A grotesque, ghoulish parlor game in which pawns representing Jews are sent to death camps by the throw of dice, has resurfaced in West Germany and the authorities seem determined to find the persons responsible.
Copies of the game sent recently to schools and other institutions were postmarked in Darmstadt. The Hesse public prosecutor has instituted proceedings against individuals still unknown.
The game is called “Jude Aergre Dich Nicht” (Jew, do not get angry). It first appeared in 1984, drawing expressions of outrage from the Jewish community and public figures here and abroad. A man and a woman accused of devising the game were brought to trial. But a court in Zweibruecken, Saarland, acquitted them for lack of evidence. The Jewish community called the verdict “beyond understanding.”
This time, the Hesse authorities have assured Jewish leaders they will do everything possible to bring those responsible to justice. Like the original game, the new one consists of a board with six paws, each representing one million Jews. The players cast dice to move the pawns to squares labeled with the names of notorious death camps.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
