RIALTO >> When Rialto Unified’s controversial in-class Holocaust assignment became public knowledge in May, people around the world reacted swiftly, writing and calling again and again, telling district officials they should be ashamed, according to newly released documents.

“You should be so ashamed of (yourself), your staff and the teachers,” wrote Christine D. from Santa Clarita, in an email sent May 4, the day the story was first posted online.

The assignment, created by a small group of district English teachers, asked the district’s 2,000 eighth-graders last spring whether the Holocaust actually occurred, giving them “credible sources” printed out from About.com, History.com and an Australian Holocaust denial website to conduct their “research” with in class.

A media firestorm followed news of the assignment. More quietly, district officials, most notably spokeswoman Syeda Jafri, were barraged by emails and phone calls, most of them from outraged people from around the country and beyond:

“When American generals Patton, Eisenhower and Bradley saw the concentration camps, they insisted on having the reports documented, since they had the prescience to know that there would be people who would doubt the level of feral brutality and agonizing death,” Peggi C. from Montreal emailed early on the morning of May 5.

Although the district initially said that examinations of the completed essays showed that no students had denied the Holocaust occurred, copies of the essays obtained by the Los Angeles News Group revealed that, in fact, dozens of students ended up declaring the Holocaust to be a hoax.

“You are kidding on that Holocaust essay,” emailed Julie G. on May 5. “Have them check out the pictures that Eisenhower had recorded. You should be ashamed.”

The district has repeatedly apologized. Since July, Rialto Unified’s newly-formed Cultural Diversity Committee, composed of district personnel, Jewish leaders and community members, has worked to create a new Holocaust-centered lesson plan for the now-ninth grade students, provide cultural sensitivity training to personnel and put procedures in place to prevent anything similar from ever happening again.

“My father, (Max W.), was a survivor of the Holocaust,” wrote Dianne S. on May 6. “I grew up listening to his nightly screams as he relived his Holocaust experience in his dreams. Any assignment which hints at the lack of validity of the Holocaust is a direct assault on my father and the many millions of others, both Jews and non-Jews, who directly experienced the atrocities of the German Third Reich and their collaborators.”

The 253 pages of emails are a portion of documents released late Monday night. In turn, those are a portion of a backlog of public record act requests, some now a year old, that the district is currently working its way through, with the help of a newly hired law firm.

A number of the writers both decried the assignment and attacked the Islamic faith of Jafri and of interim superintendent Mohammad Z. Islam.

“You should all be in jail for using the public school system to promote ‘jihadist’ lies and ‘Islamofascist’ propaganda,” William C. emailed on the night of May 5.

Prior to his appointment as acting and later interim superintendent, Islam oversaw the district’s Business Services Department. Neither he nor Jafri have any input into the curriculum process, according to numerous sources within the district.

“How about we debate the veracity of the false prophet Mohammed and whether or not he was a child molester and a charlatan?” Chuck J. emailed on May 5. “Enjoy Hell.”

The assignment did have its supporters, though:

“The initiative of the Rialto School District to take on this subject is to be commended,” Butch U. emailed on May 7. “If arrangements could be worked out, the National Socialist Movement and Commander (Jeff) Schope would be pleased to address the school’s assembly on the Holocaust. The National Socialist Movement would also be open to the school having opposing views on the subject.”

Historians estimate 6 million Jews (about two of every three in Europe) were killed by the Nazi regime between 1933 and 1945.

“This is not just a ‘Jewish’ issue,” emailed Amy P. of Chevy Chase, Maryland, on May 7. “This is a matter of standing up for what is right.”