“Juden Raus!” (Jews Out!) – History's most - Board Game Studies
“Juden Raus!” (Jews Out!) – History's most - Board Game Studies
“Juden Raus!” (Jews Out!) – History's most - Board Game Studies
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56<br />
B OARD G AME S TUDIES 6, 2003<br />
from the Fabricius’ advertisement as well as the article in Das Schwarze Korps contradicts<br />
her statement: the game was published very late in 1938 and was to be promoted only<br />
in 1939. It is <strong>most</strong> likely therefore that Rogasky was mislead by the company advertisement,<br />
which tried to promote a “big seller<strong>”</strong> right from the beginning. It seems very<br />
unlikely that the game could have been successful in the face of condemnation by the<br />
SS and the resulting threats to Rudolf Fabricius.<br />
The state archive at Leipzig, where the documents concerning the fairs at Leipzig<br />
are preserved, confirmed by letter that the Fabricius company was not present at the toy<br />
fair in 1939 nor was the game promoted there, despite the company’s previous<br />
announcement. Unfortunately no information was available concerning Fabricius’ presence<br />
at the fair at Vienna in 1939.<br />
Rumors<br />
<strong>“Juden</strong> <strong>Raus</strong>!<strong>”</strong> has been known to a handful of scholars for many years. It has been<br />
used as evidence by museums and college courses on the holocaust of the extent of anti-<br />
Semitism in Nazi Germany. In the course of our research many scholars replied that<br />
they had “heard<strong>”</strong> or “thought they saw somewhere<strong>”</strong> information about the game that,<br />
although interesting, cannot be substantiated. As is the case with many games, a mythology<br />
of rumors has developed around <strong>“Juden</strong> <strong>Raus</strong>!<strong>”</strong>. One rumor has it that the two existing<br />
copies were prototypes and that the game was never published, while a contradicting<br />
rumor states that <strong>“Juden</strong> <strong>Raus</strong>!<strong>”</strong> was manufactured but was so unpopular that it was<br />
given away for free. Another rumor claims a third copy of the game was recently sold to<br />
a private collector through internet auction. There is even some talk of a different (and<br />
more blatant) anti-Semitic game of the period described as a “death camp version of<br />
parchisi<strong>”</strong> where the goal of the game is to be the first to deliver <strong>Jews</strong> a position on the<br />
game board which symbolized the place of their murder. Several people have claimed to<br />
have heard of this game, but no version is known to exist. Anyone with information<br />
about the rumors mentioned above are asked to contact the authors.<br />
Comments<br />
<strong>“Juden</strong> <strong>Raus</strong>!<strong>”</strong> is not a “Nazi board game<strong>”</strong> as it is sometimes called. There is no Nazi<br />
symbolism used in the game design and the article published in Das Schwarze Korps<br />
shows that the game was disdained <strong>–</strong> at least officially <strong>–</strong> in a major publication of the<br />
<strong>most</strong> important Nazi organization. But its true history may never be known for certain<br />
and many unsubstantiated rumors about the game exist.<br />
What insights are achieved from <strong>“Juden</strong> <strong>Raus</strong>!<strong>”</strong> about Nazi culture? It is hard to<br />
imagine a family sitting at a table playing a game that taught racial hatred. Yet it seems<br />
there were people like Rudolf Fabricius who imagined that some families would do just<br />
that. Fabricius was one of those mere supporters who thought to make some profit by<br />
following in the wake of Nazi anti-Semitic propaganda. Today <strong>most</strong> people react with<br />
disbelief or disgust when informed of the game’s existence. <strong>“Juden</strong> <strong>Raus</strong>!<strong>”</strong> shows that<br />
after decades of propaganda, anti-Semitism was so deeply rooted in German society in<br />
the 1930s, that someone thought it would be a good subject for a children’s game.