Thaindian News

London, Sept 30 (ANI): A new computer game based on the Iron Curtain has been dubbed as being “tasteless and inappropriate” by victims of the former East Germany regime.

The game, called 1378 KM, has been named after the 1,378 kilometre long Iron Curtain that stretched across Europe from 1945 to 1991, and is based on the real-life tragedy of 1,000 victims from the German Democratic Republic who were shot while trying to escape.

Game players become border guards along the hated “inner German border”, which was pulled down 21 years ago, and points are won by gunning down escapers in the “killing zone” between east and west.

Axel Klaus Meier, who heads a group devoted to the memory of successful and unsuccessful escapers said the game only served as reminder to them.

“There are enough contemporary witnesses still around who suffered from the consequences of this cruel division of Germany,” the Telegraph quoted Meier as saying.

“They don’t need a computer game to remind them of these times all over again,” Meier stated.

Politicians have also condemned it, with Michael Braun of the ruling conservative CDU party saying it was “a tasteless exercise”.

Karlsruhe Universtiy art student, Jens Stober, 23, created the game as part of his degree course and was awarded a grade 1. He denied that the game is insensitive.

“People can play escapers too. This is not a cynical game. Rather I wanted to give young people an idea of what our recent German history was all about,” Stober said.

Stober is now working on another version of the game that concentrates solely on the Berlin Wall. (ANI)