'This isn't who we are': Viral Nazi salute photo of Wisconsin high school promgoers draws widespread condemnation

BARABOO – It’s a tradition that dates back many years.

Before spring prom at Baraboo High School, photos are taken on the front steps of the courthouse because it’s a large enough spot to fit everyone in. Photos are taken of couples as well as pictures of just the girls and just the boys.

A disturbing photo taken of the male prom-goers last spring has gone viral because it shows many of the Baraboo students with their arms upraised in Nazi salutes.   

The school district on Monday swiftly condemned the photo. Veterans in Baraboo, gathering for a Veterans Day ceremony, were outraged when they saw the picture and the city’s administrator was quick to say it did not reflect the values of this community of 12,000, well-known as the place where the Ringling Brothers started their famous circus.

“This isn’t Baraboo. This isn’t who we are,” said Ed Geick, who has been city administrator for 15 years. “Baraboo is a very welcoming city.”

The school district posted a message on its Facebook page Monday.

"The photo of students posted to #BarabooProud is not reflective of the educational values and beliefs of the School District of Baraboo," the post said.
"We are investigating and will pursue any and all available and appropriate actions, including legal, to address."      

Later Monday morning, the district sent an email to parents. 

"Early this morning, a photo that was taken last spring of some Baraboo School District students who appear to be making extremely inappropriate gestures began circulating on social media. The District has confirmed at this time that the photo was not taken on school property or at a school-sponsored event.

"The school district is investigating the situation and is working with parents, staff and local authorities. If the gesture is what it appears to be, the district will pursue any and all appropriate actions, including legal, to address the issues.

"With that, we want to be very clear: The Baraboo School district is a hate-free environment where all people, regardless of race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin or ancestry, are respected and celebrated."

The note was signed by Superintendent Lori Mueller.  

Mueller and High School Principal Glenn Bildsten were not available for questions when a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter visited the high school and school district’s administrative offices Monday.

Tessa Saiia graduated from Baraboo High School in 2016 and knows some of the boys in the photo. 

“Honestly I thought it was photoshopped at first. Even if they meant it as a joke, it’s just dumb. It’s inappropriate,” said Saiia, as she walked her puppy Cleo on the sidewalk across from the courthouse steps Monday afternoon.

“They knew what they were doing. They know about the Holocaust. We were taught about it in school,” Saiia said.

Jewish groups respond

Jewish groups in Wisconsin released a joint statement Monday noting a rising tide of anti-Semitism.

"As we know, acts of hate begin with hateful expressions" the statement read. "Such expressions must be a call to action for schools and families to educate youth to respect diversity and to embrace difference."

The statement came from the Milwaukee, Madison and Wisconsin Jewish Federations, the ADL Midwest and was co-signed by a wide swath of interfaith and civil rights groups and clergy in Wisconsin.

The photo also drew a response from the Auschwitz Museum, which tweeted "It is so hard to find words...."

The museum added: "This is why every single day we work hard to educate. We need to explain what is the danger of hateful ideology rising. Auschwitz with its gas chambers was at the very end of the long process of normalizing and accommodating hatred."

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It appears the photo was taken by a professional photographer named Pete Gust who posted it on his firm’s website Wheel Memories. As the photo spread online, Gust removed the picture and blamed the need to change the web page on “malevolent behavior on the part of some in society.”

“It is too bad that there are those in society who can and do take the time to be jerks … The Internet can be a wonderful tool, but for some there is an overwhelming urge to destroy. The destruction may not be physical but instead it can be bullying that is intellectual or emotional,” he said on the website.

Gust added: “To anyone that was hurt I sincerely apologize.”

Jules Suzdaltsev, a New York-based journalist for Prompt News Online in Abuja, Nigeria, first publicized the incident early Monday, according to USA Today.

One student, who identified himself as Jordan Blue to Suzdaltsev, texted that he couldn't get away quickly enough from the group photo after he realized what was happening, USA Today reported.

"The photographer took the photos telling us to make the sign. I knew what my morals were, and it was not to salute something I firmly didn't believe in it,” Blue wrote. 

Veterans respond

Russ Hasenbalg, 91, who served in the 8th Army in Germany during World War II was offended. To Hasenbalg, and other World War II veterans, a hand upraised doesn’t just mean a Nazi salute or a nationalistic gesture, it is a sign that some people have forgotten the horrors of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.

“What goes through my mind when I see this picture is they should’ve been there, places like Dachau (concentration camp) and seen the devastation the Nazis caused,” Hasenbalg said Monday afternoon after finishing a Veterans Day luncheon in the basement of Baraboo’s American Legion Post.

Hasenbalg was 18 when he was drafted and sent to Europe in the 143rd Ordnance Battalion. He also fought in the Korean War in 1950 and ’51.

“These are stupid kids who think it’s fun. It wasn’t fun,” Hasenbalg said. “I hope they grow up and realize what the world is all about.”

Cliff Rabuck, 78, who served in the Army during the Vietnam Era, said the photo is hurtful.

“In America we have freedom of speech and religion, we have freedom even to do that,” said Rabuck, looking at the picture of the boys grinning with upraised arms. “If you ask them why did you do it? They’d probably say ‘I don’t know, everyone else was doing it.’”

Added Phil Stopper, 84, a Korean War veteran: “It’s an insult. Just a plain insult to the country. It’s a disgrace.”   

Gov.-elect Evers issues statement

Democratic Gov.-elect Tony Evers condemned the photograph.

"The actions displayed in this photo have no place in Wisconsin. As elected officials, we have a responsibility to lead by example for a generation growing up in a climate where they see this behavior condoned," Evers said. "I will be in contact with Barbaoo officials, but we must all be clear: intolerance and bigotry must never be tolerated, in our schools or anywhere else."

Lt. Gov.-elect Mandela Barnes added that such actions would not be tolerated.

"Wish I was shocked, but the comfort they share in embracing supremacist culture is the most obscene part. This happens when the behavior is increasingly more excused and/or promoted," Barnes tweeted. "It cannot be tolerated, ignored, or inconsequential. This will not be us."

The Baraboo area is represented by State Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton), who said he was appalled by the photo and wants to know more about how it came to be taken. 

"I saw it and it's disgusting," Erpenbach said. "There is absolutely no place in the world for something like that."

The Baraboo police department said in a Facebook post that it was aware of the photo controversy and officers are assisting the school district's investigation.

Inside the Baraboo police station on the banks of the Baraboo River is a shadow box with a photo of Robert O. Marquardt, his Purple Heart, dog tags, police whistle and badge and a folded American flag. Marquardt was a 24-year-old Baraboo police officer when he enlisted in the Army during World War II.

Marquardt was killed by a German sniper while fighting to take the town of Nancy, France from Nazi troops in 1944.

A plaque next to the shadow box says: “The above display is an honor to the citizen soldier that left his role as a police officer protecting the citizens of Baraboo, to protect and defend the United States of America in our largest war.”

Journal Sentinel reporters James Nelson, Patrick Marley and Mary Spicuzza contributed to this report.