Content note: Caricatures of Konrad Adenauer and of the Krupp arms firm as profiteers of war, with rhymed text about death tolls and atomic rockets. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Adenauer and Krupp cartoon boards, open-air display, Rathausstrasse, East Berlin
Two free-standing white boards carry line cartoons in a paved square. At right, a crowned caricature labelled 'Krupp' sits in an open suitcase of rockets and a poison-gas shell, the lid marked '1914-1918 10 Mill. Tote / 1939-1945 42 Mill. Tote', over a six-line rhyme: 'Ich liefere Heldentod engro ... Konrads Lieferant'. At left, a reclining figure reads 'Der Rosenzüchter' under diving bombers, one marked 'US', with a 'Bonn' board and a newspaper clipping. The label and the rhyme do the work; the casualty figures carry no source.
- Date
- 1957
- Period
- Cold War
- Made by
- Not named on the boards; open-air display in East Berlin, GDR (Commons: 'Propaganda in Ostberlin gegen die Rüstungs- und Außenpolitik Adenauers')
- Country
- East Germany
- Medium
- Cartoon
- Issuer type
- Mixed
- Leader
- Otto Grotewohl
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Demonize
- Event
- Cold War
- Techniques
- Name-callingScapegoating
- Leader
- Otto Grotewohl
- Source
- Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons (photographer: Manfred Niermann; uploaded by his heirs), retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- CC BY-SA 4.0 (Commons, heirs; VRTS 2017021610010914); photograph only
Manfred Niermann (heirs), via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Text on the object
[right board] KRUPP [on the crown] 1914-1918 10 MILL. TOTE 1939-1945 42 MILL. TOTE [newspaper clipping] Atomgranaten von Krupp [body text illegible] Ich liefere Heldentod engro das machte schon mein Vater so. Einst steckt ich mit die Welt in Brand heut bin ich Konrads Lieferant. Ich mache alles für Moneten Giftgasgranaten und Atomraketen ! [left board] [newspaper clipping] Bonn begrüßt offiziell Aggression [body text illegible] BONN [on the board] DER ROSEN-ZÜCHTER [on the book] Glaubt mir, Araber ! Ich lag nur i[...] und wußte garnicht daß Bomb[...] [rest of both lines hidden by the stand]
[right board] KRUPP [on the crown] 1914-1918 10 MILL. DEAD 1939-1945 42 MILL. DEAD [newspaper clipping] Atomic shells from Krupp [body text illegible] I deliver the hero's death wholesale, my father already did it that way. Once I set the world on fire with it, today I am Konrad's supplier. I do everything for dough: poison-gas shells and atom rockets! [left board] [newspaper clipping] Bonn officially welcomes aggression [body text illegible] BONN [on the board] THE ROSE-GROWER [on the book] Believe me, Arabs! I was just lying i[...] and did not know at all that bomb[...] [rest of both lines hidden by the stand]
Read from the 1280 px image with enlarged crops of both boards. 'engro' and 'mit die Welt' are as printed. The suitcase figure '42' is read from a small print and may be '40'. The left board's second line and the end of its first line are hidden behind the stand.
