The Deacon's Bench
What the heil?
The hills are alive … with the sound of political correctness.
Nazi props were temporarily declared verboten in LaGuardia High School’s production of the Third Reich-set classic “The Sound of Music” prior to the show’s Thursday night opening.
The principal at the elite “Fame” school, Lisa Mars, ordered Nazi flags and symbols removed from the stage set of the beloved tale of the Von Trapp family, who fled the Nazis from their native Austria as Adolf Hitler took power, students told the Daily News.
“This is a very liberal school, we’re all against Nazis,” one sophomore performer told The News about the fuhrer furor. “But to take out the symbol is to try to erase history.
“Obviously the symbols are offensive,” he added. “But in context, they are supposed to be.”In the 1965 movie starring Julie Andrews, Von Trapp patriarch Georg — as played by Christopher Plummer — famously rips the Nazi flag in half. The story was based on a memoir by Von Trapp’s daughter Maria.
Mars did not respond to requests for comment. After The News made inquiries, the city Department of Education said the Nazi flag would still appear in two specific scenes.
“The use of this historical symbol of hatred … serves both an artistic and pedagogical purpose, and the decision to include it was made in collaboration with school staff, students and families,” said city education spokeswoman Miranda Barbot.
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