Troll Storm (2024) Movie Script
1
(keyboard clattering)
Stephen,
there's no way that I can
ever compare my pain to the
pain of Holocaust survivors
that... I know
that I can only begin to fathom
what you've went through,
but what I've went through,
what you've been through,
the root of our pain
is the same, right?
(protestors shouting)
75 years ago,
we were confronted with
such overwhelming force,
but this force, they've
always been there.
Those ugly ideas
never went away.
During the war, my father
would traumatize me.
He also, you know,
kind of haunted me.
There's quite a bit
of inherited trauma.
(protestors shouting)
(glass smashing)
(protestors shouting)
And I really admire
you for your action.
You could run away,
but you used what you had
available to fight back.
To me, there wasn't
an alternative.
It was a very rude
awakening for me.
'Cause, look, I was just
a soccer mom from Montana.
I never imagined to go
through what I went through.
(keyboard clattering)
(traffic humming)
(indistinct chattering)
My name is Tanya Gersh.
[Guest] That's so nice.
I haven't been given
the opportunity.
- We'll do it here.
- So close.
We'll do it there.
[Judah] Jacob.
[All] Oh.
- [Guest] So close.
- [Jacob] Brain too small.
[Tanya] All right, you
guys wanna sit down?
(Tanya singing hymn in hebrew)
[All] Amen.
You'd think after all
these years I knew how to.
I still don't know it.
(Judah praying in
foreign language)
And the little boy.
My husband, Judah, when he
was done with law school,
asked me to move to
Whitefish with him.
He works at a law firm,
started his own practice.
(boat engine whirring)
We have two beautiful sons,
Micah and Jacob.
[Assistant] Oh, that's cool,
like, dark kinda weird thing.
Then I turn on the lights
downstairs and like, oh.
I really wanna capture this.
Oh yeah, this is
immediate light, whoop.
I want the kitchen to look
like you never actually
have to cook in it, you know?
Yeah, oh, yeah.
Other than some wine glasses
and a bottle of wine.
Yeah, this is a place where
you just enjoy yourself.
Exactly, have that.
(traffic humming)
(camera clicking)
Gorgeous.
My parents always struggled
to make ends meet.
There was constant
fighting about money,
how they're gonna pay the bills.
So when I turned 14,
I got my first job.
I had a little toy store.
Most of the money that I made,
I actually saved for college.
Oh, I'm so cute.
[Lloyd] Yeah, it
was such good times.
- Oh, this one.
- Oh, that's the old house.
[Lloyd] That's the old house.
[Tanya] That's where
I was brought up.
And we were raised
in that house.
We were so filthy.
This picture could have
been from the '20s.
[Lloyd] Depression days.
[Tanya] Depression
days or something.
Oh, look, mommy
was so beautiful.
[Lloyd] Oh yeah, and smart.
[Tanya] Yeah.
Your mom died young.
[Tanya] Yeah.
[Lloyd] Too young.
[Tanya] My daddy,
Lloyd Rosenstein,
lives close to me in Whitefish.
My brother and I
were raised in Idaho.
[Protestors] Peace now,
peace now, peace now.
[Tanya] You were passionate
about the civil rights movement.
[Lloyd] There was things going
on. There was Vietnam War.
We were in the streets
and demonstrations,
just because we had
to do something.
But I didn't like your
passion for politics
because it made you angry.
I don't have any
memories of the news
not being on in our house.
I like to know my enemies.
I remember us having so
many arguments about like,
daddy, I just don't wanna
hear about what's going on
in the world. Don't
talk to me about it.
And I tried to expose
you to the bad things.
You know, the world
isn't that kind.
And you shut me down and
after a while, I just.
Yeah.
You know, I didn't
go too far with it.
You know what I mean?
Mm-Hmm.
But, hey, anyway, you
made me very proud.
Everything you did,
you worked for it.
(soft music)
This is Whitefish.
We're a ski town and a lake
community of 7,000 people
in Northwest Montana.
Hi.
Hi.
Where I've made my life.
This is nice.
All over town you'll see
Love Lives Here stickers.
This is left over from
from the time that
the storm hit.
(bird cawing)
- [Donald Trump] The U.S.
- has become a dumping ground
for everybody else's problems.
They're bringing drugs,
they're bringing crime.
They're rapists.
And some, I assume
are good people.
After Trump was elected,
I wasn't comfortable
with his demeanor
and the language that he used,
but I told my kids, this
man is our president
and we need to be good Americans
and respect our president.
And then I was laying
in bed one night,
scrolling through Facebook
and saw the video
that had gone viral.
Hail Trump, hail our
people, hail victory.
(audience applauding cheering)
Hail Trump, hail America.
Is it heil or hail?
Do you know? I mean,
I don't even know.
Is it heil Trump, heil America?
This was all so foreign
to me, it's unbelievable.
(Tanya laughing)
(audience applauding)
This man, Richard Spencer.
(tense music)
He lives here.
I still remember so many
people coming up to me
and saying, "This
is devastating."
And I honestly didn't
really pay it much mind
because I thought, we need
to not pay attention to this.
We need to ignore the
fact that this happened.
We need to move on.
(tense music)
[Stephen] There was
a custom in Poland
to gather at cafes
in the afternoon
to meet friends and
listen to music.
(lively music)
Lodz, a very cosmopolitan
and exciting city in Poland.
That was where my family lived.
My father, Maurice,
was a physician.
My mother, Lena,
studied dentistry.
She left school to
marry my father.
The summer of 1939 was tense.
There was war in the air.
Poles watched fearfully
as the German forces
advanced rapidly towards Warsaw.
(somber music)
I was born during the crisis.
My name is Stephen Jacobs.
(audience applauding)
Our lived experience is
being a young white person
in 21st century America, seeing
your identity be demeaned.
He says a lot of things
that a lot of people have
been thinking for a long time.
[Richard] I've lived in
this multicultural mess,
and I'm trying to get out of it.
The Spencer family have
a home in Whitefish.
They also own a commercial
building in downtown Whitefish.
And some old friends of mine
rented office spaces
in that building.
And Richard Spencer has his
National Policy Institute
registered to that address.
[Richard] Hail Trump.
The post of him hailing
was going crazy viral
all over America.
Now he'd tell the world
he loves living in Whitefish,
Montana because it's so white.
[Richard] Hail our people.
The town started to really
despise that he lived here.
[Richard] Hail our
people, hail our people.
[Tanya] On Facebook.
[Computerized
voice] Fuck Spencer,
and all his Nazi douche bags.
[Richard] Hail, hail,
hail our people.
There was a group in
town that organized
and protested that happening.
I remember reading it
in the local newspapers
and staying so far
away and being so happy
that my community was
just taking care of this
without me having
to be involved.
We're a very open town.
We welcome diversity.
We need to rediscover these
bonds we've had together.
I mean, does anyone
really believe that?
He slandered us and we
don't appreciate it.
[News Reporter] You don't
believe that was a condemnation.
Of me?
No.
And then later I actually
witnessed a photographer
take pictures of
the Spencer building
and I sent my friends in the
building a worried message
saying, "I'm watching people
take pictures of your building.
I think there's
gonna be protests.
You should probably put a
Love Lives Here sticker,
or some sort of sign that says,
I don't believe in the
ideologies of Richard Spencer
because your businesses
are getting photographed."
(cellphone ringing)
I picked up the
phone and she said,
"My name is Sherry Spencer."
Who's the mother
of Richard Spencer.
My friend in the building
gave my phone number to her.
[Sherry] Sarah had called me.
She felt there were
going to be protests.
And there must have been
a misunderstanding that
Richard did not have
ownership in the building.
I own the building.
This is stressful.
These are not my beliefs.
This is my son.
I love my son.
I felt in that moment
that she was incredibly
honest with me.
In that moment,
she was having a real mother
to mother conversation with me.
My heart actually
really hurt for her.
[Sherry] Tanya, can you help me?
[Tanya] Sherry, I would
be honored to help you.
[Sherry] So what can we
do about the protest?
If this were my son
and I didn't believe
in his ideologies,
I would sell that building.
I would take some
money from the sale.
I would donate it to a
human rights organization.
And with that money, I would
make a public statement saying
that I don't believe in
the ideologies of my son.
And Sherry said, "Tanya, that's
exactly what I should do.
That's exactly what I should do.
Can you help me?"
(tense music)
(keyboard clamoring)
I was on autopilot
at that point.
I put the listing
agreement together.
I didn't wanna
profit off the sale.
So purposely charging as
little as heavenly possible.
I wrote on one of the
chat rooms on Facebook
that we're talking
about protesting,
because Sherry actually asked
me to let everybody know.
Everyone relax, there's no
reason to organize a protest.
I just talked to Sherry Spencer.
She's agreed to
sell her building.
And being so excited
and it felt good.
It made me feel
like a peacekeeper.
I was really in that head space.
I went about my
life even thinking,
"Dad, you don't have to
get angry all the time
to accomplish something."
(chicken clucking)
I just wanted
everything to be happy.
There's no pain in our town.
There's so many beautiful
moments of growing up here,
you know, but trying to
find where I fit here,
that has always
been the struggle.
Is it a struggle for you
now in this generation?
Yes, you know, the
microaggressions,
being followed around
the grocery store
to make sure I wasn't gonna
do anything or steal anything.
My dad had prepared us as
young as I can remember,
that our lives were
gonna be different
and solely based on
the color of our skin.
And he had to
constantly remind us
that we were
beautiful and special.
It was just like,
well, then why does everyone
treat us differently?
A powerful moment captured at
a Black Lives Matter protest
in Whitefish, Montana.
I was like, oh my gosh,
that's me in that photo.
Actually, the first time
I saw you was on the news,
talk about the day you were at
the Black Lives Matter rally.
[Crowd] Peaceful, peaceful,
peaceful, peaceful.
There was, like, 40
people protesting.
And there was a
commotion behind us.
Black Lives Matter, fuck you.
So I turned around
and I saw a gentleman
yelling at some kids.
And so I kinda
just turned around
to assert myself
into the situation.
And then we locked eyes.
He started screaming, All
lives matter, F you, F you.
There was just a moment
that clicked for me.
My dad told my brothers and
I, like, my entire life,
no matter what the threat
is look them in the eye
so they have to acknowledge
that you're human.
That went through my head.
I lifted up my glasses
and I made him look at me.
(tense music)
In that moment, I did
feel very powerful.
This is the first time in
the 27 years I've been alive
that I've really felt a
hundred percent owning myself.
Up until this point my
life had been a struggle,
but it gets worse
before it gets better.
(tense music)
And then a few days later
when I reached out to Sherry
about the contract,
she had told me that
she had changed my mind
and that she was going
with another agent.
Didn't think much of it.
And I just said, "Don't worry.
I'm so sorry that all of
this has happened to you.
Let me know if you
would ever like
to meet for lunch someday."
'Cause I had never met her.
(gentle music)
Interesting enough,
shortly after that,
I was contacted by a news
reporter named David Winter.
[Reporter] David,
how's your first
St. Patrick's Day in Butte?
This is awesome.
These people are crazy.
I feel right at home.
He said, "I'm Jewish,
I have two sons.
Somebody just
forwarded me the post
that you put about
helping Sherry Spencer."
And I'd never really
dealt with media before.
I said, "Yes, I did,
but it's not my story to tell.
The story that will be
told is Sherry's story."
(gentle music)
But then when he called
me once again saying,
"Tanya, I'm in Whitefish.
I would like to
interview about this."
That's when I put a
huge halt to this.
I told him, I am not
part of this story.
"Tanya, this is your story
whether you like it or not,
and you're gonna
look really stupid
if you don't make
a public statement,
because the story very
much is about you."
And I trusted his word for it.
I called a human
rights organization
to see if they might
be able to help.
They sent me this statement.
I skimmed through it, not
even really reading it,
just by being on autopilot.
They're a human
rights organization.
I trusted that they
would say the right thing
and help me through this.
And then just forwarded
it on to David Winter.
The funny thing is, I was
so uneasy with all of it.
I texted him and I
said, "Please tell me
I'm not part of some big
news story about this."
He texted me right
back and said,
"You're not part of some
big news story about this."
And I went, oh, phew,
and I went to sleep.
The next day that
news story went out.
Richard Spencer was
raised in Texas,
but he has spent years in
Whitefish with his family.
His mother, Sherry Spencer,
still lives here in
this beautiful home
at Whitefish Mountain Resort.
In an email to me, Sherry
says, "As painful as this is,
I am exploring a potential
sale of the building."
One of those detractors
is Tanya Gersh,
a prominent member of the
community who told
me in an email,
"Sherry is profiting
off of the people
of the local community,
all the while having
facilitated Richard's work,
spreading hate by
letting him live
and use her home address
for his organization."
Before I sent it, I
should have read it.
I guess that was my big mistake,
but the story was so
inappropriate anyway,
because none of this
should have been news.
And I thought, David
Winter took Sherry and me,
pinned us against each other
as if we were on opposite teams.
At least I didn't think we were.
I think out of response
to that news article,
Sherry Spencer wrote
a letter to a website
called "The Medium."
- [Computerized voice]
- Does love really live here?
My name is Sherry Spencer and
I am Richard Spencer's mom.
Gersh relayed to me that if
I did not sell my building,
200 protestors and national
media would show up outside.
She even shamelessly suggested
that she acts as my realtor.
She appeared to seek
financial benefit
from threats of protests
and reputation damage.
It was with that letter the
"Daily Stormer" took note,
and my life changed forever.
(gentle music)
That night I was out
with some friends
and I got a text message
from my husband that said,
"Tanya, it's really urgent.
Can you please come home?"
Judah doesn't do that
very often, you know?
So I knew it was
really important.
And when I got home, our
front door was locked,
which was really strange
because living in Montana
I don't even own
a key to my house.
Judah opened the door and
I said, "What's happening?"
(tense music)
There wasn't a light
on in the house
except for in our bedroom.
And he said, "Tanya, I have
to show you something."
And there was a laptop
sitting on the bed,
and he pulled up the website.
I saw my picture.
I remember reading,
are you ready for an old
fashioned troll storm?
[Computerized voice] This
is the Jews for you, people.
This is a people without shame.
The "Daily Stormer"
is one of the biggest
neo-Nazi websites
in our country.
It's filled with nothing
but vile, vile hatred
against Jews and other
minorities as well.
That title was taken by a
Nazi Germany publication
called the "Daily Stormer."
The owner-operator of the
website was Andrew Anglin.
My goals are probably
similar to Richard Spencer.
We all kinda have the same goal
of forming a white
nation for white people.
He had, like, 300,000
followers or
something like that.
[Computerized voice]
Please call her
and tell her what you think.
Maybe you should
stop by and tell her.
[Tanya] They published my
phone number, email address,
my Facebook page, our office
address, home address.
And Andrew Anglin claimed
that this was protected
by the First Amendment.
[Computerized voice]
It is well within
your First Amendment
rights to tell these people
what you think of their actions.
The Supreme Court has
called the bedrock principle
of our free speech doctrine.
That it protects
freedom, even indeed,
especially, for the
thoughts that we hate.
From the time I
was really young,
I always wore a
little Star of David.
I remember, I might
have been sixth grade.
My grandmother was coming
to visit from Florida.
She was giving me a
big hug and a kiss,
and then she saw that
I was wearing a Star.
And she said to me,
"Why are you so Jewish?
What's making you so Jewish?"
And I remember being
incredibly confused.
I didn't understand what
that was supposed to mean.
And, of course, now
thinking back on it,
it makes perfect sense.
She was,
she was brought up to be afraid.
And I was so afraid that moment.
(hands clapping)
There are so many neo-Nazi
groups and white supremacists
all over the world,
even in Whitefish.
When my husband and
I came here in 2000,
people like April Gaede, a
well-known white supremacist
came here spewing hate.
April Gaede and her
white European people
wanted to create a white
supremacist community here.
This is a white
community by default.
They could disappear here.
Yeah.
It's about survival
and who we are.
I think the first time
that I saw Richard Spencer
was on television,
and he was right in
front of Whitefish Lake.
And I thought,
"Who is this guy?"
And then we found out
that his mom lived here.
And then we found out that
they had attended a conference
for white supremacists.
The whole family was there.
My husband Allen is a rabbi.
We were concerned about the
white supremacists in Whitefish.
We were talking
about it, and I said,
"It has to be Love Lives Here."
That was the beginning
of the organization,
and we started to demonstrate
against antisemitism.
[Tanya] Since
Sherry's story broke,
I was in constant state of fear.
To make things more scary.
Now our own David
Winter spoke to Anglin
exclusively this afternoon.
David Winter broadcast a
one-on-one video interview
with Andrew Anglin.
Thanks for agreeing to do
the interview with us today.
Sure, I mean, any
problem that you look at,
you're gonna find
Jews behind it.
[Tanya] Andrew Anglin has
been underground for years.
Like no one can
find Andrew Anglin.
To this day, nobody knows
how David Winter managed
to contact Andrew Anglin.
Are you saying there
is a conspiracy of Jews
doing these things?
It's a genetic behavior pattern.
White people build
civilizations.
Jews destroy civilizations.
Would you be for the
extermination of
Jews as Hitler was?
Well, I don't think
Hitler actually was.
There's no evidence
to that effect.
David Winter literally gave
Andrew Anglin a platform
to proselytize to the world.
This is completely
unnecessary drama.
People don't like to be
threatened and so by.
I'm not threatening anyone.
These Jews are the ones
making the threats.
The pain of being
taken advantage of is
a sickening and
disgusting feeling.
(phone ringing)
The next day we were woken
up to a phone ringing.
(handset clicks)
[Hater] Hi Tanya.
You should have died
in the Holocaust
with the rest of your people.
(handset clicks)
The first few calls I answered.
Since I didn't know
what was going on,
I actually talked to them
and tried to explain,
no, no, no, this
isn't what happened.
[Hater] Dirty (beep) whore.
But they weren't interested
in hearing what I had to say.
I think they would abuse me.
(gunshots)
(handset clicks)
I heard gunshots.
That was a sign that
they wanted me dead.
(phone ringing)
[Hater] I got your
fucking name, hoe.
(handset clicks)
My phone rang nonstop.
[Hater] Burn in hell.
One call was over,
another call began.
[Hater] Fuck you,
you stupid Jew.
Another call was over,
another call began.
[Hater] Everybody's
watching you.
My voice messages filled up,
just rang over and
over and over again.
[Hater] You are surprisingly
easy to find on the internet
and in real life.
[Hater] Go kill yourself.
- [Hater] Filthy fucking (beep)
- leave Richard Spencer alone.
[Hater] You people are
gonna get what you deserve.
[Hater] This is
Trump's America now.
Emails flooded in.
[Computerized voice] You're
going to jail for extortion
you hateful bitch.
Merry Christmas,
you Christ killer.
I get asked so often,
why didn't you just
shut your phone off
and shut your computer off?
Because I have active contracts.
I'm responsible for a tremendous
amount of people's money.
Andrew Anglin told his
people to contact me
in any way they possibly could.
[Computerized voice] Nasty
Tanya never lets ethics,
or common decency get in
the way of a good deal.
Andrew Anglin told his
people to show up at my home,
show up at my place of work,
and ask to take them on a
real estate appointment.
[Computerized voice] We are
going to have a field day
with you scumbags.
They think of me because
of my Jewish agenda.
[Computerized voice] You
should fire and disavow
Tanya Gersh for her
unprofessional, illegal,
and anti-white conduct.
[Hater] Should she
really be licensed?
[Hater] Judah, this is
a fellow Montanan here.
We're not far away from you.
And I will suggest
that you actually
hold out the rein
of your wife, Tanya,
you and your fucking mentality.
(handset clicks)
[Tanya] We locked the doors.
We shut the shades.
We had no idea if people
were gonna show up to get us.
[Computerized voice] You have
no idea what you are doing.
Six million are
only the beginning.
And then I spent the time
pretending like
nothing was happening
for the sake of the children.
Make light of it, to
spend time with them,
to keep some sort of normalcy.
Do you remember the night, it
was Alpine Theater Project,
and Micah was at the Yuletide,
and I spotted you
through the door
and you were crying and you
looked absolutely drained.
And I went and
grabbed you and said,
"You're gonna get through this."
It was like talking to myself.
[Tanya] She and her husband
also received a tremendous
amount of attacks.
[Hater] Tanya, your information
is going all over the internet.
Andrew Anglin published the
names and email addresses
and phone numbers of any
business in Whitefish
with a Steiner, a Stein,
or even close to being
Jewish got targeted as well.
My entire community was
a victim because of this.
(tense music)
Instead of being resentful
and being angry at me,
the town supported my family.
They stood by my family.
- [Whitefish resident]
- This is indeed a community
where the voices that speak
for love and acceptance,
the extremist groups
do not represent us.
- [Computerized voice]
- Does love really live here?
The most painful
moment was when my son.
[Computerized voice] Her son
is a creepy little faggot.
His account got published
and they attacked him.
[Computerized voice] Psst,
kid, there's a free Xbox One
inside this oven.
(tense music)
One of the posts
on their website,
they put our pictures
on the gates to Auschwitz
concentration camp.
What kind of animals
attack a 12-year-old boy?
(tense music)
[Jacob] Every single story
in Judaism pretty much
is about people hating Jews
and then getting over it,
but why do they not like us?
Do you remember the time
that I was sitting at
the kitchen counter
and I started to cry?
I think it was the first time
I really, like, broke down.
[Jacob] Until then,
I didn't know it was
that big of a deal.
Like, okay, something's
actually going on.
[Tanya] And you put your hand
on my shoulder and you said,
"It's gonna be okay, Mommy."
[Jacob] Mm-Hmm.
[Hater] You keep
talking all that shit.
You think I'm gonna hang up now.
You got my dick hard, bitch.
What the fuck do you want
to do with this shit?
[Hater] Give me you
fucking address.
Should I tell you this?
When it was happening
and the kids were
coming outta school,
I was there in the
truck with a shotgun.
Not that I would shoot
anybody, but I use equal force.
If they were threatening
my family, you know,
I felt just as
threatened as you did.
(tense music)
[Computerized voice] For
the next phase of our plan
against Jew Gersh and
Jew Love Lives Here,
we are planning an armed
protest in Whitefish.
Why an armed march?
Because it shows we're serious.
[Computerized voice] Get to it,
if you are a true
warrior for the cause.
[Tanya] March on Whitefish
was supposed to end at my house.
They were gonna have
hundreds of Nazis with guns.
(protestors chanting)
I went into hibernation.
I was afraid for my life.
Judah said, "Tanya, we
have to pack our bags."
How long are we going?
He said, "I don't know."
Where are we going?
I don't know.
What do I say to them right now?
"Run in fear for our lives."
[Hater] I'm really disgusted
with your pro-Jewish sentiment.
[Tanya] I just
wanted to disappear.
[Hater] Everybody's
watching you.
Go kill yourself.
[Hater] You better
back off, bitch.
(indistinct hate threats)
[Hater] Fuck that
fucking motherfucker Jew.
(footsteps)
Jews historically were helpless.
They had no way of
defending themselves.
(train whistle blowing)
Historically, they were kept
in a very repressed state.
Couldn't vote, had
no rights, deported.
The Holocaust didn't
happen all of a sudden.
The atmosphere,
the politics,
the climate,
that made the
Holocaust possible.
I had memories,
a child's memories,
which I would say were clarified
by reading my Aunt
Alina's memoirs.
German troops entered Lodz
on September 9th, 1939.
Shortly after, Jews
were put in ghettos.
One memory I have is I was
standing behind the barbed wire
and a Polish boy, maybe 11,
12 years old, spit at me.
And his spittle
got into my mouth.
So that was a very
horrendous experience for me,
because I remember
it to this day.
Every day without let up,
we heard Hitler and his
ministers on the radio
rabble-rousing the German
and Polish populations
against the Jews.
He characterized the
Jews as subhuman.
The Poles who we
always thought friends
did not welcome Jews
in Poland at the end.
(somber music)
All synagogues in
Lodz were burned.
We all held each
other for comfort.
And I could not
control the shaking.
(tense music) (fire crackling)
I would experience this fear
every time there was a crisis.
[Tanya] The march on
Whitefish it never happened.
[Computerized voice] The
neo-Nazi "Daily Stormer"
had proposed a march.
Andrew Anglin, who runs
the "Daily Stormer"
said Wednesday on the website
he's postponing the march
due to the permit refusal
by the city of Whitefish.
Earlier this week,
the city of Whitefish
said Anglin had not paid
his application fee in full,
or filled out all the
requested information,
such as the proposed route.
I mean, it's a delicate thing,
David, to have, you know,
200 guys with rifles.
You know, we don't want
there to be an incident.
We want a peaceful march.
It was the dead of winter
when the storm hit my family.
A few months had gone by.
The phone calls and
emails kept persisting.
And the kind of chaos that
was taking place in my home
with police and FBI,
at one point looking
around the house
and there were, like,
four laptops open,
and they were tracking
every single Nazi chat room
in our country,
making sure that they weren't
organizing to come and get us.
I was having a hard time.
I had decided not
to go back to work.
All I could do to just be a
good mom and just focus on
getting through what we
were getting through.
My husband at this
point was taking charge
and taking care of all of us.
(phone ringing)
One night we got a message
from the Southern Poverty
Law Center or SPLC.
I had no idea who they were.
I told my husband,
somebody from Southern
Poverty Law Center called,
and I remember him
getting right on the phone
and calling them.
They asked if they
could come visit us.
They could offer some help.
And they were on our
doorstep in a matter of days.
(birds chirping)
[David] Oh my God.
[Tanya] Oh my God.
(Tanya and David laughing)
Exactly, right?
[David] Yes.
[Tanya] Literally, like, ah.
I'll never forget the
first time I met you.
I came to your house
with my colleague Rick.
What did you guys think
when two gay guys showed up?
[Tanya] Oh my gosh.
It was even more
of a sigh of relief
because I knew that
Judah trusted SPLC.
[David] I was gonna ask,
had you heard of SPLC?
I had never heard of SPLC.
At Southern Poverty Law Center,
we study, examine,
report, infiltrate
the actual hate and
extremism groups.
And because of that, we have
this wealth of knowledge
about who people are, what
their connections are.
There are in Whitefish, as we
now know, white separatists,
but Richard Spencer was the
main object of attention.
(audience cheering)
[Reporter] Richard
Spencer wants to redefine
what it means to be American.
[David] He had tried
to rebrand hate
into something that looked
as if it was academic,
look as if it were intellectual.
And then gives a talk
in a three-piece suit,
and has a degree from a
reputable institution.
That veneer is a dangerous one.
Instead of combat boots and
tattoos and shaved heads,
Ivy League educated in suits.
And $3 million ski homes
in Whitefish, Montana.
And this was a worrisome
shift in the movement
because that visual
change made it more likely
that people could be welcomed
into the halls of power.
All the way down,
that's Trump Hotel.
[Tanya] Oh, really?
- [David] Uh-hmm.
- [Tanya] Hmm.
(indistinct chattering)
[David] We'd been watching
the style with which
Andrew Anglin was engaged
in spreading hate,
and essentially invented the
tactic of the troll storm
using the forms of communication
that young people tend
to use these days.
Memes,
jokes,
quips.
It can draw you in
because it seems maybe
it isn't really real.
And a lot of what happened
to you were people thinking
they were being really clever,
pretending as if it's a joke.
And it's not a fricking joke.
(gentle music)
When I got to their town,
we didn't know what kind of help
we might be able to offer you.
We can help you understand
who these people are.
[Tanya] Right.
We can help you think
through security risks.
We didn't know what
we were gonna find.
We didn't know whether,
for example, this should
or could lead to a lawsuit.
We were doing lots of
things all at the same time,
talking with other
people in the town
who also had been targeted,
checking up on facts.
Part of the evaluation
was to get a sense
of what that would
mean to the town.
Is this gonna make peace or
is this gonna break peace?
And in my mind, I was thinking,
"Would this be good for
Tanya and her family?
And would you be able
to take on the burden
of filing litigation?"
I came back to the office,
and the president at SPLC said,
"This is your decision
whether we could bring a case.
If there's gonna be a case,
you would be in charge of it."
And I said, "One hundred
percent, absolutely,
Tanya can do this."
Even at the beginning
she was telling me why
this kind of stuff has to stop.
[Tanya] I wanted to stop
being afraid to be Jewish.
And then I started thinking
about the mothers and kids
getting targeted,
like my children,
for just being who they are.
I couldn't let them do
this to anyone else.
I don't wanna lose
my patriotism.
[David] No, you got this.
[Tanya] I want to
love my country.
I wanna be proud
to be an American.
[David] You are.
[Tanya] I had a group of the
most incredible attorneys
really taking care of me.
[David] We prepared documents
to physically file
in the actual court.
And they did tell me, you
know, there's gonna be media,
but I had no idea that
the world was gonna care.
We were vetting
every journalist.
We knew who these people were.
In my view, she was
taken advantage of
by a local Fox News reporter.
My understanding
is that journalists
are not supposed to contribute
to the stories they follow.
[Tanya] Tanya,
this is your story
whether you like it or not.
Nor are they supposed to
set up a series of events
that exacerbate
things that might,
or might not be
harmful to people.
Thanks for agreeing to do
the interview with us today.
Unfortunately, I believe that
that happened in this case.
Did you have anything else
that you wanted to get across
in reference to this
march and/or otherwise?
David Winter created the
narrative in my view,
and this was very
nerve-racking for Tanya.
Every time we had to think
about what she was gonna say,
how she was gonna
answer questions,
a lot of these doubts would
come back into her mind.
Did I do something wrong?
Did I use the wrong
tone on that phone call?
Am I misremembering
something that happened?
So a lot of the
prep was repetition.
This is what you have
told us 25 times.
We're confident in you.
[Tanya] The second
the lawsuit was filed
and media had a chance to
hear my public statement,
which I was just doing over
the phone for my safety.
[David] It was a
fairly small room
that a lot of us
were sitting in.
[Tanya] I think they expected
a few organizations to call in.
(phones ringing)
The telephones went crazy,
and everyone around the table
their eyes were super big,
and they just couldn't
believe what was happening
with all the phone
calls coming in
with all the interest about it.
And I was sitting
there literally like
a deer in the headlights.
Um.
Tanya was nervous.
Her hands were shaking.
It's really tough to be asked
pointed questions by people
from the "New York
Times" or from CNN.
As she was reading
her statement,
I was reaching over and I was
kinda giving her a back rub.
[Tanya] We received
hundreds and hundreds
of communications
saying, "Die Jew die.
We're gonna bring you
to the brink of suicide.
This is how we can keep the
Holocaust alive forever.
We can kill you
without touching you."
And she got through it,
and I knew then she's
really good at this.
Tanya can tell her story
in a very plainspoken way
that doesn't seem burdened
with ideology, by politics.
They don't view her
as a radical activist.
They view her as someone
whose life was upended.
The second I decided to
fight, I started to heal.
I started to be able
to breathe again,
but I was not gonna
go back to work.
There was no way I was
ever gonna go back to work.
I was not ready to get
hurt like this again
simply by trying to help.
I would wake up crying
every morning to be reminded
that I was a victim of this.
The pain was really,
really unbearable.
I wasn't sure if someone
was gonna come and get me.
At the same time I
was glued to the news.
For a long time,
we've only thought
about Jihadi terrorism,
and have ignored the
kind of terrorism
that the Charleston
shooter represents.
[Tanya] I wanted to learn
about what's happening
right now in the world and
I couldn't shut it off.
(lawnmower whirring)
I was taught to
be a free-thinker,
to never stop learning,
and to always question,
gain the knowledge that you need
to become an educated person.
The first time in my life
I became a news watcher,
to tell you the truth.
It became my father's house.
[News Anchor] And
Dr. Jonathan Reiner,
professor of medicine at
George Washington University.
He previously advised
the Bush White House.
I just wanted
everything to be happy.
And I didn't realize how
much I had closed my ears
to what was really,
really happening
in the rest of the country and
in the world as far as hate.
I was really in complete denial.
I remember reading newspapers
and a lot of news publications,
and I discovered Stephen's
article in "Newsweek."
- [Computerized voice]
- I'm a Holocaust survivor.
Trump's America feels like
Germany before Nazis took over.
Jacobs, a successful
New York architect
who designed the Holocaust
Memorial at Buchenwald
tells "Newsweek" there's
a real problem growing.
So much so that Jacobs thinks
there's a direct parallel
with Germany between
the two World Wars.
Perhaps more alarming than
the far right getting braver
is the seep into mainstream
politics of their hate,
their talking points,
their rhetoric.
It feels like 1929
or 1930 Berlin.
Fascism could have
been won in Spain.
It could have been stopped,
but appeasement of fascism
is what led to everything.
Things that couldn't be said
five years ago, four years ago,
three years ago, couldn't
be said in public,
are now normal discourse.
It's totally unacceptable.
We thought our
country had changed.
In fact, it didn't.
We are operating
on a misconception.
(tense music)
(car screeching)
(tense music)
(crowd cacophony)
[Man] Go, go, go, go.
(crowd cacophony)
A horrific scene in
Charlottesville, Virginia,
a white nationalist rally
that descended into
deadly violence and chaos.
The images just coming in,
a car plowing into a
crowd of demonstrators,
protesting against those
white nationalists.
A 32-year-old woman killed.
You're there at a memorial
for Heather Heyer.
What are you learning
about this young woman?
She worked in a legal law
firm here in Charlottesville.
She was a paralegal.
She worked in the
bankruptcy department.
In other words,
she helped people begin
a new financial future.
When Charlottesville happened,
I was glued to every
second of the coverage
because watching
the people in that crowd,
I realized what happened
to me was coming to life.
Heather, she wasn't
a Jewish girl.
She was just a citizen
of Charlottesville
that didn't wanna see
this happen in her town.
Shortly after her mother,
her name is Susan Bro,
got up on national
television and said.
The blood on the streets is
that what made America great?
I didn't want her to die,
but if she had to die, I'm
so proud of how she died.
All I wanted to do
was tell the truth
and send out a call to action.
And I didn't know
who would hear it.
I didn't know who
would do what with it,
but had no idea how it
landed with anybody, no idea.
I was listening.
[Richard] Charlottesville,
we care about who we are
and we will take a stand.
And it was organized
by a local fellow
who then reached out with
Richard Spencer to do this.
So in that way, too,
we're connected.
Did you know Heather
was going that day?
Did she tell you?
No.
Heather chose to go because
she saw the tiki torch march.
I did not see that until long
after Heather was killed,
but once I saw it,
I understood why she felt the
need to go stand in solidarity
with her friends.
[Protestors] Jews
will not replace us!
Jews will not replace us!
Where the fuck are the rest
of you to defend against this?
(crowd cacophony)
[Andrew] My brothers,
the Jew has been drinking
our blood for millennia.
And now this monster rules over
us as a brutal slavemaster.
There is no cavalry
coming to save us.
This is our war.
Death to traitors.
Death to the enemies
of the white race.
Hail victory.
(protestors cheering)
- [Protestors]
- White lives matter.
White lives matter.
(crowd cacophony)
It was scary and
she went anyway?
As the neo-Nazis and others
were leaving the rally,
she stopped in the parking
lot over on Water Street
to talk to one of the young
ladies who was packing up.
Well, can you tell
me why you're here?
Can you talk about
what you believe?
Can you tell me why
you feel this way?
And the girl just would
answer, no comment.
So she didn't
connect with Heather,
but that was Heather's
way of doing it.
That's why America
is proud of her.
That's why she's become a hero.
Well, she's not a saint.
She loved her cheap
whiskey with diet soda.
She wouldn't like
the public attention.
And the reason I allow it is
because there's a lesson there
that the average person
can make a difference
just by stepping up.
Fear and intimidation
only work if you let them.
And that's what the
murder of my daughter,
and the injury of several
others was intended to do,
was to make people afraid,
but if we live in
fear, then they've won.
[Tanya] Had Susan Bro not
taken that interview that day,
my life would be
very, very different.
It was that day, that moment
I decided to go back to work.
I decided to live.
They call themselves trolls,
what do you call them?
Terrorists.
[Reporter] Now Tanya and the
Southern Poverty Law Center
are fighting back.
[Reporter] Anglin initially
responded to the Gersh lawsuit
with this image.
[Computerized voice]
This case is also
much bigger than Anglin.
No real crime was committed
against poor little Tanya.
[Computerized voice] Stay
strong and don't let anyone,
or anything dim the
Festival of Lights.
Earlier this year,
U.S. Magistrate
Judge Jeremiah Lynch,
had rejected Anglin's
motion to dismiss the case.
[Andrew] The entire
Jew media making it out
that I'm the one that's
doing the harassment.
I mean, it's just like what,
it's just everything is
reverso bizarro world.
[Reporter] A federal judge,
again, denying the motion
to dismiss the lawsuit against
the "Daily Stormer" website
saying it would be
premature to reject the case
filed by the Whitefish woman.
[Richard] Little fucking kikes.
They get ruled by
people like me.
Little fucking octoroons.
I fucking, my ancestors
fucking enslaved
those pieces of fucking shit.
Just pretend like it
didn't happen to me
because I was scared?
How many other people is
Andrew Anglin gonna do this to?
[Stephen] I read about her
story in the "New York Times"
or some TV coverage pretty
much when it happened in 2016.
Her story was definitely,
you know, going through
those experiences.
Something that I know very well.
So I paid very close attention.
And I thought, I
wanted to meet her.
I wanted to talk to her.
Judah is devoted to his Judaism
and our history goes
so deep and painful.
I believe Judah suffered a
great deal of inherited trauma
set off by this storm
that was hitting.
(audience applauding)
I remember him saying to me,
how could I have let
this happen to my family?
He spent the entire year reading
every Nazi chat
room in our country
because he was afraid
somebody was coming for us.
He collected data, do research,
helped SPLC put
the case together.
And then it was almost
exactly a year to the day
his physical wellbeing
just fell apart.
Since the storm, we've all grown
up and we've all grown old.
(gentle music)
It was a long time coming.
We lawyers have been in court
many, many times in this case.
And so much of it is
behind the scenes.
Things that aren't
worthy of attention.
Fights about which
documents will be exchanged.
Fights about written
answers to interrogatories.
The lawsuit took
two and a half years
until I was able to
testify to the judge.
Both sides, me and Andrew Anglin
were slated to testify that day.
My attorneys always
just told me,
"Tanya, all you have
to do is be yourself
and tell your truth."
I was gonna do exactly that.
(tense music)
I remember driving
down to Missoula,
that's where the court was.
I think it's about a three
hour drive from Whitefish.
Just the strange mixture
of all of this happening
at the same time
about driving through
this beautiful drive.
I mean, we went through
different mountain ranges,
and we went through
a Bison reserve,
and we drove by gorgeous lakes
and knowing we were going down
to put on a day's
worth of evidence
about this neo-Nazi
and his troll storm.
(tense music)
I was very concerned,
but I couldn't see you
not doing something
and standing up for yourself.
I was definitely proud of
you and behind you 400%.
(tense music)
We were in court about a
First Amendment defense,
whether it would be inconsistent
with a First Amendment
to penalize anyone for
orchestrating this mass attack.
So there was a legal
strategy to demonstrate
that this kind of
conduct is actionable,
and you should face
consequences if you cause harm.
Life is hard enough
to get through
without taking the weight of
the world on your shoulders,
but they say in Judaism
that God never gives you
more than you can handle.
The day that Sherry
Spencer called me,
was the day that I had a calling
to stand up for what is right.
(tense music)
This is what a calling is.
I'm answering it.
(tense music)
(gavel banging)
We walked in and I looked
over at that defendant table
and it was empty.
There were no lawyers, and
there were no defendants.
And I'll tell you what.
I won in that moment.
We proved to this
judge that this conduct
was so reprehensible.
This is not protected
by our Constitution,
and contrary to the
values that he impose
the maximum amount
allowable under Montana Law.
Anglin must pay $14 million
for Gersh's lost wages,
damages, pain, and suffering.
With two million of the award
for future pain and suffering.
If that wasn't a statement
that Andrew Anglin's version
of hate was not welcome,
I don't know what would be.
(soft jazz music)
I wanted to document
this situation here.
[Tanya] He can dish up
all of this hate to me.
[Computerized voice] It's
that time, fam, take action.
[Tanya] But he
never had the guts
to actually face me in person.
- [Computerized voice]
- You're gonna wanna dip out
before this thing
really gets started.
[Tanya] He is
nothing but a coward.
Shut up.
- [Computerized voice]
- Hate-filled psychopaths
you simply are not
welcome in this country.
The first interview
I took after I said,
"I hope his followers
are watching
because he obviously
isn't worth following."
(upbeat big band music)
When they liquidated the ghetto,
they sent us to a labor camp.
My brother George and myself,
were separated from my mother
and ended up with my father.
I was five years old.
(gate slamming shut)
I can't describe how
many people perished
from illness and hunger.
What sustained my family
was that we were together.
There was always someone
looking after our welfare.
During the incarceration, I
worked in a shoemaker shop.
And one day, it must have
been close to the end,
we were standing outside
the shoemaker shop,
a German army truck was packed.
They were taking stuff away.
And on top of this thing
was a German soldier
and he was eating a
bread and a sausage,
and we were staring at him.
He could've shot us
for staring at him,
but he looked back at us.
And then when the
truck started moving,
he threw down the bread
and sausage at us.
One never knows where
you find humanity.
(somber music)
We were able to survive the
five months of incarceration
in Buchenwald.
We were liberated.
(somber music)
After liberation, I remember
my brother ran in very excited
because he had found
my mother's name
on a list of survivors
after the war.
Fortunately, so many of
our family had survived.
We were all intact.
In the fall of 1948,
we immigrated to
the United States.
My parents settled
in New York City.
We never returned to Poland.
Particularly my mother,
she said she would not go
back to that horrible country.
(footsteps ascending)
Welcome.
[Tanya] Hello, nice to meet you.
It means the world to me
to have the opportunity
to talk to a Holocaust survivor.
[Stephen] It's very
nice of you to say that.
[Tanya] And I never
really took the time
to teach my children
about the Holocaust.
To them, it felt so long ago.
Now I realize this
wasn't long ago at all.
And apparently we haven't
learned much since then.
Reading your "Newsweek" article,
I was shocked that you predicted
what happened with Trump.
Donald Trump is not a fascist.
Donald Trump enables fascists,
and historically
conservatives enabled fascists
to come to power with the idea
that they would be
able to control them.
And, of course, they were the
first people eaten for lunch.
And that's what happened
in Germany and in Poland,
but I have to say
that the Germans have
confronted their past
and their history
in a more honest way
than almost any other
culture in Europe.
And you have to
admire them for that.
There's some research that
Hitler was actually inspired
by the Jim Crow laws
of the United States.
Oh, absolutely.
By Jim Crow laws,
and by people like Henry Ford.
Henry Ford sent Hitler
half a million dollars
as a gift for his
birthday every birthday.
Not only Henry Ford.
Plenty of people like
Charles Lindbergh,
and all of his followers
would've liked to
see the Nazis win.
Many people in the
Roosevelt administration
had great fear that there
would be a military coup
with a fascist takeover.
We just went through, we were
at that kind of precipice.
[Crowd] USA, USA, USA, USA, USA.
[Stephen] Some of
these militia groups
in the United States today,
are very similar to
groups of violent thugs
organized by the Nazis.
[Protestor] Fuck you police.
[Tanya] How do you think
we are gonna change?
Things like this don't
necessarily go away.
And the important thing is
to seize political power.
Not to let these people
come to power again.
And what you did is
extremely important.
Fortunately, you
were in a situation
where you had the wherewithal
and the ability to fight back.
I did not.
We were overwhelmed,
but your action was an action
that one could almost compare
to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising,
to fighting back
against tyranny.
And you made these people pay.
And I'm very proud of
you that you did that.
I have this feeling like I
somehow need permission
from Holocaust survivors
to talk about my experiences.
I want this next
generation to know
that this was not long ago,
this happened to me today.
And lives are still
being destroyed.
That every single one of
them should keep fighting.
But perhaps a better word
than fight would be to resist.
And to realize that we
are frightening animals,
human beings,
that we're all capable of
this homophobia, Islamophobia.
That what's happening to
Asian Americans today.
All of these things are part
and parcel of the same thing.
What's worse than hate
is using hate as a
political strategy.
Their followers they don't
know what they're hating
because their hating
is indoctrinated.
People spread
Islamophobia or homophobia
are just political techniques,
but that is classic fascism.
That certainly
was a Nazi tactic.
If we're not in the
right political hands,
who's to say it
wouldn't happen again?
That's why I'm so frightened
of what's going on
in the United States,
and the rise of extreme
right-wing in the world today.
(gentle music)
When anybody attacks
any minority,
or any group of people
for who they are,
what they believe,
is an attack on all of us.
(somber music)
I know what it's like to
be hated and it hurts.
Their goal was to drive me
to the brink of suicide.
They ruined me publicly.
They ruined me socially.
They ruined me emotionally.
And they ruined me physically
all because I'm Jewish.
(audience applauding)
Even though I won my lawsuit,
this is not the end of the
power that white supremacy
and Andrew Anglin
have on our society.
If this happened
to another person,
if a troll storm happened
to another person,
I'm not sure I
could survive that.
Anglin is still on the run
and he continues to reach
and brainwash his audience.
Ladies and gentlemen,
let's reach his
audience before he does.
Let's be the next
movement of love.
All we are saying is
to give peace a chance.
Thanks for letting
me speak today.
Thanks for having me.
(audience applauding)
Angels never sleep
They're walking on
the clouds at night
In the lonely streets
You can see
their magic light
Expectations complications
All has gone and
now you're real
So I'm here at
this Filipino mall
with my jailbait girlfriend.
Angels never sleep
Even in the darkest night
Now, what happened
after a "Medium" post
that was written by myself
and my then wife, actually.
Written by myself and
my then wife, actually.
All has gone and
now you're real
Angels never sleep
because you're near
Oh oh
[Richard] You're gonna have
to get used to the alt-right.
You're gonna have to get
used to white identity.
So get used to it.
There's gonna be a lot
more crying, sweetheart.
Angels never sleep
Even in the darkest night
Come let's reach your seat
It doesn't matter who we are
Expectations complications
All is gone and
now you're real
Angels never sleep
because you're near
(keyboard clattering)
Stephen,
there's no way that I can
ever compare my pain to the
pain of Holocaust survivors
that... I know
that I can only begin to fathom
what you've went through,
but what I've went through,
what you've been through,
the root of our pain
is the same, right?
(protestors shouting)
75 years ago,
we were confronted with
such overwhelming force,
but this force, they've
always been there.
Those ugly ideas
never went away.
During the war, my father
would traumatize me.
He also, you know,
kind of haunted me.
There's quite a bit
of inherited trauma.
(protestors shouting)
(glass smashing)
(protestors shouting)
And I really admire
you for your action.
You could run away,
but you used what you had
available to fight back.
To me, there wasn't
an alternative.
It was a very rude
awakening for me.
'Cause, look, I was just
a soccer mom from Montana.
I never imagined to go
through what I went through.
(keyboard clattering)
(traffic humming)
(indistinct chattering)
My name is Tanya Gersh.
[Guest] That's so nice.
I haven't been given
the opportunity.
- We'll do it here.
- So close.
We'll do it there.
[Judah] Jacob.
[All] Oh.
- [Guest] So close.
- [Jacob] Brain too small.
[Tanya] All right, you
guys wanna sit down?
(Tanya singing hymn in hebrew)
[All] Amen.
You'd think after all
these years I knew how to.
I still don't know it.
(Judah praying in
foreign language)
And the little boy.
My husband, Judah, when he
was done with law school,
asked me to move to
Whitefish with him.
He works at a law firm,
started his own practice.
(boat engine whirring)
We have two beautiful sons,
Micah and Jacob.
[Assistant] Oh, that's cool,
like, dark kinda weird thing.
Then I turn on the lights
downstairs and like, oh.
I really wanna capture this.
Oh yeah, this is
immediate light, whoop.
I want the kitchen to look
like you never actually
have to cook in it, you know?
Yeah, oh, yeah.
Other than some wine glasses
and a bottle of wine.
Yeah, this is a place where
you just enjoy yourself.
Exactly, have that.
(traffic humming)
(camera clicking)
Gorgeous.
My parents always struggled
to make ends meet.
There was constant
fighting about money,
how they're gonna pay the bills.
So when I turned 14,
I got my first job.
I had a little toy store.
Most of the money that I made,
I actually saved for college.
Oh, I'm so cute.
[Lloyd] Yeah, it
was such good times.
- Oh, this one.
- Oh, that's the old house.
[Lloyd] That's the old house.
[Tanya] That's where
I was brought up.
And we were raised
in that house.
We were so filthy.
This picture could have
been from the '20s.
[Lloyd] Depression days.
[Tanya] Depression
days or something.
Oh, look, mommy
was so beautiful.
[Lloyd] Oh yeah, and smart.
[Tanya] Yeah.
Your mom died young.
[Tanya] Yeah.
[Lloyd] Too young.
[Tanya] My daddy,
Lloyd Rosenstein,
lives close to me in Whitefish.
My brother and I
were raised in Idaho.
[Protestors] Peace now,
peace now, peace now.
[Tanya] You were passionate
about the civil rights movement.
[Lloyd] There was things going
on. There was Vietnam War.
We were in the streets
and demonstrations,
just because we had
to do something.
But I didn't like your
passion for politics
because it made you angry.
I don't have any
memories of the news
not being on in our house.
I like to know my enemies.
I remember us having so
many arguments about like,
daddy, I just don't wanna
hear about what's going on
in the world. Don't
talk to me about it.
And I tried to expose
you to the bad things.
You know, the world
isn't that kind.
And you shut me down and
after a while, I just.
Yeah.
You know, I didn't
go too far with it.
You know what I mean?
Mm-Hmm.
But, hey, anyway, you
made me very proud.
Everything you did,
you worked for it.
(soft music)
This is Whitefish.
We're a ski town and a lake
community of 7,000 people
in Northwest Montana.
Hi.
Hi.
Where I've made my life.
This is nice.
All over town you'll see
Love Lives Here stickers.
This is left over from
from the time that
the storm hit.
(bird cawing)
- [Donald Trump] The U.S.
- has become a dumping ground
for everybody else's problems.
They're bringing drugs,
they're bringing crime.
They're rapists.
And some, I assume
are good people.
After Trump was elected,
I wasn't comfortable
with his demeanor
and the language that he used,
but I told my kids, this
man is our president
and we need to be good Americans
and respect our president.
And then I was laying
in bed one night,
scrolling through Facebook
and saw the video
that had gone viral.
Hail Trump, hail our
people, hail victory.
(audience applauding cheering)
Hail Trump, hail America.
Is it heil or hail?
Do you know? I mean,
I don't even know.
Is it heil Trump, heil America?
This was all so foreign
to me, it's unbelievable.
(Tanya laughing)
(audience applauding)
This man, Richard Spencer.
(tense music)
He lives here.
I still remember so many
people coming up to me
and saying, "This
is devastating."
And I honestly didn't
really pay it much mind
because I thought, we need
to not pay attention to this.
We need to ignore the
fact that this happened.
We need to move on.
(tense music)
[Stephen] There was
a custom in Poland
to gather at cafes
in the afternoon
to meet friends and
listen to music.
(lively music)
Lodz, a very cosmopolitan
and exciting city in Poland.
That was where my family lived.
My father, Maurice,
was a physician.
My mother, Lena,
studied dentistry.
She left school to
marry my father.
The summer of 1939 was tense.
There was war in the air.
Poles watched fearfully
as the German forces
advanced rapidly towards Warsaw.
(somber music)
I was born during the crisis.
My name is Stephen Jacobs.
(audience applauding)
Our lived experience is
being a young white person
in 21st century America, seeing
your identity be demeaned.
He says a lot of things
that a lot of people have
been thinking for a long time.
[Richard] I've lived in
this multicultural mess,
and I'm trying to get out of it.
The Spencer family have
a home in Whitefish.
They also own a commercial
building in downtown Whitefish.
And some old friends of mine
rented office spaces
in that building.
And Richard Spencer has his
National Policy Institute
registered to that address.
[Richard] Hail Trump.
The post of him hailing
was going crazy viral
all over America.
Now he'd tell the world
he loves living in Whitefish,
Montana because it's so white.
[Richard] Hail our people.
The town started to really
despise that he lived here.
[Richard] Hail our
people, hail our people.
[Tanya] On Facebook.
[Computerized
voice] Fuck Spencer,
and all his Nazi douche bags.
[Richard] Hail, hail,
hail our people.
There was a group in
town that organized
and protested that happening.
I remember reading it
in the local newspapers
and staying so far
away and being so happy
that my community was
just taking care of this
without me having
to be involved.
We're a very open town.
We welcome diversity.
We need to rediscover these
bonds we've had together.
I mean, does anyone
really believe that?
He slandered us and we
don't appreciate it.
[News Reporter] You don't
believe that was a condemnation.
Of me?
No.
And then later I actually
witnessed a photographer
take pictures of
the Spencer building
and I sent my friends in the
building a worried message
saying, "I'm watching people
take pictures of your building.
I think there's
gonna be protests.
You should probably put a
Love Lives Here sticker,
or some sort of sign that says,
I don't believe in the
ideologies of Richard Spencer
because your businesses
are getting photographed."
(cellphone ringing)
I picked up the
phone and she said,
"My name is Sherry Spencer."
Who's the mother
of Richard Spencer.
My friend in the building
gave my phone number to her.
[Sherry] Sarah had called me.
She felt there were
going to be protests.
And there must have been
a misunderstanding that
Richard did not have
ownership in the building.
I own the building.
This is stressful.
These are not my beliefs.
This is my son.
I love my son.
I felt in that moment
that she was incredibly
honest with me.
In that moment,
she was having a real mother
to mother conversation with me.
My heart actually
really hurt for her.
[Sherry] Tanya, can you help me?
[Tanya] Sherry, I would
be honored to help you.
[Sherry] So what can we
do about the protest?
If this were my son
and I didn't believe
in his ideologies,
I would sell that building.
I would take some
money from the sale.
I would donate it to a
human rights organization.
And with that money, I would
make a public statement saying
that I don't believe in
the ideologies of my son.
And Sherry said, "Tanya, that's
exactly what I should do.
That's exactly what I should do.
Can you help me?"
(tense music)
(keyboard clamoring)
I was on autopilot
at that point.
I put the listing
agreement together.
I didn't wanna
profit off the sale.
So purposely charging as
little as heavenly possible.
I wrote on one of the
chat rooms on Facebook
that we're talking
about protesting,
because Sherry actually asked
me to let everybody know.
Everyone relax, there's no
reason to organize a protest.
I just talked to Sherry Spencer.
She's agreed to
sell her building.
And being so excited
and it felt good.
It made me feel
like a peacekeeper.
I was really in that head space.
I went about my
life even thinking,
"Dad, you don't have to
get angry all the time
to accomplish something."
(chicken clucking)
I just wanted
everything to be happy.
There's no pain in our town.
There's so many beautiful
moments of growing up here,
you know, but trying to
find where I fit here,
that has always
been the struggle.
Is it a struggle for you
now in this generation?
Yes, you know, the
microaggressions,
being followed around
the grocery store
to make sure I wasn't gonna
do anything or steal anything.
My dad had prepared us as
young as I can remember,
that our lives were
gonna be different
and solely based on
the color of our skin.
And he had to
constantly remind us
that we were
beautiful and special.
It was just like,
well, then why does everyone
treat us differently?
A powerful moment captured at
a Black Lives Matter protest
in Whitefish, Montana.
I was like, oh my gosh,
that's me in that photo.
Actually, the first time
I saw you was on the news,
talk about the day you were at
the Black Lives Matter rally.
[Crowd] Peaceful, peaceful,
peaceful, peaceful.
There was, like, 40
people protesting.
And there was a
commotion behind us.
Black Lives Matter, fuck you.
So I turned around
and I saw a gentleman
yelling at some kids.
And so I kinda
just turned around
to assert myself
into the situation.
And then we locked eyes.
He started screaming, All
lives matter, F you, F you.
There was just a moment
that clicked for me.
My dad told my brothers and
I, like, my entire life,
no matter what the threat
is look them in the eye
so they have to acknowledge
that you're human.
That went through my head.
I lifted up my glasses
and I made him look at me.
(tense music)
In that moment, I did
feel very powerful.
This is the first time in
the 27 years I've been alive
that I've really felt a
hundred percent owning myself.
Up until this point my
life had been a struggle,
but it gets worse
before it gets better.
(tense music)
And then a few days later
when I reached out to Sherry
about the contract,
she had told me that
she had changed my mind
and that she was going
with another agent.
Didn't think much of it.
And I just said, "Don't worry.
I'm so sorry that all of
this has happened to you.
Let me know if you
would ever like
to meet for lunch someday."
'Cause I had never met her.
(gentle music)
Interesting enough,
shortly after that,
I was contacted by a news
reporter named David Winter.
[Reporter] David,
how's your first
St. Patrick's Day in Butte?
This is awesome.
These people are crazy.
I feel right at home.
He said, "I'm Jewish,
I have two sons.
Somebody just
forwarded me the post
that you put about
helping Sherry Spencer."
And I'd never really
dealt with media before.
I said, "Yes, I did,
but it's not my story to tell.
The story that will be
told is Sherry's story."
(gentle music)
But then when he called
me once again saying,
"Tanya, I'm in Whitefish.
I would like to
interview about this."
That's when I put a
huge halt to this.
I told him, I am not
part of this story.
"Tanya, this is your story
whether you like it or not,
and you're gonna
look really stupid
if you don't make
a public statement,
because the story very
much is about you."
And I trusted his word for it.
I called a human
rights organization
to see if they might
be able to help.
They sent me this statement.
I skimmed through it, not
even really reading it,
just by being on autopilot.
They're a human
rights organization.
I trusted that they
would say the right thing
and help me through this.
And then just forwarded
it on to David Winter.
The funny thing is, I was
so uneasy with all of it.
I texted him and I
said, "Please tell me
I'm not part of some big
news story about this."
He texted me right
back and said,
"You're not part of some
big news story about this."
And I went, oh, phew,
and I went to sleep.
The next day that
news story went out.
Richard Spencer was
raised in Texas,
but he has spent years in
Whitefish with his family.
His mother, Sherry Spencer,
still lives here in
this beautiful home
at Whitefish Mountain Resort.
In an email to me, Sherry
says, "As painful as this is,
I am exploring a potential
sale of the building."
One of those detractors
is Tanya Gersh,
a prominent member of the
community who told
me in an email,
"Sherry is profiting
off of the people
of the local community,
all the while having
facilitated Richard's work,
spreading hate by
letting him live
and use her home address
for his organization."
Before I sent it, I
should have read it.
I guess that was my big mistake,
but the story was so
inappropriate anyway,
because none of this
should have been news.
And I thought, David
Winter took Sherry and me,
pinned us against each other
as if we were on opposite teams.
At least I didn't think we were.
I think out of response
to that news article,
Sherry Spencer wrote
a letter to a website
called "The Medium."
- [Computerized voice]
- Does love really live here?
My name is Sherry Spencer and
I am Richard Spencer's mom.
Gersh relayed to me that if
I did not sell my building,
200 protestors and national
media would show up outside.
She even shamelessly suggested
that she acts as my realtor.
She appeared to seek
financial benefit
from threats of protests
and reputation damage.
It was with that letter the
"Daily Stormer" took note,
and my life changed forever.
(gentle music)
That night I was out
with some friends
and I got a text message
from my husband that said,
"Tanya, it's really urgent.
Can you please come home?"
Judah doesn't do that
very often, you know?
So I knew it was
really important.
And when I got home, our
front door was locked,
which was really strange
because living in Montana
I don't even own
a key to my house.
Judah opened the door and
I said, "What's happening?"
(tense music)
There wasn't a light
on in the house
except for in our bedroom.
And he said, "Tanya, I have
to show you something."
And there was a laptop
sitting on the bed,
and he pulled up the website.
I saw my picture.
I remember reading,
are you ready for an old
fashioned troll storm?
[Computerized voice] This
is the Jews for you, people.
This is a people without shame.
The "Daily Stormer"
is one of the biggest
neo-Nazi websites
in our country.
It's filled with nothing
but vile, vile hatred
against Jews and other
minorities as well.
That title was taken by a
Nazi Germany publication
called the "Daily Stormer."
The owner-operator of the
website was Andrew Anglin.
My goals are probably
similar to Richard Spencer.
We all kinda have the same goal
of forming a white
nation for white people.
He had, like, 300,000
followers or
something like that.
[Computerized voice]
Please call her
and tell her what you think.
Maybe you should
stop by and tell her.
[Tanya] They published my
phone number, email address,
my Facebook page, our office
address, home address.
And Andrew Anglin claimed
that this was protected
by the First Amendment.
[Computerized voice]
It is well within
your First Amendment
rights to tell these people
what you think of their actions.
The Supreme Court has
called the bedrock principle
of our free speech doctrine.
That it protects
freedom, even indeed,
especially, for the
thoughts that we hate.
From the time I
was really young,
I always wore a
little Star of David.
I remember, I might
have been sixth grade.
My grandmother was coming
to visit from Florida.
She was giving me a
big hug and a kiss,
and then she saw that
I was wearing a Star.
And she said to me,
"Why are you so Jewish?
What's making you so Jewish?"
And I remember being
incredibly confused.
I didn't understand what
that was supposed to mean.
And, of course, now
thinking back on it,
it makes perfect sense.
She was,
she was brought up to be afraid.
And I was so afraid that moment.
(hands clapping)
There are so many neo-Nazi
groups and white supremacists
all over the world,
even in Whitefish.
When my husband and
I came here in 2000,
people like April Gaede, a
well-known white supremacist
came here spewing hate.
April Gaede and her
white European people
wanted to create a white
supremacist community here.
This is a white
community by default.
They could disappear here.
Yeah.
It's about survival
and who we are.
I think the first time
that I saw Richard Spencer
was on television,
and he was right in
front of Whitefish Lake.
And I thought,
"Who is this guy?"
And then we found out
that his mom lived here.
And then we found out that
they had attended a conference
for white supremacists.
The whole family was there.
My husband Allen is a rabbi.
We were concerned about the
white supremacists in Whitefish.
We were talking
about it, and I said,
"It has to be Love Lives Here."
That was the beginning
of the organization,
and we started to demonstrate
against antisemitism.
[Tanya] Since
Sherry's story broke,
I was in constant state of fear.
To make things more scary.
Now our own David
Winter spoke to Anglin
exclusively this afternoon.
David Winter broadcast a
one-on-one video interview
with Andrew Anglin.
Thanks for agreeing to do
the interview with us today.
Sure, I mean, any
problem that you look at,
you're gonna find
Jews behind it.
[Tanya] Andrew Anglin has
been underground for years.
Like no one can
find Andrew Anglin.
To this day, nobody knows
how David Winter managed
to contact Andrew Anglin.
Are you saying there
is a conspiracy of Jews
doing these things?
It's a genetic behavior pattern.
White people build
civilizations.
Jews destroy civilizations.
Would you be for the
extermination of
Jews as Hitler was?
Well, I don't think
Hitler actually was.
There's no evidence
to that effect.
David Winter literally gave
Andrew Anglin a platform
to proselytize to the world.
This is completely
unnecessary drama.
People don't like to be
threatened and so by.
I'm not threatening anyone.
These Jews are the ones
making the threats.
The pain of being
taken advantage of is
a sickening and
disgusting feeling.
(phone ringing)
The next day we were woken
up to a phone ringing.
(handset clicks)
[Hater] Hi Tanya.
You should have died
in the Holocaust
with the rest of your people.
(handset clicks)
The first few calls I answered.
Since I didn't know
what was going on,
I actually talked to them
and tried to explain,
no, no, no, this
isn't what happened.
[Hater] Dirty (beep) whore.
But they weren't interested
in hearing what I had to say.
I think they would abuse me.
(gunshots)
(handset clicks)
I heard gunshots.
That was a sign that
they wanted me dead.
(phone ringing)
[Hater] I got your
fucking name, hoe.
(handset clicks)
My phone rang nonstop.
[Hater] Burn in hell.
One call was over,
another call began.
[Hater] Fuck you,
you stupid Jew.
Another call was over,
another call began.
[Hater] Everybody's
watching you.
My voice messages filled up,
just rang over and
over and over again.
[Hater] You are surprisingly
easy to find on the internet
and in real life.
[Hater] Go kill yourself.
- [Hater] Filthy fucking (beep)
- leave Richard Spencer alone.
[Hater] You people are
gonna get what you deserve.
[Hater] This is
Trump's America now.
Emails flooded in.
[Computerized voice] You're
going to jail for extortion
you hateful bitch.
Merry Christmas,
you Christ killer.
I get asked so often,
why didn't you just
shut your phone off
and shut your computer off?
Because I have active contracts.
I'm responsible for a tremendous
amount of people's money.
Andrew Anglin told his
people to contact me
in any way they possibly could.
[Computerized voice] Nasty
Tanya never lets ethics,
or common decency get in
the way of a good deal.
Andrew Anglin told his
people to show up at my home,
show up at my place of work,
and ask to take them on a
real estate appointment.
[Computerized voice] We are
going to have a field day
with you scumbags.
They think of me because
of my Jewish agenda.
[Computerized voice] You
should fire and disavow
Tanya Gersh for her
unprofessional, illegal,
and anti-white conduct.
[Hater] Should she
really be licensed?
[Hater] Judah, this is
a fellow Montanan here.
We're not far away from you.
And I will suggest
that you actually
hold out the rein
of your wife, Tanya,
you and your fucking mentality.
(handset clicks)
[Tanya] We locked the doors.
We shut the shades.
We had no idea if people
were gonna show up to get us.
[Computerized voice] You have
no idea what you are doing.
Six million are
only the beginning.
And then I spent the time
pretending like
nothing was happening
for the sake of the children.
Make light of it, to
spend time with them,
to keep some sort of normalcy.
Do you remember the night, it
was Alpine Theater Project,
and Micah was at the Yuletide,
and I spotted you
through the door
and you were crying and you
looked absolutely drained.
And I went and
grabbed you and said,
"You're gonna get through this."
It was like talking to myself.
[Tanya] She and her husband
also received a tremendous
amount of attacks.
[Hater] Tanya, your information
is going all over the internet.
Andrew Anglin published the
names and email addresses
and phone numbers of any
business in Whitefish
with a Steiner, a Stein,
or even close to being
Jewish got targeted as well.
My entire community was
a victim because of this.
(tense music)
Instead of being resentful
and being angry at me,
the town supported my family.
They stood by my family.
- [Whitefish resident]
- This is indeed a community
where the voices that speak
for love and acceptance,
the extremist groups
do not represent us.
- [Computerized voice]
- Does love really live here?
The most painful
moment was when my son.
[Computerized voice] Her son
is a creepy little faggot.
His account got published
and they attacked him.
[Computerized voice] Psst,
kid, there's a free Xbox One
inside this oven.
(tense music)
One of the posts
on their website,
they put our pictures
on the gates to Auschwitz
concentration camp.
What kind of animals
attack a 12-year-old boy?
(tense music)
[Jacob] Every single story
in Judaism pretty much
is about people hating Jews
and then getting over it,
but why do they not like us?
Do you remember the time
that I was sitting at
the kitchen counter
and I started to cry?
I think it was the first time
I really, like, broke down.
[Jacob] Until then,
I didn't know it was
that big of a deal.
Like, okay, something's
actually going on.
[Tanya] And you put your hand
on my shoulder and you said,
"It's gonna be okay, Mommy."
[Jacob] Mm-Hmm.
[Hater] You keep
talking all that shit.
You think I'm gonna hang up now.
You got my dick hard, bitch.
What the fuck do you want
to do with this shit?
[Hater] Give me you
fucking address.
Should I tell you this?
When it was happening
and the kids were
coming outta school,
I was there in the
truck with a shotgun.
Not that I would shoot
anybody, but I use equal force.
If they were threatening
my family, you know,
I felt just as
threatened as you did.
(tense music)
[Computerized voice] For
the next phase of our plan
against Jew Gersh and
Jew Love Lives Here,
we are planning an armed
protest in Whitefish.
Why an armed march?
Because it shows we're serious.
[Computerized voice] Get to it,
if you are a true
warrior for the cause.
[Tanya] March on Whitefish
was supposed to end at my house.
They were gonna have
hundreds of Nazis with guns.
(protestors chanting)
I went into hibernation.
I was afraid for my life.
Judah said, "Tanya, we
have to pack our bags."
How long are we going?
He said, "I don't know."
Where are we going?
I don't know.
What do I say to them right now?
"Run in fear for our lives."
[Hater] I'm really disgusted
with your pro-Jewish sentiment.
[Tanya] I just
wanted to disappear.
[Hater] Everybody's
watching you.
Go kill yourself.
[Hater] You better
back off, bitch.
(indistinct hate threats)
[Hater] Fuck that
fucking motherfucker Jew.
(footsteps)
Jews historically were helpless.
They had no way of
defending themselves.
(train whistle blowing)
Historically, they were kept
in a very repressed state.
Couldn't vote, had
no rights, deported.
The Holocaust didn't
happen all of a sudden.
The atmosphere,
the politics,
the climate,
that made the
Holocaust possible.
I had memories,
a child's memories,
which I would say were clarified
by reading my Aunt
Alina's memoirs.
German troops entered Lodz
on September 9th, 1939.
Shortly after, Jews
were put in ghettos.
One memory I have is I was
standing behind the barbed wire
and a Polish boy, maybe 11,
12 years old, spit at me.
And his spittle
got into my mouth.
So that was a very
horrendous experience for me,
because I remember
it to this day.
Every day without let up,
we heard Hitler and his
ministers on the radio
rabble-rousing the German
and Polish populations
against the Jews.
He characterized the
Jews as subhuman.
The Poles who we
always thought friends
did not welcome Jews
in Poland at the end.
(somber music)
All synagogues in
Lodz were burned.
We all held each
other for comfort.
And I could not
control the shaking.
(tense music) (fire crackling)
I would experience this fear
every time there was a crisis.
[Tanya] The march on
Whitefish it never happened.
[Computerized voice] The
neo-Nazi "Daily Stormer"
had proposed a march.
Andrew Anglin, who runs
the "Daily Stormer"
said Wednesday on the website
he's postponing the march
due to the permit refusal
by the city of Whitefish.
Earlier this week,
the city of Whitefish
said Anglin had not paid
his application fee in full,
or filled out all the
requested information,
such as the proposed route.
I mean, it's a delicate thing,
David, to have, you know,
200 guys with rifles.
You know, we don't want
there to be an incident.
We want a peaceful march.
It was the dead of winter
when the storm hit my family.
A few months had gone by.
The phone calls and
emails kept persisting.
And the kind of chaos that
was taking place in my home
with police and FBI,
at one point looking
around the house
and there were, like,
four laptops open,
and they were tracking
every single Nazi chat room
in our country,
making sure that they weren't
organizing to come and get us.
I was having a hard time.
I had decided not
to go back to work.
All I could do to just be a
good mom and just focus on
getting through what we
were getting through.
My husband at this
point was taking charge
and taking care of all of us.
(phone ringing)
One night we got a message
from the Southern Poverty
Law Center or SPLC.
I had no idea who they were.
I told my husband,
somebody from Southern
Poverty Law Center called,
and I remember him
getting right on the phone
and calling them.
They asked if they
could come visit us.
They could offer some help.
And they were on our
doorstep in a matter of days.
(birds chirping)
[David] Oh my God.
[Tanya] Oh my God.
(Tanya and David laughing)
Exactly, right?
[David] Yes.
[Tanya] Literally, like, ah.
I'll never forget the
first time I met you.
I came to your house
with my colleague Rick.
What did you guys think
when two gay guys showed up?
[Tanya] Oh my gosh.
It was even more
of a sigh of relief
because I knew that
Judah trusted SPLC.
[David] I was gonna ask,
had you heard of SPLC?
I had never heard of SPLC.
At Southern Poverty Law Center,
we study, examine,
report, infiltrate
the actual hate and
extremism groups.
And because of that, we have
this wealth of knowledge
about who people are, what
their connections are.
There are in Whitefish, as we
now know, white separatists,
but Richard Spencer was the
main object of attention.
(audience cheering)
[Reporter] Richard
Spencer wants to redefine
what it means to be American.
[David] He had tried
to rebrand hate
into something that looked
as if it was academic,
look as if it were intellectual.
And then gives a talk
in a three-piece suit,
and has a degree from a
reputable institution.
That veneer is a dangerous one.
Instead of combat boots and
tattoos and shaved heads,
Ivy League educated in suits.
And $3 million ski homes
in Whitefish, Montana.
And this was a worrisome
shift in the movement
because that visual
change made it more likely
that people could be welcomed
into the halls of power.
All the way down,
that's Trump Hotel.
[Tanya] Oh, really?
- [David] Uh-hmm.
- [Tanya] Hmm.
(indistinct chattering)
[David] We'd been watching
the style with which
Andrew Anglin was engaged
in spreading hate,
and essentially invented the
tactic of the troll storm
using the forms of communication
that young people tend
to use these days.
Memes,
jokes,
quips.
It can draw you in
because it seems maybe
it isn't really real.
And a lot of what happened
to you were people thinking
they were being really clever,
pretending as if it's a joke.
And it's not a fricking joke.
(gentle music)
When I got to their town,
we didn't know what kind of help
we might be able to offer you.
We can help you understand
who these people are.
[Tanya] Right.
We can help you think
through security risks.
We didn't know what
we were gonna find.
We didn't know whether,
for example, this should
or could lead to a lawsuit.
We were doing lots of
things all at the same time,
talking with other
people in the town
who also had been targeted,
checking up on facts.
Part of the evaluation
was to get a sense
of what that would
mean to the town.
Is this gonna make peace or
is this gonna break peace?
And in my mind, I was thinking,
"Would this be good for
Tanya and her family?
And would you be able
to take on the burden
of filing litigation?"
I came back to the office,
and the president at SPLC said,
"This is your decision
whether we could bring a case.
If there's gonna be a case,
you would be in charge of it."
And I said, "One hundred
percent, absolutely,
Tanya can do this."
Even at the beginning
she was telling me why
this kind of stuff has to stop.
[Tanya] I wanted to stop
being afraid to be Jewish.
And then I started thinking
about the mothers and kids
getting targeted,
like my children,
for just being who they are.
I couldn't let them do
this to anyone else.
I don't wanna lose
my patriotism.
[David] No, you got this.
[Tanya] I want to
love my country.
I wanna be proud
to be an American.
[David] You are.
[Tanya] I had a group of the
most incredible attorneys
really taking care of me.
[David] We prepared documents
to physically file
in the actual court.
And they did tell me, you
know, there's gonna be media,
but I had no idea that
the world was gonna care.
We were vetting
every journalist.
We knew who these people were.
In my view, she was
taken advantage of
by a local Fox News reporter.
My understanding
is that journalists
are not supposed to contribute
to the stories they follow.
[Tanya] Tanya,
this is your story
whether you like it or not.
Nor are they supposed to
set up a series of events
that exacerbate
things that might,
or might not be
harmful to people.
Thanks for agreeing to do
the interview with us today.
Unfortunately, I believe that
that happened in this case.
Did you have anything else
that you wanted to get across
in reference to this
march and/or otherwise?
David Winter created the
narrative in my view,
and this was very
nerve-racking for Tanya.
Every time we had to think
about what she was gonna say,
how she was gonna
answer questions,
a lot of these doubts would
come back into her mind.
Did I do something wrong?
Did I use the wrong
tone on that phone call?
Am I misremembering
something that happened?
So a lot of the
prep was repetition.
This is what you have
told us 25 times.
We're confident in you.
[Tanya] The second
the lawsuit was filed
and media had a chance to
hear my public statement,
which I was just doing over
the phone for my safety.
[David] It was a
fairly small room
that a lot of us
were sitting in.
[Tanya] I think they expected
a few organizations to call in.
(phones ringing)
The telephones went crazy,
and everyone around the table
their eyes were super big,
and they just couldn't
believe what was happening
with all the phone
calls coming in
with all the interest about it.
And I was sitting
there literally like
a deer in the headlights.
Um.
Tanya was nervous.
Her hands were shaking.
It's really tough to be asked
pointed questions by people
from the "New York
Times" or from CNN.
As she was reading
her statement,
I was reaching over and I was
kinda giving her a back rub.
[Tanya] We received
hundreds and hundreds
of communications
saying, "Die Jew die.
We're gonna bring you
to the brink of suicide.
This is how we can keep the
Holocaust alive forever.
We can kill you
without touching you."
And she got through it,
and I knew then she's
really good at this.
Tanya can tell her story
in a very plainspoken way
that doesn't seem burdened
with ideology, by politics.
They don't view her
as a radical activist.
They view her as someone
whose life was upended.
The second I decided to
fight, I started to heal.
I started to be able
to breathe again,
but I was not gonna
go back to work.
There was no way I was
ever gonna go back to work.
I was not ready to get
hurt like this again
simply by trying to help.
I would wake up crying
every morning to be reminded
that I was a victim of this.
The pain was really,
really unbearable.
I wasn't sure if someone
was gonna come and get me.
At the same time I
was glued to the news.
For a long time,
we've only thought
about Jihadi terrorism,
and have ignored the
kind of terrorism
that the Charleston
shooter represents.
[Tanya] I wanted to learn
about what's happening
right now in the world and
I couldn't shut it off.
(lawnmower whirring)
I was taught to
be a free-thinker,
to never stop learning,
and to always question,
gain the knowledge that you need
to become an educated person.
The first time in my life
I became a news watcher,
to tell you the truth.
It became my father's house.
[News Anchor] And
Dr. Jonathan Reiner,
professor of medicine at
George Washington University.
He previously advised
the Bush White House.
I just wanted
everything to be happy.
And I didn't realize how
much I had closed my ears
to what was really,
really happening
in the rest of the country and
in the world as far as hate.
I was really in complete denial.
I remember reading newspapers
and a lot of news publications,
and I discovered Stephen's
article in "Newsweek."
- [Computerized voice]
- I'm a Holocaust survivor.
Trump's America feels like
Germany before Nazis took over.
Jacobs, a successful
New York architect
who designed the Holocaust
Memorial at Buchenwald
tells "Newsweek" there's
a real problem growing.
So much so that Jacobs thinks
there's a direct parallel
with Germany between
the two World Wars.
Perhaps more alarming than
the far right getting braver
is the seep into mainstream
politics of their hate,
their talking points,
their rhetoric.
It feels like 1929
or 1930 Berlin.
Fascism could have
been won in Spain.
It could have been stopped,
but appeasement of fascism
is what led to everything.
Things that couldn't be said
five years ago, four years ago,
three years ago, couldn't
be said in public,
are now normal discourse.
It's totally unacceptable.
We thought our
country had changed.
In fact, it didn't.
We are operating
on a misconception.
(tense music)
(car screeching)
(tense music)
(crowd cacophony)
[Man] Go, go, go, go.
(crowd cacophony)
A horrific scene in
Charlottesville, Virginia,
a white nationalist rally
that descended into
deadly violence and chaos.
The images just coming in,
a car plowing into a
crowd of demonstrators,
protesting against those
white nationalists.
A 32-year-old woman killed.
You're there at a memorial
for Heather Heyer.
What are you learning
about this young woman?
She worked in a legal law
firm here in Charlottesville.
She was a paralegal.
She worked in the
bankruptcy department.
In other words,
she helped people begin
a new financial future.
When Charlottesville happened,
I was glued to every
second of the coverage
because watching
the people in that crowd,
I realized what happened
to me was coming to life.
Heather, she wasn't
a Jewish girl.
She was just a citizen
of Charlottesville
that didn't wanna see
this happen in her town.
Shortly after her mother,
her name is Susan Bro,
got up on national
television and said.
The blood on the streets is
that what made America great?
I didn't want her to die,
but if she had to die, I'm
so proud of how she died.
All I wanted to do
was tell the truth
and send out a call to action.
And I didn't know
who would hear it.
I didn't know who
would do what with it,
but had no idea how it
landed with anybody, no idea.
I was listening.
[Richard] Charlottesville,
we care about who we are
and we will take a stand.
And it was organized
by a local fellow
who then reached out with
Richard Spencer to do this.
So in that way, too,
we're connected.
Did you know Heather
was going that day?
Did she tell you?
No.
Heather chose to go because
she saw the tiki torch march.
I did not see that until long
after Heather was killed,
but once I saw it,
I understood why she felt the
need to go stand in solidarity
with her friends.
[Protestors] Jews
will not replace us!
Jews will not replace us!
Where the fuck are the rest
of you to defend against this?
(crowd cacophony)
[Andrew] My brothers,
the Jew has been drinking
our blood for millennia.
And now this monster rules over
us as a brutal slavemaster.
There is no cavalry
coming to save us.
This is our war.
Death to traitors.
Death to the enemies
of the white race.
Hail victory.
(protestors cheering)
- [Protestors]
- White lives matter.
White lives matter.
(crowd cacophony)
It was scary and
she went anyway?
As the neo-Nazis and others
were leaving the rally,
she stopped in the parking
lot over on Water Street
to talk to one of the young
ladies who was packing up.
Well, can you tell
me why you're here?
Can you talk about
what you believe?
Can you tell me why
you feel this way?
And the girl just would
answer, no comment.
So she didn't
connect with Heather,
but that was Heather's
way of doing it.
That's why America
is proud of her.
That's why she's become a hero.
Well, she's not a saint.
She loved her cheap
whiskey with diet soda.
She wouldn't like
the public attention.
And the reason I allow it is
because there's a lesson there
that the average person
can make a difference
just by stepping up.
Fear and intimidation
only work if you let them.
And that's what the
murder of my daughter,
and the injury of several
others was intended to do,
was to make people afraid,
but if we live in
fear, then they've won.
[Tanya] Had Susan Bro not
taken that interview that day,
my life would be
very, very different.
It was that day, that moment
I decided to go back to work.
I decided to live.
They call themselves trolls,
what do you call them?
Terrorists.
[Reporter] Now Tanya and the
Southern Poverty Law Center
are fighting back.
[Reporter] Anglin initially
responded to the Gersh lawsuit
with this image.
[Computerized voice]
This case is also
much bigger than Anglin.
No real crime was committed
against poor little Tanya.
[Computerized voice] Stay
strong and don't let anyone,
or anything dim the
Festival of Lights.
Earlier this year,
U.S. Magistrate
Judge Jeremiah Lynch,
had rejected Anglin's
motion to dismiss the case.
[Andrew] The entire
Jew media making it out
that I'm the one that's
doing the harassment.
I mean, it's just like what,
it's just everything is
reverso bizarro world.
[Reporter] A federal judge,
again, denying the motion
to dismiss the lawsuit against
the "Daily Stormer" website
saying it would be
premature to reject the case
filed by the Whitefish woman.
[Richard] Little fucking kikes.
They get ruled by
people like me.
Little fucking octoroons.
I fucking, my ancestors
fucking enslaved
those pieces of fucking shit.
Just pretend like it
didn't happen to me
because I was scared?
How many other people is
Andrew Anglin gonna do this to?
[Stephen] I read about her
story in the "New York Times"
or some TV coverage pretty
much when it happened in 2016.
Her story was definitely,
you know, going through
those experiences.
Something that I know very well.
So I paid very close attention.
And I thought, I
wanted to meet her.
I wanted to talk to her.
Judah is devoted to his Judaism
and our history goes
so deep and painful.
I believe Judah suffered a
great deal of inherited trauma
set off by this storm
that was hitting.
(audience applauding)
I remember him saying to me,
how could I have let
this happen to my family?
He spent the entire year reading
every Nazi chat
room in our country
because he was afraid
somebody was coming for us.
He collected data, do research,
helped SPLC put
the case together.
And then it was almost
exactly a year to the day
his physical wellbeing
just fell apart.
Since the storm, we've all grown
up and we've all grown old.
(gentle music)
It was a long time coming.
We lawyers have been in court
many, many times in this case.
And so much of it is
behind the scenes.
Things that aren't
worthy of attention.
Fights about which
documents will be exchanged.
Fights about written
answers to interrogatories.
The lawsuit took
two and a half years
until I was able to
testify to the judge.
Both sides, me and Andrew Anglin
were slated to testify that day.
My attorneys always
just told me,
"Tanya, all you have
to do is be yourself
and tell your truth."
I was gonna do exactly that.
(tense music)
I remember driving
down to Missoula,
that's where the court was.
I think it's about a three
hour drive from Whitefish.
Just the strange mixture
of all of this happening
at the same time
about driving through
this beautiful drive.
I mean, we went through
different mountain ranges,
and we went through
a Bison reserve,
and we drove by gorgeous lakes
and knowing we were going down
to put on a day's
worth of evidence
about this neo-Nazi
and his troll storm.
(tense music)
I was very concerned,
but I couldn't see you
not doing something
and standing up for yourself.
I was definitely proud of
you and behind you 400%.
(tense music)
We were in court about a
First Amendment defense,
whether it would be inconsistent
with a First Amendment
to penalize anyone for
orchestrating this mass attack.
So there was a legal
strategy to demonstrate
that this kind of
conduct is actionable,
and you should face
consequences if you cause harm.
Life is hard enough
to get through
without taking the weight of
the world on your shoulders,
but they say in Judaism
that God never gives you
more than you can handle.
The day that Sherry
Spencer called me,
was the day that I had a calling
to stand up for what is right.
(tense music)
This is what a calling is.
I'm answering it.
(tense music)
(gavel banging)
We walked in and I looked
over at that defendant table
and it was empty.
There were no lawyers, and
there were no defendants.
And I'll tell you what.
I won in that moment.
We proved to this
judge that this conduct
was so reprehensible.
This is not protected
by our Constitution,
and contrary to the
values that he impose
the maximum amount
allowable under Montana Law.
Anglin must pay $14 million
for Gersh's lost wages,
damages, pain, and suffering.
With two million of the award
for future pain and suffering.
If that wasn't a statement
that Andrew Anglin's version
of hate was not welcome,
I don't know what would be.
(soft jazz music)
I wanted to document
this situation here.
[Tanya] He can dish up
all of this hate to me.
[Computerized voice] It's
that time, fam, take action.
[Tanya] But he
never had the guts
to actually face me in person.
- [Computerized voice]
- You're gonna wanna dip out
before this thing
really gets started.
[Tanya] He is
nothing but a coward.
Shut up.
- [Computerized voice]
- Hate-filled psychopaths
you simply are not
welcome in this country.
The first interview
I took after I said,
"I hope his followers
are watching
because he obviously
isn't worth following."
(upbeat big band music)
When they liquidated the ghetto,
they sent us to a labor camp.
My brother George and myself,
were separated from my mother
and ended up with my father.
I was five years old.
(gate slamming shut)
I can't describe how
many people perished
from illness and hunger.
What sustained my family
was that we were together.
There was always someone
looking after our welfare.
During the incarceration, I
worked in a shoemaker shop.
And one day, it must have
been close to the end,
we were standing outside
the shoemaker shop,
a German army truck was packed.
They were taking stuff away.
And on top of this thing
was a German soldier
and he was eating a
bread and a sausage,
and we were staring at him.
He could've shot us
for staring at him,
but he looked back at us.
And then when the
truck started moving,
he threw down the bread
and sausage at us.
One never knows where
you find humanity.
(somber music)
We were able to survive the
five months of incarceration
in Buchenwald.
We were liberated.
(somber music)
After liberation, I remember
my brother ran in very excited
because he had found
my mother's name
on a list of survivors
after the war.
Fortunately, so many of
our family had survived.
We were all intact.
In the fall of 1948,
we immigrated to
the United States.
My parents settled
in New York City.
We never returned to Poland.
Particularly my mother,
she said she would not go
back to that horrible country.
(footsteps ascending)
Welcome.
[Tanya] Hello, nice to meet you.
It means the world to me
to have the opportunity
to talk to a Holocaust survivor.
[Stephen] It's very
nice of you to say that.
[Tanya] And I never
really took the time
to teach my children
about the Holocaust.
To them, it felt so long ago.
Now I realize this
wasn't long ago at all.
And apparently we haven't
learned much since then.
Reading your "Newsweek" article,
I was shocked that you predicted
what happened with Trump.
Donald Trump is not a fascist.
Donald Trump enables fascists,
and historically
conservatives enabled fascists
to come to power with the idea
that they would be
able to control them.
And, of course, they were the
first people eaten for lunch.
And that's what happened
in Germany and in Poland,
but I have to say
that the Germans have
confronted their past
and their history
in a more honest way
than almost any other
culture in Europe.
And you have to
admire them for that.
There's some research that
Hitler was actually inspired
by the Jim Crow laws
of the United States.
Oh, absolutely.
By Jim Crow laws,
and by people like Henry Ford.
Henry Ford sent Hitler
half a million dollars
as a gift for his
birthday every birthday.
Not only Henry Ford.
Plenty of people like
Charles Lindbergh,
and all of his followers
would've liked to
see the Nazis win.
Many people in the
Roosevelt administration
had great fear that there
would be a military coup
with a fascist takeover.
We just went through, we were
at that kind of precipice.
[Crowd] USA, USA, USA, USA, USA.
[Stephen] Some of
these militia groups
in the United States today,
are very similar to
groups of violent thugs
organized by the Nazis.
[Protestor] Fuck you police.
[Tanya] How do you think
we are gonna change?
Things like this don't
necessarily go away.
And the important thing is
to seize political power.
Not to let these people
come to power again.
And what you did is
extremely important.
Fortunately, you
were in a situation
where you had the wherewithal
and the ability to fight back.
I did not.
We were overwhelmed,
but your action was an action
that one could almost compare
to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising,
to fighting back
against tyranny.
And you made these people pay.
And I'm very proud of
you that you did that.
I have this feeling like I
somehow need permission
from Holocaust survivors
to talk about my experiences.
I want this next
generation to know
that this was not long ago,
this happened to me today.
And lives are still
being destroyed.
That every single one of
them should keep fighting.
But perhaps a better word
than fight would be to resist.
And to realize that we
are frightening animals,
human beings,
that we're all capable of
this homophobia, Islamophobia.
That what's happening to
Asian Americans today.
All of these things are part
and parcel of the same thing.
What's worse than hate
is using hate as a
political strategy.
Their followers they don't
know what they're hating
because their hating
is indoctrinated.
People spread
Islamophobia or homophobia
are just political techniques,
but that is classic fascism.
That certainly
was a Nazi tactic.
If we're not in the
right political hands,
who's to say it
wouldn't happen again?
That's why I'm so frightened
of what's going on
in the United States,
and the rise of extreme
right-wing in the world today.
(gentle music)
When anybody attacks
any minority,
or any group of people
for who they are,
what they believe,
is an attack on all of us.
(somber music)
I know what it's like to
be hated and it hurts.
Their goal was to drive me
to the brink of suicide.
They ruined me publicly.
They ruined me socially.
They ruined me emotionally.
And they ruined me physically
all because I'm Jewish.
(audience applauding)
Even though I won my lawsuit,
this is not the end of the
power that white supremacy
and Andrew Anglin
have on our society.
If this happened
to another person,
if a troll storm happened
to another person,
I'm not sure I
could survive that.
Anglin is still on the run
and he continues to reach
and brainwash his audience.
Ladies and gentlemen,
let's reach his
audience before he does.
Let's be the next
movement of love.
All we are saying is
to give peace a chance.
Thanks for letting
me speak today.
Thanks for having me.
(audience applauding)
Angels never sleep
They're walking on
the clouds at night
In the lonely streets
You can see
their magic light
Expectations complications
All has gone and
now you're real
So I'm here at
this Filipino mall
with my jailbait girlfriend.
Angels never sleep
Even in the darkest night
Now, what happened
after a "Medium" post
that was written by myself
and my then wife, actually.
Written by myself and
my then wife, actually.
All has gone and
now you're real
Angels never sleep
because you're near
Oh oh
[Richard] You're gonna have
to get used to the alt-right.
You're gonna have to get
used to white identity.
So get used to it.
There's gonna be a lot
more crying, sweetheart.
Angels never sleep
Even in the darkest night
Come let's reach your seat
It doesn't matter who we are
Expectations complications
All is gone and
now you're real
Angels never sleep
because you're near