The Museum has prepared a new, expanded edition of the family board game Across the Iron Curtain. The game is based on the original version of the game "Across the Iron Curtain" and is published in Czech in the second edition prepared by the Platform of European Memory and Conscience and the Museum of Memory of the XXth Century. Players play the role of smugglers and help refugees from Eastern Europe to reach the West in eight different ways. Compared to the original version, the booklet contains several authentic stories of successful and unsuccessful attempts of Czechoslovak citizens to cross the state border. You will be able to buy the game, for example, through the Kosmas sales network. For Prague secondary schools and selected elementary schools we offer one piece of the game for free, the others at a discount.
🎥 Hana Zdražilová
Game annotation
From the end of the Second World War until 1991, Europe was violently divided into East and West. The East was ruled by totalitarian communist regimes characterised by violations of all basic human rights. In the West, advanced democratic states based on the principles of free political competition, respect for human rights and the rule of law emerged. The communist states erected an 'Iron Curtain' on their external borders with the free world - a heavily guarded barrier stretching from the Barents Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south. Totalitarian states kept their citizens isolated, unfree and oppressed, and prevented people from moving freely. Travel to Western democratic countries was only possible with the approval of the secret police. Some people managed to escape across the Iron Curtain under dramatic circumstances, but many never made it to the free world.
In the educational board game "Across the Iron Curtain", players play the role of smugglers to help refugees from Eastern Europe get to the West in eight different ways. The game is inspired by true stories, through which the player will better understand the reality of life under communism and the reasons why people chose to make the perilous journey.
The game manual contains authentic stories of people from the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The game is not only a good tip for intelligent family fun, but also an excellent addition to school history lessons. It is suitable for adults and children from ten years old.
Authors: Petr Blažek (historical stories), Karol Madaj, Luděk Navara, Peter Rendek, Neela Winkelmannová
box dimensions: 246x246x59mm
game plan: 475x475mm
package contains: 110 playing cards / 24 tokens / 30 playing pieces of 6 colours / booklet with instructions and stories of escapes across the border
Podcast History and Context 3/2024: Across the Iron Curtain