Protesters waved Nazi flags outside a community theater production of “The Diary of Anne Frank” in Michigan, leaving performers “understandably shocked” by the hateful and anti-Semitic display, officials said Monday.

The shocking protest by a handful of masked men took place Saturday evening outside American Legion Post 141 in Howell, where the Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett play was being performed.

Although American Legion staffers had the swastika-wielding protesters “under control” and “leaved the premises,” show producers decided to inform everyone in the house during intermission about what was happening outside.

“For this production, our cast was also on stage during intermission, and that’s when they found out too,” Fowlerville Community Theater said in a statement.

“Although some were understandably shocked, they came together and closed the performance with strength and professionalism.”

Livingston County sheriff’s deputies were called about a “disturbance” at 7:43 p.m., officials said.

The five masked protesters “were asked to leave the premises and they did so,” Sheriff Michael Murphy said in a statement.

The agitators “crossed the street waving flags decorated” with swastikas before a “national approached them, and an argument ensued,” Murphy said.

“Nothing physical happened and eventually the parties involved parted ways,” he added.

Michigan has been a flashpoint in American politics as one of several swing states that shifted to the right, delivering a narrow victory for newly elected President Donald Trump.

“We are disgusted by the far-right extremists who praised Hitler and waved Nazi flags outside an American Legion hosting the play ‘The Diary of Anne Frank,’ and we stand with American Legion 141” and Howell Township for having show that they “know that Hate has no place in their community,” the Michigan Anti-Defamation League said in a statement.

The Fowlerville Community Theater drew direct parallels between the play – adapted from the famous diary of Anne Frank, a Jewish girl murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust – and Saturday night’s events.

“This production centers on real people who lost their lives in the Holocaust, and we have tried to tell their stories as realistically as possible,” the theater said in its statement. “On Saturday evening, things become more real than we expected. .”

“The presence of protesters outside gave us a small glimpse of the fear and uncertainty felt by those in hiding,” the report said.