Amana leaders seek explanation for being called home of hate group

Residents and leaders of the Amana Colonies are outraged that their community — known for its festivals, German heritage and culture, fine dining and more — is being associated with the Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi and white supremacy news and commentary organization.

The community has been marked with a swastika on a map by the Southern Poverty Law Center, designating it as the home of a hate group.

The Amanas' inclusion on the map came to light after the events Aug. 12 in Charlottesville, Virginia, where violence broke out after a "Unite the Right" rally.

The Daily Stormer was taken offline by two hosting services after its publisher posted incendiary remarks about counterprotesters who traveled to Charlottesville to oppose the rally, including a woman, Heather Heyer, who was killed in the aftermath.

David Rettig, executive director of the Amana Colonies and Visitors Bureau, said such reports are smearing the town in lies. He said he attempted to reach out to the SPLC as soon as he learned about the map, but nobody from the civil rights organization has returned his message.

He said he and other community leaders, who organize festivals throughout the year and depend on the success of their businesses for their livelihood, are upset and are concerned that it might affect tourism and much more.

“It was a shock to us when we found out,” he said. “We’ve checked around with the sheriff (Rob Rotter) and he indicated to me there is absolutely no hate group operating in the Amana Colonies, and he checked with his superiors in Des Moines and there are no reports … we’ve seen nothing of this, visitors or residents.”

Rotter backed up Rettig’s remarks.

“There is no such neo-Nazi group in Iowa County,” Rotter said Monday, calling the SPLC report “irresponsible at best. I would hope that the SPLC is a more responsible organization than this example of their professionalism exhibits.”

An email inquiry was sent to the SPLC, and a representative of the organization had not yet responded.

What Rettig later learned, in doing some research online, is that several members of Neo-Nazi groups wanted to meet in the Amanas to discuss their beliefs. He referred to a thread from August and September 2016 that was on the Daily Stormer’s blog — and has since been cached on Google — where an individual with the screen name “Concerned Troll” initiated an idea of meeting and having an eastern Iowa book club in the Amana Colonies.

“The Amana Colonies might be a sweet place to meet. There is an awesome free shooting range on Amana road (sic) plus it is a historic German community,” the first post in the thread stated. Other posts were about the planning process and visiting the shooting range. Five posters participated in the thread.

It was not known whether the people in the group actually met in the Amanas.

Rettig said that neither his organization nor others in the community welcome, condone or support such groups as the Daily Stormer.

“They’re deplorable and go against everything this community was built on,” he said. “The history of the Amana Colonies is that we were persecuted for our beliefs in Germany and that’s why we came here. To think we have a hate group here is ridiculous … (and) because this group picked Amana to have a lunch meeting the SPLC designated us as having a hate group in our city or town.”

Three other locations in Iowa were identified by the SPLC as having hate groups. The National Socialist Movement and Gallows Tree Wotansvolk Alliance are both statewide and Neo-Nazi groups, while ACT for America, an anti-Muslim organization, has a Des Moines group.