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Auction News WORLD RECORD PRICES FOR NAZI CHILDREN’S GAMES AT MULLOCKS AUCTIONS  .A
remarkable group of Nazi children’s board games created so that even the
youngest children got into Hitler’s swing of things made world record
prices at Mullock’s latest Historical Documents Sale on August 23rd.The four games are all based on the general idea of either bombing British cities or blowing up our shipping and were lavishly produced. Originally estimated to reach up to £1170, they in fact made £7,714 (including premium). ‘We had enquiries literally from all over the world,’ commented Historical Documents Expert Richard Westwood-Brookes. ‘Bidding was fast and furious both from in the room and on the telephones – in fact we had so many telephone bidders that some of our staff had to deal with two telephones at the same time.  Perhaps
the most amazing of the games was ‘Bomber over England’ which dates from
1940 is a kind of table top ‘bagatelle’ (or pinball) style game
featuring a map of the UK, northern France, Belgium and Holland , with
part of Germany, and various holes in the board each assigned with a
points total. Various points in the North Sea are marked, such as
merchant ships, and a lighthouse (attracting various points), and
various cities on the mainland. You got 30 points for hitting Hull, 60
points for hitting Aberdeen, only 40 points for Liverpool, 50 points for
Birmingham and of course 100 points for London.This game was clearly produced very early in the war as France is indicated as not under German control – as you got 100 points for hitting Calais. On the other hand you lost 80 points for hitting Brussels and Amsterdam. ‘It is most unlikely that any other examples of this game exist,’ commented Richard Westwood-Brookes, the auctioneers’ Historical Documents Expert, ‘ and I must say it is a very uncomfortable feeling to thing of a group of German children back in 1940 getting excited at scoring 100 points for destroying London when the grim realities of the Blitz were taking place.’ Also in the group were two games inspired by the heroic activities of Gunther Prien, the legendary commander of the U-47 U-Boat which sank HMS Royal George at Scapa Flow at a time when we thought the naval base was impregnable. Prien became a national celebrity as a result and these two games reflect his stardom at the time. The first is roughly like modern day ‘minefield’ games and the other based on snakes and ladders. The fourth game dated from 1941 and is called The Parachutist’s Game which used lead weighted playing pieces which had to be dropped into indented circles on the playing board. In addition to the Nazi games there was also a most remarkable and extremely rare game based on attacking Hitler.  Called the ‘V Game’ it was based on the ‘tiddlywinks’ principle where by a coloured playing piece had to be flicked from outside the game board at targets within. – with the idea that this was using the VI rockets to bomb Hitler and his gang. ‘This appears to have been made in occupied Belgium while the war was still raging and as such it is a most unbelievable act of courage on the part of its makers. It is hardly the sort of thing you would want to be found with if the Gestapo came calling,’ added Richard Westwood-Brookes. ‘These games are testament Hitler’s total domination of propaganda – while other lots in the sale show that while children played, the real evil of the Nazis was raging at its worst. ‘Included in the sale were chilling personal testimonies from the holocaust with vivid descriptions of the unimaginable brutality of the Nazi monsters to their victims.’ The next Historical Documents sale is on Thursday November 1st. Entries can be accepted until the middle of October. Further information from Richard Westwood-Brookes on 01568 770803. |