All of the images and content that informed this game that are shown on the cards were carefully sourced and researched to ensure a high degree of accuracy.

The point of the game is to educate players on the years-long deliberate theft of cultural property during the Second World War. While art theft and cultural property plunder has been common practice for centuries, it was important for me to convey in my game that the plunder of art primarily from Jewish families was intentional and was a large part of the Holocaust that many people do not know about. The confiscation of cultural heritage is a way to weaken an individual or family’s capital and economic standing and is a form of humiliation. This was a large goal that was pushed by Hitler’s Nazi Regime that was part of the Final Solution. The forced liquidation of Jewish property weakened the community, and contributed to the genocide of over six million people.

The Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Section was of particular interest to me because it was a unit made up of individuals committed to the return of stolen property which helped the post-war effort significantly. Most of these individuals went on to be prominent figures within the art history community which is admirable, and they greatly contributed to the discipline.

What is important about this game is that it not only teaches players about the systematic looting and murder of targeted communities (primarily Jewish people), but it shows them that the effects of Nazi-era looting remains today. The Nazis plundered tens of thousands of cultural artifacts and many remain missing. The objects plundered were not only the art on the walls of homes, they were not only pieces of furniture, but they were the wedding bands of individuals sent to concentration camps, they were the gold caps on the teeth of those murdered in the gas chambers. The reach of Nazi plunder was near endless and to view the Holocaust as a massive-scale theft in addition to the mass-murder of the Jewish people raises awareness on the current fight to reclaim the looted cultural heritage.

The effort to find these missing pieces is advocated for by many organizations such as the Monuments Men and Women Foundation, and there are countless ongoing legal cases surrounding ownership and restitution. The backs of the cards that depict images of pieces still missing bring the game into the present and educate the player on these ongoing missions to find the artworks.