COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Some Cobb County parents were stunned when an elementary school released a new logo that some thought looked like a Nazi symbol.
Channel 2′s Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell obtained the proposed logo design from East Side Elementary, which features an eagle.
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Several parents reached out to Channel 2 Action News with concerns that the symbol logo looked like a Nazi War Eagle.
A district spokesperson told Newell that the logo was actually based off of the pin given to U.S. Army colonels and was designed by the district’s communications department.
Families that Newell spoke to, in particular members of the Jewish community, said the logo’s design was more than offensive.
Rabbi Amanda Flaks said she had to look twice at the logo.
“I thought, ‘That looks off. That makes me uncomfortable,’ and I came back to it a few times and I felt more and more uncomfortable and sick each time,” Flaks said.
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Flaks said that the war eagle was used by the Nazi party during World World II and is used now by other neo-Fascist and neo-Nazi sympathizer groups.
Stacy Efrat said that as a parent and a member of the Jewish community, she was outraged at the logo.
“I want to see the logo not only taken away, I want a direct apology to our community. Not just the Jewish community but the entire community,” Efrat said. We need to acknowledge that they are similar and the school needs to immediately apologize and remove it.”
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Newell contacted the Cobb County School District for an interview, but only got a statement. It reads, in part,
“The roll-out of this logo has been halted, and we are immediately reviewing needed changes. We understand and strongly agree that similarities to Nazi symbolism are unacceptable, although this design was based on the U.S. Army colonel’s eagle wings.”
Flaks said she contacted the school about it and got an apology from the principal, along with pictures of what the school district said the logo was based on.
“I’m very hurt on a lot of levels,” Flaks said. “My children are great grandchildren of someone who fled the Nazi regime in Germany and survived the Holocaust.”
The director of the American Jewish Committee of the Atlanta region wants the logo removed immediately.
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