Troll Storm (2024)

[bunniefuu]

(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 w*r, 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 w*r.

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 w*r 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] f*ck Spencer,

and all his n*zi d*uche 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, f*ck 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-n*zi 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

n*zi 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-n*zi

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) wh*re.

But they weren't interested

in hearing what I had to say.

I think they would abuse me.

(g*nshots)

(handset clicks)

I heard g*nshots.

That was a sign that

they wanted me dead.

(phone ringing)

[Hater] I got your

f*cking name, hoe.

(handset clicks)

My phone rang nonstop.

[Hater] Burn in hell.

One call was over,

another call began.

[Hater] f*ck 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 k*ll yourself.

- [Hater] Filthy f*cking (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 b*tch.

Merry Christmas,

you Christ k*ller.

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, ill*gal,

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 f*cking 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 f*gg*t.

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 sh*t.

You think I'm gonna hang up now.

You got my d*ck hard, b*tch.

What the f*ck do you want

to do with this sh*t?

[Hater] Give me you

f*cking 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 sh**t

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 g*ns.

(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 k*ll yourself.

[Hater] You better

back off, b*tch.

(indistinct hate threats)

[Hater] f*ck that

f*cking m*therf*cker 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-n*zi "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 r*fles.

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 n*zi 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 g*y 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 k*ll 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

sh**ter 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 k*lled.

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 k*lled,

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 f*ck 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 w*r.

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

m*rder 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?

t*rrorists.

[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 f*cking kikes.

They get ruled by

people like me.

Little f*cking octoroons.

I f*cking, my ancestors

f*cking enslaved

those pieces of f*cking sh*t.

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 n*zi 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-n*zi

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 w*r.

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 th*gs

organized by the Nazis.

[Protestor] f*ck 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 h*m*, 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 h*m*

are just political techniques,

but that is classic fascism.

That certainly

was a n*zi 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