Brooklyn, NY - Hitler Costume Controversy In Brooklyn School

Brooklyn, NY - A Brooklyn high school student caused a stir when he showed up for class dressed as Adolph Hitler for Halloween.

Walter Petryk, 16, defended his costume, insisting it was a satire of the Nazi dictator.
But some students and officials at Leon M. Goldstein High School were not impressed.
School administrators ordered the junior honors student to remove his beige coat bearing a red swastika armband or possibly face spending the day in the office.
Petryk refused, saying his parody was protected by his right to freedom of expression.

Petryk's stepfather, Howard Bloom, who is Jewish and lost relatives during the Nazi genocide, said that he was initially "very disturbed" by the costume but nonetheless defended his stepson's rights. "If he had wanted to advocate my genocide, I wouldn't have allowed" the costume, Bloom said. "That wasn't the spirit in which he was doing this at all."

In order to avoid a disruption on the way to school, Petryk disguised his Hitler getup as a costume of Charlie Chaplin, adding a bowler hat and cane.

The city's Department of Education discipline code allows for the removal of students from class if they wear clothing that causes a disruption.