California water polo team gives Hitler salute and sings Nazi anthem in video

It was not clear what punishment the students received once their school was made aware of the footage

Video has emerged showing students at a California school giving Nazi salutes while singing along to a World War II-era anthem.

Around 10 members of the boys’ water polo team at Pacifica High School in Garden Grove, California were filmed mimicking Nazi rituals during an award ceremony in November 2018, according to the Daily Beast. The footage was first captured on SnapChat, and later circulated across various platforms.

A statement released by the high school and Garden Grove Unified School District “strongly condemned” the video, saying it was “not brought to the attention of the administration of Pacifica High School until March of 2019”, when the district and high school say they took immediate action. The statement says that officials have contacted community organisations to “provide support that will continue to ensure an anti-bias learning environment and address issues of hate, bias, and exclusion with all staff and students”.

Both a parent and a current student of Pacifica High School, however, told the Daily Beast that school officials never addressed the “wider community”, implying that the athletes were disciplined privately.

The Beast reports that the song, written by Nazi composer Herms Niel to honour Adolf Hitler and inspire Nazi troops, is relatively obscure, sparking questions about how and why the teen sports team had come to engage with it.

The video is the second incident involving students in southern California embracing Nazi symbolism in recent months.

In March, high school students from Orange County were filmed playing beer pong with cups set up in a swastika formation, while some students around the cups gave Nazi salutes. Those students in the viral footage were suspended.

Students in Minnesota were found in January to be using the Nazi salute, as well as Nazi terminology, in romantic gestures. Late last year, high school boys in Wisconsin cheerfully posed for a photo while raising their arms in Nazi salutes. That school district chose not to discipline the boys, citing the first amendment, which guarantees free speech.