New Jersey middle school distributes yearbooks to students. Then administrators discover a baby photo of Adolf Hitler inside

A middle school in New Jersey is asking students to return their yearbooks after staff found a baby photo of Adolf Hitler printed inside, according to a letter from the school’s principal obtained by Patch. The image was reportedly placed in a section of the yearbook meant to show baby pictures of students. School officials said they collected the books after learning of the photo.

According to Principal Ryan Aupperlee’s letter, the discovery was made at East Brook Middle School in Paramus, New Jersey, after students had already received their copies. Aupperlee said the image was later identified as an infant photograph of Hitler taken in 1889. He said the photo has become associated with hate and antisemitism in public, educational, and professional settings.

Local police said they are investigating the matter, and the school said it is working on a plan to replace the yearbooks. It remains unclear, according to the outlet, how the image was placed in the publication or who was responsible for it.

School pulls books and pledges replacements after image surfaces

In his letter, Aupperlee wrote that the school acted quickly once the image was identified. “Earlier today, after students had already received their yearbooks, we learned that the baby pictures section of the yearbook contained an image that was later identified as an infant photograph of Adolf Hitler,” he wrote. 

He added, “We immediately collected the yearbooks so the image would not remain in circulation.” A separate yearbook incident at a Florida school recently drew its own controversy over a quote attributed to its principal.

According to The Daily Mail, Aupperlee said he was disappointed to learn the image was of the German dictator as an infant. He stated that the photo’s presence in the yearbook was unacceptable, regardless of whether students recognized it while flipping through the book. “I want to be direct with you: the presence of this image is unacceptable. Even if the image was not immediately recognizable to those paging through the book, its inclusion in an official school publication is a severe breach of our values,” he wrote.

The principal also addressed what Hitler represented, writing, “Adolf Hitler represented hatred, antisemitism, and the horrors of the Holocaust, including the murder of six million Jews. An image of him has no place in our yearbook created for our students.” He said the image did not reflect the school’s values. “It does not reflect who we are or what East Brook stands for, and we condemn its inclusion without reservation,” Aupperlee wrote.

According to the letter, many of the yearbooks had already been signed by teachers and classmates before they were collected, which Aupperlee acknowledged complicated efforts to correct the situation. He said the school is working on a way to give every student a corrected copy. 

“We are working on a plan to provide every student with a corrected yearbook as quickly as possible, and we will follow up with you shortly with the specifics, including how we will handle books that have already been signed by friends and teachers,” he wrote.

Paramus Police Chief Robert Guidetti told Patch that the department was notified about the incident and that a bias incident report was filed. “The Paramus Police Department was notified of the incident. A bias incident report was completed and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office was notified,” Guidetti said. The matter has reportedly been referred to the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office as part of the investigation, though further details about that process were not immediately available.

Paramus Mayor Chris DiPiazza also addressed the incident in a Facebook post. He said he had been in contact with both the superintendent of schools and the police chief following the discovery. “I am aware of the unfortunate incident, involving the year book, at East Brook Middle School yesterday and have been in communication with both the Superintendent of Schools and Chief of Police,” DiPiazza wrote.

In his post, DiPiazza emphasized the town’s identity as a community that welcomes people of different faiths. “Our borough’s strength has always been because we are a town welcoming to all faiths and home to numerous houses of worship. Any examples, like yesterday’s, does not reflect Paramus. God bless,” he wrote. 

School-related controversies involving young students and public officials have also made headlines elsewhere, including a case where a congresswoman’s response to a fourth grader’s assignment sparked a wider political debate.

Community members responded to the mayor’s statement online, with some expressing support for the school’s response and others raising questions about how the image made it into the final publication. One commenter wrote, “Thank you! I think the year book should be pulled and people should be held accountable.” 

Another person questioned the oversight process, writing, “This is terrible, but I must inquire as to why the middle schools do not have appropriate teacher oversight of the yearbook?” A separate commenter asked about the role of the yearbook committee, writing, “And where was the yearbook committee that let this slide!”