Nazi flags flew outside the Michigan Community Theater

A small group of protesters carrying Nazi flags and American flags with white supremacist symbols gathered outside a theater in Howell, Michigan.

HOWELL, Mich. — Masked protesters wearing white supremacist symbols waved Nazi flags and shouted hateful comments outside a community theater during a performance of “The Diary of Anne Frank” in Michigan, officials said.

A small group of protesters carrying Nazi flags and American flags with white supremacist symbols gathered outside American Legion Post 141 in Howell, Michigan on Saturday, the veterans organization said in a video on social media. The organization organized a local production of ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’, a stage adaptation of Anne Frank’s posthumously published book.

The Fowlerville Community Theater group, which staged the play, confirmed the incident in a statement Monday. The group said it “became aware of the presence of self-identified Nazi demonstrators” while performing the first act of the play and were told the situation was under control.

The protesters were removed from the site and the public was informed of the situation during the break out of an abundance of caution, the group said.

“For this production, our cast was also in character on stage during intermission, and that’s when they figured it out. While some were understandably shocked, they came together and closed the performance with strength and professionalism,” said the group. “This production is about real people who lost their lives in the Holocaust, and we have tried to tell their stories as realistically as possible.”

“On Saturday evening, things became more real than we expected; the presence of protesters outside gave us a small glimpse of the fear and uncertainty felt by those in hiding,” the group added. “As a theatre, we want to make people feel and think. We hope that by presenting Anne’s story we can help prevent the atrocities of the past from happening again.”

What happened during the demonstration?

The Livingston County Sheriff’s Office said there were about five protesters Saturday outside the American Legion Post 141. According to the sheriff’s office, the protesters initially entered the organization’s parking lot but were asked to leave the premises.

Officers spoke with the protesters, who left the area shortly after people began videotaping, the sheriff’s office added. No arrests have been made.

“The protesters then crossed the street waving flags decorated with Nazi insignia,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release. “A subject then approached them and an argument ensued. Nothing physical happened and the parties involved ultimately parted ways.”

A member of American Legion Post 141 told WLNS-TV that the organization thought the piece would be educational, amid reports of rising anti-Semitism. The organization went live on Facebook on Saturday and filmed the demonstrators being confronted by representatives. A protester can be heard telling deputies that they are protecting their right to free speech.

Witnesses said protesters were also heard shouting anti-Semitic and racist slurs. Bobby Brite, a former commander of the American Legion Post 141, told WXYZ TV that he recorded the incident and that when he confronted the protesters, they shouted hateful comments at him.

“People were shocked. They were shocked,” he told the television station. “We had 75 people downstairs watching that play and of those 75, 50 or 60 were afraid to leave this building. We had to escort them to their cars. No one in America should have to feel that way.”

Howell, a city of more than 10,000 people in Livingston County, is about 60 miles northwest of Detroit. Livingston County has seen similar displays of anti-Semitism and racism this year.

Another four protesters were seen waving Nazi flags on Saturday in Fowlerville, a town about 10 miles from Howell.

In July, about a dozen demonstrators marched through Howell waving Nazi flags and chanting “Heil Hitler.” Later that day, a second demonstration took place at an overpass and demonstrators could be heard in a video chanting, “We love Hitler. We love Trump.”

In August, a similar demonstration took place in Brighton – a town just southeast of Howell. Several local businesses publicly condemned the demonstration.

What is ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’?

“The Diary of Anne Frank” is based on the writings of Anne Frank, a Jewish girl who kept a diary while her family hid from the Nazis during the occupation of the Netherlands. The family was arrested in 1944 and Frank later died of typhoid in a concentration camp.

Her diaries were collected after the end of the war and given to the only survivor of the family, her father Otto Frank. It has since been published in more than 70 languages.

The diary has since been adapted into several film and stage productions. The writings are often assigned to middle and high school students as an introduction to the Holocaust during World War II.

Incident condemned by interest groups

The incident was condemned by the Michigan chapter of the American Defamation League (ADL), an advocacy group focused on combating anti-Semitism.

“We are disgusted by the far-right extremists who praised Hitler and waved Nazi flags outside an American Legion hosting the play ‘The Diary of Anne Frank,’ and we stand with American Legion 141 and (Howell Township) who know that hate does not belong in their community,” the ADL said in a statement on X on Monday.

The Michigan Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, also spoke out against the demonstration.

“We condemn this expression of neo-Nazi hatred and join all those who are speaking out against the rising intolerance and societal divisions we are witnessing nationwide,” CAIR-MI Director Dawud Walid said in a statement on Tuesday. “All such attempts to promote racism, anti-Semitism or any other form of bigotry must be rejected by local, state and national religious and political leaders.”

Walid also noted that CAIR has “repeatedly condemned the activities of neo-Nazis across the country,” the organization said in a press release.

Anti-Jewish And anti-Muslim incidents have increased dramatically in the US since the attacks on Israel by Hamas on October 7 last year. The ADL documented more than 10,000 anti-Semitic incidents in the year after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas. USA TODAY previously reported this.

At the same time, CAIR reported that there were more than 8,000 anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian complaints in 2023, with almost half of these complaints reported in the last three months of the year. Within the first six months of 2024, nearly 5,000 complaints of discrimination were documented by the organization.

Contributors: Dan Basso, Lansing State Journal; Sara Chernikoff, USA TODAY; Reuters