Jews and Nazis hunt each other down in the latest computer game to have caught the fancy of Israeli teen-agers.
The game was first given to a member of Kibbutz Ein Carmel a few years ago, in all probability by a German volunteer, according to a report in the newspaper Ma’ariv. It was subsequently copied and has since spread throughout the north.
A 17-year-old boy at the kibbutz said he got the program from his brother, who had copied it from a classmate.
Idan Lazerson said the game has a Jew trying to escape from a castle or ghetto as Nazis attempt to kill him; the Jew shoots back, earning a gun for every Nazi killed.
The computer prints the slogan “Heil Hitler” when the Nazis fire.
Lazerson said he disagrees with educators who view the game as unsound.
“I think it’s educational because the aim is to kill as many Nazis as possible. If you’re good, you can kill lots of Nazis, and that’s very satisfying.”
A kibbutz member told Ma’ariv that the community included Holocaust survivors and until recently did not accept German volunteers. She said the game could therefore not have originated with a German volunteer.
EDITORS: The following is an addition to the story in Wednesday’s JTA Daily Dispatch on a rally held in Kentucky to protest remarks by Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott.
Schott made an unexpected appearance at a news conference Wednesday morning and issued a statement in which she apologized for any pain she may have caused by her remarks, but claimed many of the negative things being said about her are not true.
“I therefore welcome this opportunity to refute the falsehoods being stated about me by certain people with their own agendas and private interests,” said Schott.
She denied being a racist or bigot and said her 24-year hiring record “speaks for itself.” She painted herself as a minority, “a woman owner in the male baseball world,” and therefore the victim of “subtle and not-so-subtle discrimination.”
But she did not deny having made some of the remarks attributed to her and she issued an apology for any hurt she may have caused.
Because of her own experience, she said, “I am sensitive about comments which can hurt others. I acknowledge in the past I have, on occasion, made insensitive remarks which I now realize hurt others. On those few occasions, it was my mouth but not my heart speaking.
“For any such remarks which were insensitive, I am profoundly sorry and I apologize to anyone I hurt. I can only say that I did not mean them. I love baseball and if anything I have said caused embarrassment to the game, the Reds, the wonderful fans and city of Cincinnati, I am sorry.”
Schott admitted that she is not without blame in the matter, but insisted that “minority issues have been present in baseball long before I came to the game. They must be resolved.” She pledged to work with the other owners to “accomplish meaningful reform.”
She has retained an attorney to represent her interests and has instructed him to cooperate fully with baseball’s inquiry into the matter.
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