A mixed crowd of sympathizers, antagonists and curiosity-seekers listened to a rabble-rousing speech by Nazi George Rockwell until Michigan State police moved in and broke up a fight which started when an onlooker threw a rock at Rockwell.
The meeting was held in the backyard of the home of Russell Roberts, in Farmington, on the outskirts of Detroit. Nearly 60 policemen were scattered in the crowd of 150 who came to the Roberts’ home and 400 gathered outside of it.
Rockwell said, among other things, that Jews were “race mixers” and he described Philip Slomovitz, editor of the Jewish News of Detroit, as a “Jewish instigator.” It appeared that the local Rockwell supporters were avid readers of the Jewish weekly, since a copy of the current issue had been on display at the entrance to the Roberts home during the day af the Rockwell meeting.
The audience, apparently mainly non-Jews, was largely hostile to Rockwell and police cordoned off many of them as they started to move toward the Nazi in a menacing way. He spoke for 35 minutes before the police halted the affair.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
