Originally posted by Detroit News

A group of demonstrators carrying Nazi flags appeared Saturday night outside a community theater performance of the "The Diary of Anne Frank" at an American Legion post in Livingston County.

Bobby Brite, past commander of the American Legion Devereaux Post 141, recorded video of the demonstrators who, he said, were present outside of the Howell Township venue for about 30 minutes while the play, which documents the experiences of a young Jewish girl and her family during the Holocaust, was ongoing.

About 10 people were part of the pro-Nazi group that showed up in the legion's parking lot at about 7:30 p.m. and eventually moved across the street, Brite said. They were in their 20s and all wearing masks, he said.

At one point, they were chanting "Anne Frank was a whore," Brite said. Frank died at age 15 at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945.

"They are some of the most cowardly people I’ve ever met," said Brite, who was part of a contingent from the American Legion that interacted with the demonstrators.

Brite, 57, who's a veteran of the U.S. Army, said the demonstrators' actions were "absolutely disgusting.”

The incident came after the Anti-Defamation League reported a rise in antisemitic incidents in Michigan between 2022 and 2023. In 2023, there were 267 total incidents, including 230 instances of harassment, 35 of vandalism and two assaults, following 111 incidents a year earlier that included 93 instances of harassment, 17 of vandalism and one assault.

"We are disgusted by the far-right extremists who praised Hitler and waved Nazi flags outside of an American Legion hosting the play 'The Diary of Anne Frank,' and we stand with American Legion 141 and @HowellTownship who know that hate doesn't belong in their community," the ADL Michigan said in a statement on X.

The Livingston County Sheriff's Office came to the scene as the demonstration was taking place, Brite said. A statement from the sheriff's office said the pro-Nazi group had been asked to leave the legion parking lot and did.

"The demonstrators then went across the street and waved flags adorned with Nazi insignia," the statement from the sheriff's office said. "A subject then approached them, and an argument ensued. 

"Nothing physical transpired and ultimately the parties involved separated."

There was another performance of the play on Sunday, and it occurred "without further incident," the sheriff's office statement said.

The Fowlerville Community Theatre put on "The Diary of Anne Frank" productions at the Howell American Legion post.

Chuck Firman, president of the Fowlerville Community Theatre, said he was running the sound system with his two teenage sons on Saturday night while the demonstrators were outside.

“I'm not going to lie," Firman said. "It was a scary moment. But really, the show must go on.”

A statement from the theater group on Monday said its "The Diary of Anne Frank" production centered on "real people who lost their lives in the Holocaust." The cast and crew "endeavored to tell their story with as much realism as possible," the statement said.

"On Saturday evening, things became more real than we expected," the theater group's statement said. "The presence of protesters outside gave us a small glimpse of the fear and uncertainty felt by those in hiding."

Brite said the American Legion allowed the play to be performed at the venue and said the history it detailed was tragic and shed light on the plight the Jewish community has endured.

The Saturday night performance was sold out and guests were made aware during the intermission of the Nazi demonstrators outside, Brite said. However, the demonstrators left after being confronted and before the play was over, he said.

"They came to the wrong place," Brite said of the Nazi demonstrators appearing outside the Legion post.

U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a Holly Democrat who is Jewish and is set in January to become a U.S. senator, praised the American Legion and took aim at the protesters.

"It’s more important than ever to fight back against hate, especially at the local level," Slotkin wrote on X. "To the American Legion offering their hall for a play about Anne Frank: profound thanks. To the handful of masked, antisemitic creeps waving Nazi flags: Nazis always lose."

In July, four months ago, another demonstration took place in Howell, during which participants reportedly chanted "Heil Hitler."