Die Unterdrückte/Wiederstand/Schweizer Olympiaden

This game attempts to get villagers to think about the experience of oppressed peoples and the experience of bystanders during such events. The obvious parallel is to the experience of Holocaust victims and regular German citizens during WWII.

Overview:

The villagers are divided into an even number of groups. In each group, there is one villager who knows about the goal of the game and will try to either push an oppressed group to realize that they are being oppressed, or will try to point out to a winning group that the games might be unfair. We want to see if the villagers choose to complain or not. Meanwhile, Gruppenleiter of winning groups should try to foster group pride, while Gruppenleiter for losing groups don't. At each station, two groups -- one oppressed and one not -- come together to play some kind of game. Each time, the oppressed group loses. When a group wins, they get a point written on a piece of paper. When they lose, the station leader should write a zero.

Stations:

1. Melken: The groups each have to "milk" a plastic glove filled with water. The glove for the team that is supposed to win should have several large holes, while the one for the other team has only one hole.

2. Französisch: Each group is given a set of sentences written in French and German. They have to pair the French sentences with the corresponding German sentences. The station leader, if possible, should only speak French. The group that is supposed to win should get either easier sentences or fewer sentences. The station leader can also tell the oppressed group that they are wrong (even if they're not), or can help the winning group figure out what sentences go together.

3. Zungenbrecher: The groups are taught a tongue twister in Schweizer Deutsch. When they say it, the winning team will be told that they did it "better."

4. Bundeshaus: Each group gets a picture of the Bundeshaus in Switzerland. They have to construct a replica of it on the Volleyballplatz. On one side (for the winning team), the sand should be wet, while on the other side it should be dry.

5. Schweizeres Lied: Teach an obscure Lied auf Dialekt. Same as Zungenbrecher.

6. Geld zählen: Print out a bunch of fake Swiss money. Put it in two bags. Each group has to count the money as fast as possible. If the oppressed group finishes first, tell them they're wrong. If the winning group finishes, tell them they're right no matter what they say.

Ring the bell every 5 or so minutes. Each time, two groups should be at each station.

Debriefing:

If all goes according to plan, the kids on some teams will feel defeated while the others will either feel really proud or awkward that they keep winning at the expense of others. First ask how many people had 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0 points. Everyone should have either 6 or 0. Then ask about how they felt, etc. You can then bring up specific examples from WWII (e.g. Schindler, other resistance, Warsaw Ghetto Uprising) or other cases of Wiederstand.