'Antisemitic' Display Draws Ire In Wilmette Window

WILMETTE, IL — Village officials and residents are denouncing a display in the window of a Wilmette condominium building as antisemitic and offensive.

A 6-foot vampire mannequin has stood in the window of a ground floor unit at 1618 Sheridan Road since at least October 2018, according to a court filing from the condominium association.

A yellow "Jude" badge — the patch that Nazis mandated Jews wear during World War II — has been affixed on the breast of the figure's suit since at least June 2020.

Initially, the display was accompanied by a series of gravestone decorations containing harsh criticism of residents of other units of the building.

But in September 2020, a Cook County judge ruled written portions of the display violated the terms of a settlement between the unit's litigious owner and his condo association that resolved disagreements over swimming pool access.

The 20-year-old settlement agreement included a clause where the owner "agrees not to post any documents" about the building "with the intent that such documents be readable to passerby."

The written messages were removed, but the mannequin remained. The vampire is today accompanied by a knife-wielding witch and a pool chair, a reference to part of one of many disputes between the resident of the unit and his neighbors.

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The owner of the display, Marshall, is a 27-year resident of the building who asked that his last name not be used due to what he described as ongoing harassment. He explained the vampire represented the "alleged board president" of the eight-unit condominium association and an accompanying witch figure represented that man's wife, whom he blames for damaging his pool chair.

Marshall, who is Jewish, said he believes he has been the victim of antisemitism by members of the three-member condo board, which ousted him five years ago.

"The people that they've chosen to have conflict over have all been Jewish," he told Patch. "If you're going to ask me, did somebody call me a 'dirty Jew,’ or whatever, no, because people out there are way too clever for that. But it's all abundantly clear."

Marshall said his grandparents and most of his relatives died during the Holocaust, recalling his father survived the Nazi concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen.

But if the vampire in formal attire aims to represent an antisemitic antagonist, why is he the one wearing a Jewish badge in the Nazi style?

"Because where else am I going to put the star? I'm not going to put it on the witch. The star is a separate part of the whole thing," Marshall told Patch.

"It's a good question, but there's nowhere else I could put the star. I had to put it as part of the display. I can't put it on my window, I get fined for that. I can't say, ‘I'm a political prisoner here,’ because then I'll be held in contempt by the judge, pending appeal," he added. "So I'm limited in what I am able to do, and, again, people have been passing that for a year, so the impression I had was everybody knew about it."

Two months ago, the condo association charged Marshall with a violation of condo rules governing how units appear from the street.

"This is an ongoing unfavorable appearance and impression visible to owners and the general public from the street," according to a March 24 complaint from a neighbor, which said the violation has been ongoing since at least January 2021.

A separate complaint, filed the same day by the same neighbor, accuses Marshall of allowing an "an ongoing cluttered appearance which is visible to owners and their guest from the lobby and backyard."

Wilmette village officials first became aware of the display late Monday afternoon, according to Village Manager Mike Braiman.

Village President Senta Plunkett read a statement on behalf of the village at Tuesday's village board meeting.

"It's hard to have to start my first meeting with this, but it's very important that our community knows this," Plunkett said. "We were made aware of an antisemitic display today and I think it's important that the village talk to the community about this."

In the statement, Plunkett said village officials found the display disturbing and strongly disagree with it but cannot ban its content because of constitutional free speech protections.

"Although highly offensive, this display cannot be regulated or removed by the Village because we do not like the message; this individual is entitled to their First Amendment rights under the United States Constitution," Plunkett said.

"We do want to be abundantly clear: Wilmette rejects speech that promotes hate for any group of people based on their religion, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation," she added. "Notwithstanding the above, the village takes this matter extremely seriously and will conduct a full investigation to determine if there is any criminal liability and cause of action for the village to take."

Braiman said that investigation began Tuesday and is expected to be completed shortly. Marshall said he explained the meaning of the display to a Wilmette police officer who inquired on Wednesday.

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The village's statement followed a post on an online neighborhood bulletin board from a resident who described the mannequins as a "horrific" antisemitic display. The post was later updated to note that Marshall is Jewish, and his exhibit is intended to depict the harassment he said he has suffered from the condo board.

Twice since that post, people have taped messages to Marshall's window, he said. The most recent one included the text of the village's statement, which Marshall refuted.

"It's based on a falsehood. It was not investigated, and they need to withdraw their statement and apologize for it," he said. "It paints me in a false light, making the suggestion there was any criminal wrongdoing."

In addition to his ongoing legal battles with his condo association, Marshall is currently engaged in two pending lawsuits involving the village. One of them involves a fight over who should cover attorney's fees in a case Marshall says he won on its merits. The other involves a dispute regarding a water leak in his unit, which Marshall lost at the circuit and appellate levels but says he plans to appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court.

In another case he continues to appeal, Marshall is seeking to reverse the September 2020 order blocking him from posting documents in his window. A brief in that case was filed earlier this month.

And in separate litigation, Marshall and his attorney have asked an appeals court to reconsider a decision to uphold a judge's order calling for Marshall and attorney John Xydakis to pay more than $1 million in sanctions for filing frivolous lawsuits.

RELATED: $1 Million Sanction Over Wilmette Condo Lawsuits Ordered By Judge

"The trial court sanctioned appellants not only for repeated misstatements of law and evidence, but also for engaging in a pattern of abuse that was committed to harass, delay and increase the cost of litigation," a unanimous three-judge appellate panel ruled in an unpublished December 2020 opinion.

"Appellants’ pleadings were not well-grounded in fact or warranted by existing law; all of their claims were dismissed with prejudice. But it took three years of senseless litigation and nearly 400 separate court filings to get there. Appellants used abusive discovery tactics, issuing over 40 subpoenas to parties and non-parties," it continued. "Thus, the trial court’s award for all the attorney fees and costs associated with these consolidated cases was neither arbitrary nor excessive, but entirely reasonable."

Marshall said Thursday he has no plans to remove his window display voluntarily.

"I wasn't going to abandon my position, and now I can't do it because (a) the cat's out of the bag and (b) it would be like an admission I did something wrong. I'm not talking about a legal admission, I'm talking about morally," he said.

"By taking it down, I would be admitting to the lie that I'm an antisemite."