The Michigan production of “Diary of Anne Frank” was targeted by Nazi protesters

by Junna Base November 12, 2024

Protesters carrying flags with Nazi swastikas targeted two rural Michigan towns over the weekend, including the site of a community theater performance of “The Diary of Anne Frank.”

They also reportedly chanted a pro-Donald Trump slogan.

The actors portraying Anne Frank and her family in the play produced by Fowlerville Community Theater learned about the five protesters when staff notified the audience during intermission. While this announcement was made, the cast remained onstage in their roles as Jewish refugees hiding from the Nazis, the theater said.

In a statement, the theater said the “understandably shaken” cast “came together and completed the performance with vigor and professionalism.”

Among those condemning the acts was Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, the Jewish Democrat who represents the district where the incidents occurred and who won election to the Senate last week.

ORIGINAL, DIARY of Anne Frank, 1942. (Source: PICRYL)

“It is more important than ever to stand up against hate, especially at the local level,” Slotkin wrote on X on Sunday evening. “To the few masked, anti-Semitic creeps waving Nazi flags: Nazis always lose.”

ADL condemns incident on social media

A representative for the Michigan office of the Anti-Defamation League did not respond to a request from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency for comment on the incident. On social media, the ADL’s national office said it was “disgusted by the far-right extremists who praised Hitler and waved Nazi flags in front of an American Legion showing the play ‘The Diary of Anne Frank.’

The American Legion hall in Howell, a town of about 10,000 people east of Lansing, had made its space available to the nearby Fowlerville Community Theater for the show. One member told local news that they agreed to host the event because they were concerned about rising anti-Semitism.

Neither the American Legion nor representatives from the theater immediately responded to JTA requests for comment. “People were shocked, they were horrified,” former American Legion commander Bobby Brite told local news.

“This production focuses on real people who lost their lives in the Holocaust, and we have strived to tell their story as realistically as possible,” the theater’s statement continued. “On Saturday night, things got more real than we expected; The presence of the protesters outside gave us a glimpse into the fears and insecurity of those in hiding.

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“As a theater we want to encourage people to feel and think. We hope that by telling Anne’s story we can help ensure that the atrocities of the past are not repeated.”

One of the cast members, Becky Frank, who played Anne’s mother Edith, told local reporters the incident was “disturbing,” adding that the pain was compounded by “just knowing the character I’m playing and a lot of research.” about my figure.” Edith Frank died in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, separated from her daughters Anne and Margot, who were murdered in the Bergen-Belsen camp.

On the evening of the performance, Brite shared a video of the demonstration on Facebook and at the same time condemned it. Protesters later hurled anti-Semitic insults at Brite, he told reporters.

“The downside of hosting something like this is that you create extremists,” he said in the video, which captured the small group of five protesters with swastika banners across the street. “We are definitely against all acts of extremism, all acts of hate and all hate groups.”

He continued, “We have this play that we put on here at the post office. It’s historical and something people can learn from. That’s the kind of crap you have to put up with. These individuals are certainly looking for attention.”

In a statement to JTA, the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office said protesters initially walked into the American Legion parking lot until they were asked to leave, at which point they walked across the street. They argued with a passerby, but, the sheriff said, “nothing physical occurred and ultimately the parties involved separated.”

Protesters wove flags with swastikas and reportedly chanted pro-Trump slogans

The Nazi group, wearing masks emblazoned with the white supremacist symbol “1488,” then left the site of the play and protested in the smaller nearby village of Fowlerville, waving American flags next to swastikas. In Fowlerville, a witness told local reporters he heard them shouting “Heil Hitler and Heil Trump.”

This was not the first reported incident this year involving white supremacist activity in the Howell area, which has historical ties to the Ku Klux Klan. In July, protesters held a “White Lives Matter” rally in downtown Howell, chanting “We love Hitler, we love Trump.”

The next month, Donald Trump – now the president-elect – held a campaign event there.

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