Outrage in West Germany over Board Game Featuring Holocaust

West German authorities and the Jewish community have expressed outrage over a dice-and-board game being circulated by rightwing and neo-Nazi groups, the objective of which is to get pawns representing Jews into squares marked with the names of Nazi death camps.

Werner Nachmann, chairman of the Jewish community of West Germany, has demanded that those responsible for the game be brought to trial. He said the community was awaiting the results of a police investigation. Rafael Schier, chairman of the Jewish community in Bonn, said the game was "simply disgusting."

Justice Minister Hans Engelhard said the game, which has appeared here and in other cities "exceeds in perversity everything that has previously come from neo-Nazis." He said his Ministry is working around the clock to close loopholes in the present laws forbidding the circulation of Nazi propaganda.

The game called "Jews, Don’t Get Angry," is hand drawn. It consists of a large star of David, each of the six points of which contains a square with the names Auschwitz, Treblinka, Maidenek and other camps where Jews were exterminated during World War II. Players move pawns according to the role of dice; each pawn represents one million Jews. The winner is the first to fill all six squares and get the "Jews" into a "central gas chamber."

The game has been circulated by rightwing youth groups to at least two schools, a dance school and two discotheques. It has also been mailed to Jewish families. According to Schier, this latest manifestation of anti-Semitism in West Germany should not be seen as an isolated case. He reported on a radio interview that at recent soccer games, youths have shouted "Juden Raus" (Jews Out) and "Send him to Auschwitz" at unpopular players.