Southwest Florida Jewish community reacts to viral white nationalist video

The Sieg Heil salutes and speech propagating Nazi ideologies are familiar to Sabine van Dam, a Holocaust survivor living in Naples.

She just never thought she would see it happen again.

When van Dam saw a video of members of white nationalist group stretching their arms in Nazi salutes and yelling “Hail Trump” during a conference in Washington, D.C., over the weekend, she froze. Her parents were jailed and ultimately killed in separate concentration camps in Germany.

“It choked me,” van Dam said Tuesday.

The National Policy Institute, an alt-right organization that promotes white nationalism, gathered at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C., for the organization’s annual conference.

A video released by The Atlantic magazine this week shows Richard B. Spencer, the organization’s president, yelling “Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory,” at a crowd, which responds with cheers and arms outstretched in Nazi salutes.

“Hate groups feel they have a mandate because of the way Trump reflected their feelings during his campaign,” said  Robert Hilliard, 91, of Sanibel Island, who helped save sick and starving Jews as they were liberated from Nazi concentration camps during World War II.

Hilliard’s act of courage as a young private, calling on President Harry Truman for humane treatment of the Holocaust survivors, made headlines in 1945 and has been memorialized in books and film.

“The process of Hitler becoming chancellor is eerily identical to the same process Trump used,” the retired Emerson College professor said Tuesday. “People wanted change, and he promised it. They overlooked his white supremacy message. I think people who voted for Trump could find themselves in the same position as the people in Germany who voted for Hitler.”

Civic leaders, Holocaust survivors and activists throughout Florida are decrying the words and actions seen in the video — words and actions that, some say, are expressed by a group of people whose angry nationalist sentiments have become emboldened post-election.

“In the days since the election, reports of physical attacks, vandalism and harassment have flooded our local offices,” said Hava Holzhauer, Florida Anti-Defamation League director.

One report the Florida ADL is investigating involves two young children who came home from school this week with swastikas drawn on their arms by another child. A call over Halloween described a mock black figure hanging from a tree in an upscale Miami neighborhood, Holzhauer said, while another reported fliers being distributed on the University of Florida's campus with the message, “Tired of anti-white propaganda in college? You are not alone.”

“I hear from a lot of people that they are afraid, because violence doesn't start with a fist, it starts with an idea," Holzhauer said. "Before the Holocaust, there was 12 years of name-calling to make a group of people outside the norm of society. It's good people's radars are going off."

Rabbi Bruce Diamond of Fort Myers' Community Free Synagogue spoke with his congregation last week in the wake of recent nationwide hate incidents. He thinks the outpouring of white supremacist feeling comes in reaction to President Barack Obama leaving office in January when Trump is sworn in as the 45th president.

“They feel exultant, happy in their own dark way, for having a white president,” he said.

Diamond doesn’t believe the neo-Nazi messages will become mainstream.

“People have a fascination with neo-Nazis," he said. "They may watch that stuff, like slowing down to watch a car wreck. It doesn’t mean they want to be in one.”

The Jewish community in Southwest Florida on Tuesday felt disturbed over the video.

“I screamed when I saw it,” said Rosette Priever Gerbosi, a Holocaust survivor living in Naples. “When those hands went up. It’s haunting. My parents were sent to Auschwitz and gassed on arrival. I was a hidden child for a year and a half. To see this happen in this country, it’s unacceptable.”

The survivors said coming to the United States gave them hope that things would be better; that tolerance and respect would be cornerstone of life.

“I never thought I’d live to see this again," said van Dam, one of the Holocaust survivors in Naples. "I don't think people really understand what it means. One of the volunteers who used to work at the museum passed away last year. I'm glad she did. I think seeing this would have been devastating for her.”

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum released a statement Monday condemning the video and calling on the nation to confront hate speech.

“The Holocaust did not begin with killing; it began with words,” the museum said in a statement. “The Museum calls on all American citizens, our religious and civic leaders, and the leadership of all branches of the government to confront racist thinking and divisive hateful speech.”

The Holocaust Museum & Education Center of Southwest Florida dedicates itself to promoting educational campaigns about the Holocaust.

Amy Snyder, executive director of the Southwest Florida museum, said she hopes the community will move forward with a positive message of tolerance and understanding.

“We do feel that every person, no matter their religion, politics or skin color, is deserving of respect,” Snyder said Tuesday. “I certainly think it’s important to remember as American citizens we need to stand against this speech. Our survivors in this community have expressed fear and outrage that something like this can be condoned.”