Is it true that the game "Monopoly" helped prisoners of war to escape from Nazi camps?

At first glance, it seems that between the popular board game and the British special services of the Second World War there can be nothing in common. We checked whether the scouts really used the “monopoly” in their operation.

In the Russian -speaking Internet, we managed to find not so many references to this story. The story of how gaming sets used to help the prisoners of the British in German camps, Published In the magazine "School of Life" in 2011. Nine years later about this mentioned In the material of the magazine "Spark", dedicated to the history of "Monopoly". And although the game was really very popular during the war years (prisoners of concentration camps even Created their versions "Monopoly"), to believe in its use by special services is very difficult.

During the war, the British military and employees of the special services thought about how to solve an important problem: it was necessary to save his colleagues who were captured by the Nazis. There were extremely few ways to transfer anything to the camp, one of them is to take advantage of the fact that Germany allowed the humanitarian goods to prisoners of war. The red cross and other charitable organizations could deliver such goods, and among the items that were allowed to include in the parcel, there were “games and entertainment”. The scouts managed to develop a very unusual plan.

The first "monopoly" was released in the United States in 1935. Then, the company for the release of the game in the UK was received by John Waddington Ltd., with which British special services began to work during the war. By statement Debbie Hall from Oxford University, only a few companies at that time owned the technology of printing cards on the silk, although for military and intelligence targets they are much better than paper ones: they do not rustle, do not soak in water and much stronger. The British publishers of Monopoly had such a competitive advantage, which attracted the attention of the British authorities.

Phil Orbans in his book about the history of "Monopoly" Writesthat small recesses were cut out on still unfinished game fields, miniature compasses, tiny files and escaping circuits from the camp, where they directed a specific copy were hidden, and then seized the excavations. To create plans and cards, they just used the print on the silk. In addition, real money was put in the box with the game currency. Then the boxes through fictitious Charity organizations were transported to camps. The story told by Orbans, confirms and Victor Watson - Head of John Waddington Ltd. During the war years.

British pilots before departure began to instruct: if you see a box with a “monopoly” among the humanitarian aid sent, pay attention to the Free Parking game field. If there is a red point on it, then inside you can find tools for escape. After the box, it was required to destroy so that the enemy would not reveal the special operation. By estimates Some historians, several thousand prisoners of war were able to flee thanks to the “monopoly”.

Is it true

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. https://www.snopes.com/Fact-check/monopoly-games-escape-kits/
2. P. Orbanes. The Game Makers: The Story of Parker Brothers from Tiddledy Winks to Trivial Pursuit
3. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/17480/HOW-HISTORYS-MOST-POPULAR-BOARD-GAME-DEFEND-FREE-WorLD