Wisconsin school district plans program on Nazi salute image

BARABOO, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin school district plans to host a community program after a photograph surfaced of high school boys giving what appears to be a Nazi salute.

Baraboo Superintendent Lori Mueller said in a letter to parents Wednesday that the district is in the planning stages with civic, community and faith leaders to host the program. Mueller says details will be “shared as soon as possible.”

Mueller says, “We are so sorry that the actions of some of our students so understandably and deeply hurt people around the world.”

The photo of about 60 boys was taken outside the Sauk County Courthouse in Baraboo last spring. About two-thirds of the boys have their right arms raised in what appears to be a Nazi salute.

The parent who took the photo says he was simply asking the teens to wave goodbye to their parents before they headed to prom.

“The optics aren’t good,” Gust told the AP, though he said he didn’t believe the boys were doing a Nazi salute: “There was never any inkling of that whatsoever. … There was nothing intended in any way shape or form to simulate anything that was offensive to anyone.”

Gust maintained that his camera merely caught the boys’ wave prematurely, saying his “regret is I didn’t get to the apex.”