What Happened When A Holocaust Denier Showed Up In Woodinville

WOODINVILLE, WA — A man holding a sign with a swastika advertising conspiracy theories about the Holocaust appeared on a busy street corner in downtown Woodinville on Wednesday night. The incident shocked residents, and incited a range of reactions — from a former Army Ranger trying to reason with the man to a woman who confronted him.

On Wednesday evening, the man was standing at the corner of Northeast 175th Street and 140th Avenue Northeast holding a sign with a swastika and "The Holocaust is a proven hoax" written on it. The other side of the sign named a notorious Holocaust-denier who has served multiple prison sentences in Germany for inciting racial hatred and criminal libel.

At around 7:30 p.m., two men had stopped to talk to the man in an attempt to get him to leave the corner, according to witnesses. At one point, an unidentified woman grabbed the man's sign, folded it in half and stepped on it. The Holocaust-denier didn't get it back.

One of those two men, Tony Brooks, was driving home to Everett from his medical practice in Redmond when he saw the man. Brooks, a former Army Ranger, saw trouble and immediately pulled over to see if he could defuse the situation.

"I thought to myself, 'This guy is going to get killed,'" he said, adding that he found the man's message revolting.

Brooks said the man was coherent and passionate about his Holocaust beliefs, but he didn't seem violent. Brooks tried to talk the man into finding a different way to get his point across, at least by getting rid of the swastika. The man told Brooks that he had protested things before, but "wanted to do something a little more extreme."

"I said to him, if you're putting something offensive up, you're going to be met with a fist not with someone's open arms," Brooks said.

The man put his sign down while talking to Brooks, and that's when the woman grabbed the sign.

Woodinville resident Patti Mintz drove by the scene several times before deciding to stop. When she pulled over, she met another woman who was inconsolably upset.

"I was pretty freaked out," Mintz, a 14-year Woodinville resident who is Jewish, said. "I've only seen this on TV, movies, and the news. This is the first time I've experienced it."

She called 911, but was told there was nothing police could do. It was a tense scene, Mintz said, because the man was wearing a knife around his neck. She asked him what it was for, and he responded, "occasions like this."

Like Brooks, witness Mandy Liora thought the situation was going to end violently. She said she heard people yelling swears from cars and phrases like, "Get him!"

"It’s nice to know Woodinvillians can handle this stuff without violence," she said.

Before the confrontation at around 6:30 p.m., Woodinville resident Jazmin Peerson pulled over near the man. She and her partner called the police non-emergency line, knowing there wasn't much that could be done since the man was on public property.

"We were both in disbelief, and furious," she said in an email on Thursday.

Peerson went to the 76 gas station the man was standing in front of to talk with employees. They couldn't do anything about the man either, although they were aware. She ended up posting about the incident on the local neighborhood Facebook group.

As of Thursday evening, Peerson's post had over 500 comments. Hundreds of local residents expressed sadness and anger — and some stood up for the Holocaust denier's right to free speech. The issue was also discussed on the Celebrate Diversity Woodinville page.

"There are no words to demonstrate how deeply painful and upsetting this is to me. I know there is hatred and antisemitism in this world, but seeing it in Woodinville is a new level of sadness, anger, and heartbreak. I hope tomorrow is a brighter day," Woodinville resident Josh Erlich wrote on Facebook.

The Anti-Defamation League of the Pacific Northwest was alerted about the Holocaust-denier. ADL Executive Director Miri Cypers sent this statement to Patch:

"We are deeply concerned to learn about an individual in Woodinville waving Holocaust denial signs in public. This is part of a dangerous trend in which Holocaust denial is on the rise in our community and across the country. Recently, we also saw a white nationalist group post Holocaust denial signs on local synagogues and churches in the Puget Sound. We must work together as a community to push back on Holocaust denial and actively work to honor history through education. We are pleased that this year, the Washington legislature passed a new law strongly encouraging schools to teach Holocaust and genocide education in middle school through high school.”

On Aug. 11, racist flyers were found posted at three South Seattle synagogues. The fliers were signed by the Daily Stormer Book Club, which is a group affiliated with neo-Nazi leader Andrew Anglin and the racist forum Daily Stormer. Similar flyers were found in July at Christian churches in the Kirkland area at synagogues in North Seattle.

The King County Sheriff's Office did send officers to Woodinville on Wednesday, but the man was gone by the time they arrived.