The principal of an Oklahoma high school has apologised after its yearbook featured a quotation attributed to Adolf Hitler.

Students at Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School in Oklahoma City discovered the quote when they got the books earlier this month. Graduating seniors chose quotes to pair with their portraits.

A quote listed above Hitler's name says: "If you want to shine like the sun, first you have to burn like it." Some translations of Hitler's manifesto Mein Kampf include similar wording, though the author of the quote is disputed.

It appeared in the yearbook directly below a quotation attributed to Anne Frank, the Holocaust diarist who perished in a Nazi death camp.

The principal, David Morton, sent parents a letter last week accepting blame for the error and saying the school was buying stickers students could place over the offending quote.

According to The Independent, a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, which oversees the school, said that the student who chose the Hitler quote was disciplined. The school also is reviewing its process for the student-chosen quotations. 

“Unfortunately, and clearly, the process failed to work in this case. The school is evaluating changes.”