Tyrants cause stir years after death

July 18, 2008

A card game featuring Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin and other brutal dictators through history have caused a stir in Germany. No sooner had outrage over a waxwork fuehrer going on display died off than a game featuring 32 despots triggered a new wave of speculation.
The game, an offspring of a publishing house in Berlin, is called ‘The Fuehrer Quartet’. It is based on a popular German children's card game called Quartet, but with a difference. The new version of cards presents pictures and information on notorious historical figures. The list varies from well-known Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Mao Tse Tung, Franco of Spain, Castro of Cuba and Ceaucescu of Romania to Idi Amin of Uganda and François ‘Papa Doc’ Duvalier of Haiti.Each card features one dictator, the country he ruled, his educational background and how long he was in power.The creators say they wanted to 'make an ironic statement' about the tyrants – but some took the joke in earnest.Berlin Senator Ehrhart Koerting called the deck 'tasteless', while historian Arnulf Baring said they 'played down the enormity of the crimes committed.' (Source)