Board games from the city of Vijayanagara (Hampi ... - Gioco dell'Oca.

“Juden Raus!” (Jews Out!) – History’s most
infamous board game / Andrew Morris-Friedman and
Ulrich Schädler
Twentieth-century proprietary board games have been characterized as being based
on a theme and representing an aspect of real life (Parlett 2000). Games have been
designed that simulate the range of human activities, from hunting and gathering,
to war, business and economics to human relationships. Many such games have as their
theme the teaching of moral values (Goodfellow 1998). “The New Game of Virtue
Rewarded and Vice Punished” (1820, by Darton) was one of the first mass-produced board
games to reveal moral underpinnings. Other games teach values indirectly through images
used in the game design (Averbakh 1995). Most of these games can be seen within the values
perpetuated by western democracies. But any value system can be incorporated into a
board game and then used to teach whatever the game designer desires.
This paper presents a brief overview of game types that must be considered racist.
One such game from the Nazi period in Germany is described in detail. The game
“Juden Raus!” (Jews Out!) has as its theme the persecution of the Jews in Nazi Germany
and may be the most infamous board game in history. (1)
Cultural historians use board game studies to document a society’s changing values
over time since games exemplify the cultural values of the societies that play them
(Whitehill 1999: 116). As a result, the history of racism is reflected in the theme of
many board games. Some of these games use racist images, others make use of racial
themes in the rules of play. Three American games will serve as examples. Two games
from the Milton Bradley Company use racist images of African Americans: “The Game
of Ten Little Niggers” (circa 1895) and “Snake Eyes” (circa 1930) (Whitehill 1992: 129).
Both card games have racist illustrations, but racism is not an explicit theme of the game,
and racist attitudes are not directly reflected in the rules (Dennis 1986).
The third example “Gunsmoke” (1958, by Lowell) incorporates racist themes in the
rules of play by giving one side an unfair advantage. The game depicts the mythic
American confrontation between “Cowboys and Indians” each player representing one
side. The pieces representing Native Americans can be “killed” and removed from the
game, while the Cowboy pieces can only be “captured” and are always in play. As Polizzi
& Schaefer write: “The odds of winning the game are slightly in favor of the cowboys”
(Polizzi 1991: 113).
The principal example of racism studied here is “Juden Raus!” (Jews Out!). It was
published in Germany during the Third Reich period by Günther & Company, Dresden,
and distributed by the firm of Rudolf Fabricius at Bad Neusalza-Spremberg. Two copies
of the game are known to exist. One copy is currently on display at the Museum of
Jewish Heritage in New York City. A second copy of the game is in the collection of the
Institute of Contemporary History and Wiener Library in London. Information about
the game was sent to us by Acting Director Ben Barkow.