Australian Jewish org. slams retailers for Secret Hitler board game

Numerous complaints filed to the ADC were from the descendants of Holocaust survivors, who were "horrified" upon discovering the game, which is available for purchase through several retailers.

By AARON REICH
The board game Secret Hitler. (photo credit: M ANIMA/FLICKR)
The board game Secret Hitler.
(photo credit: M ANIMA/FLICKR)
Australian Jewish organization Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC) has urged several retailers to stop selling the board game Secret Hitler, according to Australian Jewish News.
Set in 1932, Secret Hitler is a game for five to 10 players, with each one secretly being labeled a member of the fascists or a member of the liberals. The liberals have the majority and must learn to trust each other to get enough votes to win the elections. The fascists, who are hidden to everyone else except other fascists, will "say whatever it takes to get elected, advance their agenda and win the game," according to the board game's website.
The game was created by Chicago-based game publisher Goat, Wolf, & Cabbage and is free to play under a creative commons license and has been so for years, with the creators even having sent a copy to every member of the US Senate in 2017. However, it was made available to sell worldwide in 2018 following a successful kickstarter campaign.
According to the Australian Jewish News, numerous complaints filed to the ADC were from the descendants of Holocaust survivors, who were "horrified" upon discovering the game, which is available for purchase through several retailers, including Amazon.
“What’s next? A board game set in the gas chambers and ovens of Auschwitz?” said ADC chairman Dvir Abramovich, according to the Australian Jewish News.
“There is nothing funny, entertaining, laughable or enjoyable about Hitler.
“A brutal, evil monster, responsible for the extermination of six million Jews and millions of others, should not be the title or the subject of a party board game.”
Abramovich called on retailers to remove the game from their shelves and asked them to show "moral responsibility to never allow themselves to become partners in the cheapening and trivialization of the Holocaust,” the Australian Jewish News reported.
This opinion is not shared by everyone, however, with many Jews playing the game around the world. In fact, the game's co-creator, Max Temkin, who also co-created popular games Cards Against Humanity and Humans vs. Zombies, is Jewish, and has Holocaust survivor relatives.
Speaking to the Australian Jewish News, Temkin said “I’m Jewish, I made the game, it’s not antisemitic, people can take from it what they will.”

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The game is still available for sale worldwide on Amazon.
The creators also released a special version of the game in 2016 titled The Trump Pack, though the website insists that "core mechanics like loyalty testing, election meddling, and blame shifting remain unchanged."


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