A California school district has been caught lying about a project that told students to see if the Holocaust was an actual historical event or “a propaganda tool.”

Rialto United School District came under fire in May when it was revealed that around 2,000 8^th grade students were given the project that the school termed an “exercise in critical thinking.”  The school tried to appease community members by stating that none of the students actually argued the Holocaust did not occur.

The Los Angeles Daily News did an investigation that showed the school lied to parents and the public.

“At least 50 essays (that) denied or doubted the Holocaust occurred,” the LADN reported.  “Even many students who agreed the Holocaust occurred said there were good reasons to believe it had not or that elements of the historical record were actually hoaxes.”

Some of the student deniers wrote:

The Holocaust is “a profitable hoax made by the Jews to obtain land, money and power.”

“With the evidence that was given to me, it clearly was obvious” that the Holocaust never occurred “and I wouldn’t know why anyone would think otherwise.”

If the Nazis “would have even experimented these so called gas chambers the Nazis would have died also, so I do not believe in gas chambers.”

Even more disturbing than the comments of the students was praise from some teachers to the students who denied the Holocaust.  One paper obtained by the Daily News had a comment to a denying student “You did well using the evidence to support your claim.”

Even with the school district being exposed as having deceived parents and the public, they are still not revealing who created the assignment or the educators who gave out the lesson.  They also won’t say if any discipline has been taken against the teachers in question.