By Robert Moran
The Whitpain Township Board of Supervisors this week condemned as “abhorrent, shocking, and offensive” a reported display of a Nazi flag at a home in the community, but noted that it is protected free speech under the First Amendment.
And U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, a Democrat whose district includes the Montgomery County township, issued a statement saying she was “horrified to learn that Whitpain residents saw a Nazi flag flown in their neighborhood.”
CBS News Philadelphia reported Thursday that it sent a reporter to the home to ask about the Nazi flag, which has since been replaced by an American flag, and a man answering the door told them to leave.
Darchei Noam, a synagogue in nearby Ambler, said in a statement on Facebook that the flag display was an “abhorrent act of hate” and suggested it was raised last weekend to coincide with observance of Kristallnacht, an organized attack on Jews in Nazi Germany in 1938.
Dean also noted the timing in a series of posts on X: “This was a bigoted action, and especially hurtful to our Jewish community around the anniversary of Kristallnacht.”
She added: “The recent rise in antisemitic gestures, actions, and violence is sickening. It is hateful. We must call it out — our children are watching, and they must know better.”
The Whitpain Township Board of Supervisors said the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that such displays are protected.
“Accordingly, while Whitpain Township is prohibited from and will not be taking any action toward the display, as individuals who live here, we condemn it in the strongest possible terms. We will not be silent in the face of evil,” the board said.
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