Police are investigating a group of teenagers in Princeton, NJ, after pictures of them playing a “Jews vs. Nazis” drinking game were posted on the social media platform Snapchat.
The drinking game also referred to as “Alcoholocaust” and “Holocaust Pong” involved pouring beer into cups arranged into a Star of David and a swastika. On the Jew side, players could “Anne Frank,” or hide their cups, and those on the Nazi side could “Auschwitz” their opponents.
Some 6 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust, that occurred during WW II. It is regarded as perhaps the greatest crime in the history of humanity. The fact that such a tragedy could be used as a theme for a drinking game raises questions and to some, it is frankly unbelievable.
Drinking games are very popular in America and especially among the young, despite warnings from the medical profession.
The story made news when a fellow student, Jamaica Ponder, saw the image and wrote a blog post to share her disgust: “Putting the picture on social media means that someone was proud enough of the game to want to show it off… I’m not even Jewish and I’m still offended.”
Police Lt. John Bucchere told NJ.com that the police can only investigate whether someone purchased alcohol for minors or provided a place specifically for them to consume it. Possession of alcohol by minors on private property is not a crime in and of itself.
The Princeton schools superintendent Steve Cochrane issued a statement saying, “I am deeply upset that some of our students chose to engage in a drinking game with clearly anti-Semitic overtones and to broadcast their behavior over social media. We are talking to those students and their families.”
The University is committed to ensuring respect for all irrespective of their race, religion, and origin. There is no information available on whether the students who took part in the game are going to be disciplined.
The school board stated, “The issues we are presented with – bias, ethnic insensitivity, underage alcohol abuse, and inappropriate social media use – are neither new nor unique to Princeton, but this incident has brought them into sharp focus. This incident raises difficult questions for all of us in the community about what we are teaching our children both in school and at home.”
The incident raises questions as to young people’s understanding of the Holocaust. Does the education system do enough to teach young people the history of the Holocaust?