All language subtitles for Troll.Storm.2024.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD.2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

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?

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.

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.

My name is Tanya Gersh.

That's so nice.

I haven't been
given the opportunity.

- We'll do it here.
- So close.

We'll do it there.

Jacob.

Oh.

- So close.
- Brain too small.

All right,
you guys wanna sit down?

Amen.

You'd think after all
these years I knew how to.

I still don't know it.

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.

We have two beautiful sons,

Micah and Jacob.

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.

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.

Yeah,
it was such good times.

- Oh, this one.
- Oh, that's the old house.

That's the old house.

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.

Depression days.

Depression
days or something.

Oh, look,
mommy was so beautiful.

Oh yeah, and smart.

Yeah.

Your mom died young.

Yeah.

Too young.

My daddy,
Lloyd Rosenstein,

lives close to me in Whitefish.

My brother and I
were raised in Idaho.

Peace now,
peace now, peace now.

You were passionate

about the civil rights movement.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This man, Richard Spencer.

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.

There
was a custom in Poland

to gather at cafes
in the afternoon

to meet friends
and listen to 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.

I was born during the crisis.

My name is Stephen Jacobs.

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.

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.

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.

Hail our people.

The town started to really
despise that he lived here.

Hail our
people, hail our people.

On Facebook.

Fuck Spencer,

and all his Nazi douche bags.

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.

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."

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.

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.

Tanya,
can you help me?

Sherry, I would
be honored to help you.

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?"

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

Interesting enough,
shortly after that,

I was contacted by a news
reporter named David Winter.

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."

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."

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.

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?"

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?

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.

Please call her

and tell her what you think.

Maybe you should
stop by and tell her.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The next day we were woken
up to a phone ringing.

Hi Tanya.

You should have
died in the Holocaust

with the rest of your people.

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.

Dirty whore.

But they weren't interested
in hearing what I had to say.

I think they would abuse me.

I heard gunshots.

That was a sign that
they wanted me dead.

I got your
fucking name, hoe.

My phone rang nonstop.

Burn in hell.

One call was over,
another call began.

Fuck you,
you stupid Jew.

Another call was over,
another call began.

Everybody's
watching you.

My voice messages filled up,

just rang over and
over and over again.

You are surprisingly
easy to find on the internet

and in real life.

Go kill yourself.

Filthy fucking
leave Richard Spencer alone.

You people are
gonna get what you deserve.

This is
Trump's America now.

Emails flooded in.

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.

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.

We
are going to have a field day

with you scumbags.

They think of me because
of my Jewish agenda.

You
should fire and disavow

Tanya Gersh for her
unprofessional, illegal,

and anti-white conduct.

Should she
really be licensed?

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.

We locked the doors.

We shut the shades.

We had no idea if people
were gonna show up to get us.

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.

She and her husband

also received a tremendous
amount of attacks.

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.

Instead of being resentful
and being angry at me,

the town supported my family.

They stood by my family.

This is indeed a community

where the voices that speak
for love and acceptance,

the extremist groups
do not represent us.

Does love really live here?

The most painful
moment was when my son.

Her
son is a creepy little faggot.

His account got published
and they attacked him.

Psst,
kid, there's a free Xbox One

inside this oven.

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?

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.

Until then,

I didn't know it was
that big of a deal.

Like, okay,
something's actually going on.

And you put your hand
on my shoulder and you said,

"It's gonna be okay, Mommy."

Mm-Hmm.

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?

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.

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.

Get to it,

if you are a true
warrior for the cause.

March on Whitefish

was supposed to end at my house.

They were gonna have
hundreds of Nazis with guns.

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."

I'm really disgusted

with your pro-Jewish sentiment.

I just
wanted to disappear.

Everybody's
watching you.

Go kill yourself.

You better back off,
bitch.

Fuck that
fucking motherfucker Jew.

Jews historically
were helpless.

They had no way of
defending themselves.

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.

All synagogues in
Lodz were burned.

We all held each
other for comfort.

And I could not
control the shaking.

I would experience this fear
every time there was a crisis.

The march on
Whitefish it never happened.

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.

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.

Oh my God.

Oh my God.

Exactly, right?

Yes.

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?

Oh my gosh.

It was even more
of a sigh of relief

because I knew that
Judah trusted SPLC.

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.

Richard
Spencer wants to redefine

what it means to be American.

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.

Oh, really?

- Uh-hmm.
- Hmm.

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.

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.

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.

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.

No, you got this.

I want
to love my country.

I wanna be proud
to be an American.

You are.

I had a group of
the most incredible attorneys

really taking care of me.

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,
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.

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.

It was a
fairly small room

that a lot of us
were sitting in.

I think they expected

a few organizations to call in.

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.

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.

I wanted to learn
about what's happening

right now in the world and
I couldn't shut it off.

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.

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."

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.

Go, go, go, go.

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.

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.

Jews
will not replace us!

Jews will not replace us!

Where the fuck are the rest
of you to defend against this?

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.

White lives matter.

White lives matter.

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.

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.

Now Tanya and the
Southern Poverty Law Center

are fighting back.

Anglin initially
responded to the Gersh lawsuit

with this image.

This case is also

much bigger than Anglin.

No real crime was committed
against poor little Tanya.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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%.

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.

This is what a calling is.

I'm answering it.

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.

I wanted to document
this situation here.

He can dish up
all of this hate to me.

It's
that time, fam, take action.

But he
never had the guts

to actually face me in person.

You're gonna wanna dip out

before this thing
really gets started.

He is
nothing but a coward.

Shut up.

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."

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.

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.

We were able to survive the
five months of incarceration

in Buchenwald.

We were liberated.

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.

Welcome.

Hello,
nice to meet you.

It means the world to me
to have the opportunity

to talk to a Holocaust survivor.

It's very
nice of you to say that.

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.

USA, USA,
USA, USA, USA.

Some
of these militia groups

in the United States today,

are very similar to
groups of violent thugs

organized by the Nazis.

Fuck you police.

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.

When anybody
attacks any minority,

or any group of people

for who they are,
what they believe,

is an attack on all of us.

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.

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.

♪ 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 ♪

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 ♪