The students from the German high school wearing Hitler mustaches and Nazi armbands. Photo: Israel Hayom.

JNS.org – Jewish high school students at a graduation party at a nightclub in Argentina were verbally and physically attacked by students from another school dressed in Nazi costumes, Israel Hayom learned Thursday.

The incident took place on Tuesday night at a nightclub in the tourist town of Bariloche, in Argentina’s Patagonia region. The attackers, from a German high school in the town of Lanus, near the capital Buenos Aires, had drawn Hitler mustaches on their faces and were wearing armbands with swastikas on them. They confronted several Jewish students from an ORT high school, hurling antisemitic obscenities at them. A fight broke out between the two sides, and the bouncers at the Cerebro de Bariloche nightclub removed everyone from the club.

Following the incident, the Bariloche Municipality asked that the company that organized the high school graduation trip prohibit the “Nazi” students from participating in any further events.

Silvia Fazio, the principal of the German high school in Lanus, said the students in question had been sent home and that they would be punished harshly.

“In this case a mere apology will not suffice. This is a serious thing. They will be punished and, among other things, we will send them to workshops and activities that deal with education against racism,” she said.

The head of the Delegation of Argentine Jewish Associations, Ariel Cohen Sabban, said he would meet with the manager of the nightclub where the attack occurred.

“This wasn’t a joke and it wasn’t a prank,” Sabban said. “These symbols are proof of an ideology that killed six million Jews. These kids, who are 16 and older, should get between up to three years in prison, because in Argentina what they did is a criminal offense.”