Neo-Nazis wave swastika flags outside the Michigan theater during a play about Anne Frank

On November 13, 2024By Pranco

A group of neo-Nazis descended on two Michigan cities this weekend, waving flags with swastikas on them in front of a theater where a play about Anne Frank was being performed.

American Legion Post 141 in Howell, a city west of Detroit, was hosting the production based on “The Diary of Anne Frank” on Saturday evening when a number of masked men showed up, reportedly shouting anti-Semitic and racist slurs.

Anne Frank was a Jewish girl who lived under Nazi occupation in the Netherlands. The diary entries she wrote while in hiding before her tragic death in a concentration camp in 1945 remain one of the most important firsthand perspectives on the Holocaust.

American Legion, a veterans organization, agreed to stage the play in response to rising anti-Semitism in the United States, making it all the more shocking that the very thing they were fighting against came right on their doorstep.

Bobby Brite, a former commander of the post and a 26-year U.S. Army veteran, was there and confronted the neo-Nazis. He posted one live video from them to the legion’s Facebook page.

Pictured: Neo-Nazis were seen outside American Legion Post 141 in Howell, a city west of Detroit, as the veterans organization presented a play about Anne Frank

Anne Frank was a Jewish girl who lived under Nazi occupation in the Netherlands

The Fowlerville Community Theater, which staged the play, said in a statement that men were then in the parking lot of the American Legion building before being “moved” to the other side of the street.

It is not clear whether American Legion personnel or police were responsible for removing them from the site.

In Brite’s video, police kept an eye on the men as they shouted about their “rights” and continued to wave Nazi flags.

‘People were shocked. They were shocked,” Brite said WXYZan ABC affiliate in Detroit.

“We had 75 people downstairs watching that play and of those 75, 50 or 60 were afraid to leave this building,” Brite added. ‘We had to escort them to their cars. No one in America should feel this way.”

The theater said that despite the anxiety felt by both the audience and the cast, the play was able to conclude without interruption.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we have decided to inform the public during the intermission,” the theater wrote.

Becky Frank, who played Anne Frank’s mother Edith, said the rise of neo-Nazis was ‘disturbing’

‘For this production, our cast was also in character on stage during the break, and they noticed that too. Although some were understandably shocked, they came together and closed the performance with strength and professionalism.”

Those involved in staging the play spoke directly to WLNS about the experiences they had.

Becky Frank, who played Anne Frank’s mother Edith, said it was “disturbing.”

Brandon Johnson, the director, said he was surprised that people were protesting the play, which had been playing for two weeks at that point.

Police on the scene said nothing violent happened.

Veteran Mark Epley, who was also at the play, was shocked by the display of hatred by the neo-Nazis.

“I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around it. It is so wrong on so many fronts,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense for me to have so much hate inside.”

WLNS reported that after the group left Howell, they ventured west into downtown Fowlerville.

Witnesses said that after the neo-Nazis were confronted by the veterans and police during the play, they traveled west to march through the city of Fowlerville.

A witness who filmed the men, still waving their flags, said their masks bore the number 1488.

The number is an anti-Semitic symbol. The ’14’ of ‘1488’ refers to the slogan of ’14 Words’: ‘We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.’

The ’88’ is simply an abbreviation for ‘Heil Hitler’, according to the League against defamation.

“There was a group of people at the downtown intersection with swastika flags and American flags,” said Alex Sutfill, who filmed the incident while driving with his wife. “They raised their arms and shouted greetings Hitler and greetings Trump and things like that.”

Peter Damerow confronted the group while they were in Fowlerville, WLNS reported.

He was told to return to his country.

“They looked at me and one of them said, ‘No, this is Pureville now, and we’re here to make sure it stays pure,'” Damerow said.

“I really felt like they felt comfortable enough to do this because of Trump’s re-election and what they said to me at the traffic light made that very clear,” he added.