It’s never a good idea to dress up as Hitler, not even for Halloween, as one mom who got carried away with the theme of the horror holiday soon realized.

Halloween is traditionally the one night of the year when the shadows fall, the moon becomes sovereign, the boundary separating the dead from the living becomes blurred, and all manner of terrible sprites and spirits stalk the land in service of mischief, mayhem, and the delirious whims of the midnight hour.

In other words, it’s party time for all that is vile and horrific. Yet there’s evil and then there’s Hitler.

And one mom thought it would be a great fun to dress her young son up as the twisted tyrant. Turns out it wasn’t, and people are lining up to criticize the teacher who they said should have known better.

Metro reports that the boy was in the fancy dress of the German dictator for a “Trunk or Treat” event in Boulder City, NV.

The youngster was dressed up in a nazi costume complete with a fake Hitler mustache. A snap of the youngster resplendent in the garb of the Third Reich has since gone viral. Critics have branded it distasteful and racist.

Boulder City resident Helena Vece’s parents survived the Holocaust. After Mrs. Vece’s grandchildren showed her pictures of the boy in his Hitler costume, she told the Las-Vegas Review Journal how offensive she found it.

“I know what I went through with my parents as a child, I know what their memories are. I was born in Germany after the war, and to see this was so offensive.”

In a Facebook post which has since been deleted the mom wrote, “I’m the proud parent of the boy in the Hitler costume and my son didn’t mean to upset anyone. He needed a last-minute costume and he put that together today. No we don’t worship Hitler or agree with what he did.”

Featured image credit: Hulton Archive Getty Images

Yet such a disclaimer was not enough to pacify righteous hordes. They formed an orderly que to vent their spleen and luxuriate in their wrath.

One Facebook poster snapped, “Interesting to see a #CCSD teacher pridefully dressing her 13-year-old as Hitler. These nazi sympathizers are supposed to be educating our kids.”

The Clark County School District where the mother works released a statement which read, “We expect all of our employees to be sensitive to the varied cultural backgrounds of our students and community.”

They would not disclose if the teacher would be disciplined for her error of judgment.