Lincoln University has apologised for the Nazi-themed dress of some first-year students celebrating Oktoberfest at a halls of residence-run party.
A number of students dressed as Nazis and concentration camp inmates for the party held in a campus cafe on Friday night.
Costumes featured slogans such as "Sieg Heil!" and "Hitler's my boi" and one guest was seen wearing a white top with swastikas.
One student said partygoers "were heiling to Hitler and making tasteless jokes about one of the darkest periods of human history".
Those in attendance were first-year students living in on-campus accommodation.
The hostels were operated by an outside company which organised numerous events - including the Oktoberfest party - throughout the year.
New Zealand Jewish Council president Stephen Goodman said such trivialisation of the Holocaust was disappointing.
"It is not the first time, and I doubt it will be the last, either. In most of the cases we've found in New Zealand, it's generally through a degree of ignorance that this sort of behaviour eventuates. It is not through malicious intent."
Lincoln vice-chancellor Roger Field apologised for the students' actions and said an investigation was under way.
"Appropriate action" would be taken under the university's student regulations, he said.
Lincoln University Students' Association (LUSA) president Megan Harte said some students had misinterpreted the theme of the event.
"It wasn't a Holocaust party, it wasn't a neo-Nazi party at all, it was an Oktoberfest party and some student misinterpreted that theme to mean they could dress in this way, which is questionable."
LUSA would "definitely" provide advocacy for the students involved if the university took disciplinary action, Miss Harte said.
