Offbeat | Oklahoma school apologizes for Hitler yearbook quotation

Members of the German American Bund pose for a photo at Camp Siegfried, in Yaphank, N.Y., an enclave of Nazi sympathizers (1938)

The principal of an Oklahoma high school apologized after its yearbook featured a quotation attributed to Adolf Hitler.

Students at Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School in Oklahoma City discovered the quote when they got the books earlier this month. Graduating seniors chose quotes to pair with their portraits.

A quote listed above Hitler’s name says, “If you want to shine like the sun, first you have to burn like it.” Some translations of Hitler’s manifesto “Mein Kampf” include similar wording, though the author of the excerpt is disputed.

It appeared in the yearbook directly below a quotation attributed to Anne Frank, the Holocaust diarist who perished in a Nazi death camp.

Principal David Morton sent parents a letter last week accepting blame for the gaffe and saying the school was buying stickers students could place over the offending quote. Morton could not be reached for comment yesterday.

A spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, which oversees the school, says the student who chose the Hitler quote was disciplined. The school also is reviewing its process for the student-chosen quotations.

“Unfortunately, and clearly, the process failed to work in this case,” Diane Clay said in an email. “The school is evaluating changes.”