I have a book, never quite managed to finish it, called : Children and play in the holocaust by George Eisen - where the author shows the kind of games children were playing in the ghetto.
It's quite grim as you can imagine, but it portrays your main idea there, as play is a powerful tool for kids to adapt and learn about what is required in their society. Off the top of my head, some children were acting gestapo probing where a kid would play an agent and tried to find secret information from a member of the "resistance" group. The goal of the game was to keep quiet of course. From my years in education at uni, I was quite invested into free play and how to organize it within a summer day camp where I worked, now I have to get back to the books I haven't finished yet !
