Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

West Virginia Prison Employees Suspended Over Nazi Salute Photo

Multiple employees of the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation have been suspended after more than 30 participants in a basic training program did the Nazi salute in their graduation picture, local TV station WCHS reported Thursday.

West Virginia Governor Jim Justice condemned the photo and called for the firing of everyone involved. “This will not be tolerated on my watch – within the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation – or within any agency of state government,” he said in a statement.

The photo claims that the class was conducted from October 21 to November 27. The caption above the photo stated “Hail Byrd!” A spokesman for Gov. Justice said it was a reference to the training class’s director, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported.

West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety cabinet secretary Jeff Sandy said in a letter to employees that the state corrections commissioner had ordered all copies of the photo destroyed. He added that local faith leaders had been informed of the incident, and their views would be solicited in order to improve the training program in the future. The letter does not explain who is in the photo or how it came about.

Rabbi Victor Urecki of B’nai Jacob Synagogue in Charleston said he had been informed of the photo. “It was disturbing, shocking and troubling, and I am waiting to hear more about how it all unfolded and am prepared to help in what will be difficult days forward for our state,” he said in a statement.

Aiden Pink is the deputy news editor of the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @aidenpink

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.