2.7

Juden Raus (1938)

Anti-semitic propaganda impersonating a children’s game. 

Gameplay

  • 2–6 Players
  • Time: –– (Not provided by publisher)
  • Age: 12+
  • Community: 10+
  • Weight: 1.00 / 5

CLASSIFICATION

WARNING: This game is considered offensive by many and is part of the BGG database for completeness

A sort of amalgam of Monopoly and Halma, where the objective was to collect as many Jews as you could, and get them off the board. The pieces were little pawns wearing pointed medieval Jewish hats; the players moved them by rolling dice; the child winning was the one whose Jews scurried out, ‘off to Palestine!’ through the gates of a walled city.

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COMMUNITY STATS

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Community Wiki

The following information is taken from: Andrew Morris-Friedman and Ulrich Schädler. “Juden Raus!” (Jews Out!) – History’s most infamous board game. International Journal for the Study of Board Games, No.6. Available as free download via http://www.boardgamestudies.info/studies/issue6/contents.shtml

Board games can be used by cultural historians to gain insights into the values of different cultures. Many modern games have been based on the theme of teaching moral values of the cultures that produce them. One game of moral values however, stands out as the most infamous board game of all time. The game from Germany, “Juden Raus!” (Jews Out!) depicts the policy of racial hatred that defines the Nazi era. Made available only one month after the nation-wide pogrom of November 1938, it was designed by a private manufacturer as a family board game that simulates the start of the persecution against the Jewish people of that era. As to the surprise of the producer of the game he had miscalculated. Unexpectedly, a major Nazi journal, the SS paper “Das Schwarze Korps”, heavily criticized the game (issue No. 52, December 29, 1938, p. 7): An (unknown) author claimed that the game trivialized the anti-Semitic Nazi policies and that the international press would use the game’s existence to make the policies look completely ridiculous. The author’s main objection was that the game manufacturer was trying to profit from the Nazi slogan “Juden raus” (Jews out) to promote the sale of the game.

The public reaction to the game can not be assessed but circumstantial evidence indicates that the game sold very poorly.

Only two copies of the game are known to exist today.


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