One of the Littleton, Colo., gunmen who traded Nazi salutes with fellow “Trenchcoat Mafia” members is the great-grandson of a prominent Jewish philanthropist in Columbus, Ohio.
The Jewish Community Center in Columbus is named after Leo Yassenoff, the great-grandfather of Dylan Klebold.
While Klebold was raised as a Lutheran, he reportedly read the Four Questions at a Passover seder his family held earlier this month.
Klebold’s mother was raised in a Jewish home, family members have said.
A Lutheran minister conducted a private funeral last weekend.
In a statement, the Klebold family said their “sadness and grief over his death and this tragedy is indescribable.”
Klebold and another heavily armed student opened fire in their suburban Denver high school April 20, killing 12 students and one teacher before killing themselves.
Classmates at Columbine High School have said members of the group had been obsessed with World War II-era Germany and had spoken openly about April 20 being Adolf Hitler’s birthday.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
