Masked men recently proved the ongoing presence of anti-semites in America. During a performance of The Diary of Anne Frank in Michigan, a group of men holed up in front of the venue, waving Nazi flags and spewing slurs.
The Fowlerville Community Theatre was hosting the play at American Legion Devereaux Post 141 when they became aware of “the presence of self-identified Nazi protesters,” according to a press release.
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Bobby Brite, past commander of the legion, recorded a video of the protestors and shared it to Facebook. He told The Detroit News that the group of 10 masked men chanted things including “Anne Frank was a whore” during their anti-semitic showing. Frank was 15 when she died at a concentration camp in 1945.
“They are some of the most cowardly people I’ve ever met,” Brite told the outlet of the “absolutely disgusting” protest.
“There was a group of people at the four-way intersection in downtown that had swastika flags and American flags,” Alex Sutfill, a witness, told the local CBS station. “They were sticking their arms up and yelling ‘Hail Hitler‘ and ‘Hail Trump’ and everything like that.”
How the Protest Was Handled
The theater group alerted the American Legion staff on duty of the situation and was assured they were already aware of and monitoring the men, who moved out of the legion’s parking lot when asked.
Afterwards, the demonstrators went “across the street and waved flags adorned with Nazi insignia,” the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office told The Detroit News. “A subject then approached them, and an argument ensued.”
Peter Damerow told the local CBS station that he was the one who confronted the group. In response, he claimed, “They looked at me and one of them said, ‘No this is Pureville now, and we’re here to make sure it stays pure.’”
“Nothing physical transpired and ultimately the parties involved separated,” the sheriff’s office said.
Still, “out of an abundance of caution,” the group alerted the audience members to the situation at intermission.
“For this production, our cast was also on stage in character during intermission, which was when they found out as well,” the press release read. “Although some were understandably shaken, they pulled together and finished the performance with strength and professionalism.”
How the Situation Mirrors History
Chuck Firman, president of the Fowlerville Community Theatre, added in a statement to the The Detroit News, “It was a scary moment. But really, the show must go on.”
The theater’s press release further noted how the ordeal, which ended when the protestors left before the end of the show, “gave us a small glimpse of the fear and uncertainty felt by those in hiding.”
Indeed, Brite told the local ABC station, “We had 75 people downstairs that watched that play and out of that 75, there were 50 or 60 of them that were afraid to leave this building. We had to escort them to their cars. No one in America should feel like that.”
“As a theatre, we want to make people feel and think,” the press release read. “We hope that by presenting Anne’s story, we can help prevent the atrocities of the past from happening again.”
The Anti-Defamation League’s Michigan outpost said In a statement, “disgusted by the far-right extremists who praised Hitler and waved Nazi flags” at the event.
In October, the organization found that, following Hamas’ October 2023 attack on Israel, there were 10,000 antisemitic incidents in the U.S. That’s a 200 percent increase from the previous year.
