Hunt for coal theft

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Hunt for coal theft
Game data
author unknown
graphic unknown
publishing company Lepthian-Schiffers
Publishing year 1942
Art Dice board game, propaganda
Teammates
Duration
Age

Jagd auf Kohlenklau is a historical board game that was developed in Germany during the Nazi era . It was produced at the end of the Second World War as part of the Kohlenklau initiative and distributed to large families in line with National Socialist propaganda .

Background and implementation

background

The game Jagd auf Kohlenklau was created as part of the raw materials policy of the National Socialist government in the Third Reich under Adolf Hitler . Since most of the resources became scarce during the Second World War, collection systems for substitute raw materials were set up primarily by the Hitler Youth and at German schools, in which the children collected scrap metal, scraps of material, paper, bones and other materials. Another aspect was the saving of energy and thus the fight for energy savings and against energy waste in German households. Especially after the expansion of the Eastern Front after the attack on Poland and the beginning of the German-Soviet War , this aspect became increasingly relevant, as the energy resources were mainly needed for the German armaments industry.

A campaign under the name “Kampf dem Kohlenklau” began in Germany on December 7, 1942, which was based on the caricature of Kohlenklau developed by Wilhelm Hohnhausen and his advertising agency Arbeitsgemeinschaft Hohnhausen . As a waste of energy from the national community, he steals coal and is based on the figure of the black man , whereby, unlike other caricatures of the time, he did not use Jewish stereotypes . The Kohlenklau was developed by Wilhelm Hohnhausen and his working group Hohnhausen and was intended to call on the civilian population to adopt an energy-saving behavior and thus integrate them as the home front into the resource policy of the NSDAP . The campaign was accompanied by newspaper advertisements, series of pictures (comic strips), leaflets and graffiti on house walls, public transport and other vehicles. The campaign also included articles in the youth magazine Help! , Educational films on the subject of "coal theft" as well as two games that should make the subject understandable, especially for children and young people. On the one hand, it was a quartet game with motifs that represented positive and negative behavior in dealing with energy and was played according to classic quartet rules, as well as the board game Hunt for Coal Stealing .

implementation

Jagd auf Kohlenklau and the Kohlenklau Quartet were produced, although the production of games in Germany had already been completely stopped despite the scarcity of resources. Despite this ban, hunting for coal theft was printed by the Lepthian-Schiffers company as a DIN A3- sized game plan in black, white and red with a print run of four million copies. It was folded and distributed to large families and schools in an envelope without any additional toys. Other required game materials such as a dice and playing figures should be taken from other games already in the household.

The game does not use swastikas or other National Socialist symbols with the exception of the figure of Kohlenklau. It was probably kept by many German families after the war and is not particularly rare.

Style of play

The rules of the game of hunting for coal theft are kept simple and correspond to a simple dice board game such as the goose game . The game board consists of red and black fields, the red fields being negative and the black fields positive. According to their color, the fields are illustrated with drawings of energy-wasting and energy-saving activities: A boy is saving energy on the dark fields, the stealing of coal and examples of energy wasted are shown on the red fields.

The game begins with a brief explanation about coal theft:

“The 'Kohlenklau' ('KK') is a villain who wants to harm the German people. He gains entry into every household and tries to steal coal, ie heat, light and electricity, and also gas, things that not only the household but also our armaments urgently need. He is very clever and knows how to camouflage himself masterfully. You should now track him down and chase him away. "

The aim of the players is to move forward on the board by rolling dice. The first player to reach or exceed the “50” space wins the game. The players roll the dice in a clockwise direction and must read aloud and follow the instructions for the individual spaces they enter. In the special field “27” the player must shout loudly Kohlenklau - if another player is faster, the player in question must restart the game from the start. In the case of red fields, the players either have to sit out or go back and in the case of black fields they may roll the dice again or may move forward.

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c Martin Rüther: Collecting and saving, observing and denouncing: Children and young people in the war. In: Johanna Cremer (Ed.): Kölner Stadtmuseum: Boards that mean the world. Playing through 2000 years of Cologne. Kölnisches Stadtmuseum, Cologne 2018. ISBN 978-3-00-059213-3 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Hunt for coal theft in the British Museum; accessed on July 20, 2019.
  3. ↑ a b c Game rules for the hunt for coal theft , taken from the game board on Giochi dell'Oca e di percorso ; accessed on July 20, 2019.

Web links