an error in judgment."

[Paul Atreides]

I'm sorry, but anyone who would haul out a Nazi flag on a Jewish holiday is seriously lacking something. I would say the same if it was someone having a parade float, mocking the WTC attack. This is not some ignorant kid. It is an adult.

[Shermy]

How on Earth could any sane person think that this would be a good idea?

They knew their could be problems. You can hear the PA announcer at the beginning give a warning.

[Cinnamon Girl]

That was horrible. That band director should be fired. And running around with the nazi flag was also a bad idea.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Was the band's halftime performance sponsored by WKRP?

[clockwork]

I believe he said that they also waved the Japanese "rising sun" flag. Not as offensive, but still not very sensitive to WWII veterans.

Just curious, why is the Japanese flag "not as offensive" to WWII veterans" as the Nazi flag. My father spent four years fighting the Japanese flag, why do you believe that the Nazi flag was more offensive to American troops. You might want to talk to a survivor of the Bataan Death March before you make such sweeping statements.

[Windcatcher]

"well, this was a learning experience"

To me, this sounds like:

"Yeah, my one-year-old stuck his finger in the outlet, but it was a learning experience."

"Let's see just how fast this car can go. It'll be a learning experience."

"Car seat, shmar seat! Give your kid a dose of reality! It'll be a learning experience."

"Call him O-C-C-I-F-E-R when he walks up to the window. It'll be a learning experience."

"Here's your robe and your hood. It's six blocks to Strawberry Mansion (if you don't live near Philly you won't get it). It'll be a learning experience."


Sheesh. These idiots show a Nazi flag, play the German national anthem, on Rosh Hashanah, no less, and they thought this was a good idea? Is there a mini-Darwin award for "normally too stupid to live but survived by luck"?

[sinkspur]

I should have said "not as offensive to Jews, but the Japanese flag was not very sensitive to WWII veterans."

That was not clear in my post.

[Billthedrill]

I've been watching the threads on this incident. No one seems aware that the Japanese "Rising Sun" flag (in Nihongo, "Asahi") is making a comeback in a resurgent Japan. You ask a good question.

[znix]

I completely disagree.

I loathe marching bands. Yet, I find absolutley nothing wrong with this performance. The announcer, unnecssarily, discusses the issue prior to the performance. Clearly heard on the video. The lack of the Nazi flag would have been more an error. And despite what everyone says now, its obvious the boos were directed at the presentation of the French flag.

Tell me, should William Shrirer not have a Nazi symbol eblazoned on his book The Rise and Fall of Nazi Germany in case a Jew walks down that ailse at Barnes and Noble. Come on people. Its clear the school was NOT endorsing Nazism. To implicate them as such or claim to be offended by the performance is absurd.

We can not change history, nor should we try. We must never forget the horror of Nazi Germany. We must read about it, study it, teach it so we can recognize it or similar phenomenon in the future and prevent its assumption to power.

Haven't we all gotten a little too sensitive in this country. Should I hate the friend who plays Germany on the Axis and Allies board game? Should I play the game at all? Should the symbol be stricken from the box on retail shelves? Should I tape over it when I play the game? Should I tear the cover off Shrirer's book in case my Jewish neighbor comes over? What about documentries on the History Channel, should they be banned from showing Hitler, Nazi parades, even combat coverage? Should we just pretend it never happened? Deny the Prussian history of agression and paranoia, deny the deaths of six million Jews?

Tell me which is the cosmicaly stupid thing to do?

[Ukiapah Heep]

Where is Cotton Hill when you need him?

[sinkspur]

Tell me which is the cosmicaly stupid thing to do?

To feature the Nazi flag in an equivalency to the British, French, and American flag is an insult to the allies.

And, to display the flag of a nation dedicated to destroying the Jewish race, on the Jewish New Year, is a slap in the face to free people everywhere.

The band director has been excoriated, and rightly so.

By your logic, because we should never forget the evils of slavery, the symbols of slavery should be rubbed in our black and white faces at every opportunity.

The only reason to display a flag with a swastika on it is to burn it.

[ntnychik]

I guess political correctness has gone farther than I thought if I had to read to post #29 to find such a sensible commentary as yours. It can be argued that flying a nazi flag in a Jewish neighborhood on a Jewish holiday is stupid, IF one ignores the fact that it was a WWII show, with all flags represented and IF one has already adopted the politically correct point of view. Jewish people and others, myself included, will always be horrified by the actions of the Third Reich. Seems it would deny their experience if the show had not been done, or if no mention was made of Germany. I'd rather NEVER FORGET than make nazism something that CANNOT BE NAMED. Our future generations won't even know what the fuss was about if we pretend nothing happened.

[daughterofTGSL]

I completely agree, and might I add you have a way with words? Your post puts into words exactly what I was about to try to say.

[sinkspur]

Seems it would deny their experience if the show had not been done, or if no mention was made of Germany.

If the show had not been done, no one would have known or cared.

Nazi Germany should have been ignored, as should Imperial Japan. Celebrate the freedom that the allies brought to nations crushed by totalitarianism.

This was stupid, and it was rightfully condemned as stupid.

[clockwork]

I should have said "not as offensive to Jews, but the Japanese flag was not very sensitive to WWII veterans." That was not clear in my post.

Excuse me...I thought we were talking about Americans here....not 1% of the population, i.e. Jewish WWII veterans. My apologies.

[sinkspur]

Excuse me...I thought we were talking about Americans here....not 1% of the population, i.e. Jewish WWII veterans. My apologies.

You're trying to start a fight. You know very well what I mean. I mean JEWS, whether American or not, veterans or not, are offended by the Nazi flag.

[Alouette]

These idiots show a Nazi flag, play the German national anthem, on Rosh Hashanah, no less, and they thought this was a good idea?

Did no one warn them of the consequences of provoking explosive rage in the Jewish street??????

[Servant of the 9]

That isn't even in the "German" part of Texas.

On the other hand if they were very smart, they wouldn't be living there.

So9

[bluejay]

I am actually not very surprised by the display of Nazi flag et.al. In a way, it was inevitable. Three things play into this:

1. American schools do not teach history. I would assume that a typical product of a public school system would have only a vague notion about WW2 and Nazi Germany.

2. There is a continual vilification of George Bush. Media constantly equates him, and other Republicans, to Nazis. Academia publishes research stating that there is really not too much difference between Adolph Hitler and Ronald Reagan.

3. A concept of moral equivalence permeates our society.

Given this, I would not be surprised that a typical high-school bandleader would assume that Hitler was just another conservative politician. And of course, just because we fought a war against Germany, does not mean we were in the right - we just won. So, what's wrong with displaying the flags of all participants equally?

[PAR35]

a game with Highland Park High School (in heavily Jewish north Dallas)

Hillcrest High, not Highland Park.