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A Catholic school in Pennsylvania displayed a Halloween parade float on Friday that replicated the infamous Auschwitz death camp gate.
The structure included the phrase “Arbeit Macht Frei,” meaning “Work Makes You Free.”
The float came from St. Joseph Catholic School in the Diocese of Harrisburg. Spectators saw the gate mounted on a trailer during the parade. Many recognized the symbol immediately. Consequently, anger spread quickly online and in the local area.
Bishop Condemns the Display and Apologizes
Bishop Timothy C. Senior addressed the incident. He said he felt “shocked and appalled.” He called the imagery “profoundly offensive and unacceptable.”
“The inclusion of this image, one that represents the horrific suffering and murder of millions of innocent people, including six million Jews during the Holocaust, is profoundly offensive and unacceptable,” Bishop Senior stated. He noted that the approved float design did not contain the gate. However, he stressed that the change still placed “a highly recognizable symbol of hate” before the public.
He apologized to the Jewish community on behalf of the diocese. Moreover, he affirmed that Catholics stand “firmly against all forms of antisemitism, hatred, and prejudice.”
“We will work with the school community to ensure that this incident becomes an opportunity for education and reflection, and review approval processes so that such a grievous incident is never repeated,” Bishop Senior said.
Designer Explains Intent and Says Sorry
Galen Shelly identified himself online as the designer. He said the public conversation missed his intended point. According to Shelly, he could not find a new or “used” cemetery entrance in time. As a result, he built his own gate.
He added that a church trip to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., “deeply moved” him. Because of that visit, he believed the float carried “a positive spiritual message” about memory and repentance. He also said he used “Arbeit Macht Frei” as a metaphor for the false belief that “works” alone can save people.
Shelly apologized to the school. He also apologized to Metcalf Family Cleaning, which pulled the float but, he said, had no part in the design.
Company Clarifies Its Role and Apologizes
Metcalf Family Cleaning issued a statement. The company said it volunteered to pull the float and did not create the decorations or messaging. “Regrettably, the float contained a phrase in German that was later found to be derogatory,” the company said. “At the time, we were unaware of its meaning and significance. We recognize that we should have taken a closer look at the float prior to the parade, and we are truly sorry for that oversight.”
Why This Matters: Education and the Antisemitism Definition
This episode exposes how easily Holocaust symbols can be stripped of their gravity and misused in public life. The Auschwitz gate is not a historical curiosity — it is a marker of genocide, suffering, and the systematic murder of Europe’s Jews. Reproducing it as a parade decoration does not educate; it desecrates memory and inflicts deep pain on survivors and their descendants.
Such acts reveal a broader failure to understand what antisemitism looks like today. Misuse of Holocaust imagery, whether intentional or not, distorts Jewish history and normalizes insensitivity toward Jewish trauma. That is precisely why societies need a clear, consistent standard for identifying and addressing anti-Jewish hate.
The IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism provides that clarity. It defines antisemitism as “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews,” and includes examples that expose how classic antisemitic symbols and imagery — even when detached from explicit hate speech — can perpetuate harmful ideas. Misappropriating Holocaust symbols, as seen here, falls within the spirit of those examples by trivializing the suffering of Jews and distorting the meaning of one of history’s darkest chapters.
Only through uncompromising Holocaust education and the global embrace of the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism can ignorance be disarmed before it hardens into hate. These are not abstract tools — they are moral imperatives. They preserve truth against distortion, restore humanity to memory, and ensure that what began behind the gates of Auschwitz is never forgotten, never repeated, and never dismissed.
