---
title: '"DDR: Das ist die Zukunft Deutschlands": grandstand board beside Berlin Cathedral'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gdr-ddr-zukunft-board-berlin-1964/
description: A tall white board rises above a temporary terraced grandstand next to Berlin Cathedral.
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[!["DDR: Das ist die Zukunft Deutschlands": grandstand board beside Berlin Cathedral](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/gdr-ddr-zukunft-board-berlin-1964.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/gdr-ddr-zukunft-board-berlin-1964.jpg)

# "DDR: Das ist die Zukunft Deutschlands": grandstand board beside Berlin Cathedral

A tall white board rises above a temporary terraced grandstand next to Berlin Cathedral. It carries only three lines of large lettering: 'DDR' and, below, 'Das ist die Zukunft Deutschlands'. The claim is a prediction stated as settled fact, with no reason given, in a plaza built for mass rallies. No sponsor is printed on it.

- **Date:** 1964
- **Period:** [Cold War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=cold-war)
- **Made by:** Not named on the board; temporary grandstand on Marx-Engels-Platz, East Berlin (Fortepan catalogue)
- **Region:** [Western and Central Europe](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=western-central-europe)
- **Country:** [East Germany](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=east-germany)
- **Medium:** [Signs and banners](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=sign-banner)
- **Issuer type:** [Mixed](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=mixed)
- **Regime:** [German Democratic Republic](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=german-democratic-republic)
- **Leader:** [Walter Ulbricht](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=walter-ulbricht)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Persuade or win support](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=persuade-support)
- **Theme:** [Elections and party politics](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=elections-party-politics)
- **Event:** [Cold War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=cold-war)
- **Techniques:** [Bandwagon](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/bandwagon/)
- **Source:** Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- **Source:** [Fortepan (donor: Barbjerik Ferenc)](https://fortepan.hu/en/photos/?id=148833), retrieved September 29, 2026
- **Rights:** CC BY-SA 3.0 (Fortepan site footer, quoted in notes); covers the photograph only Fortepan / Barbjerik Ferenc, ID 148833 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

## Text on the object

Original (German) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
DDR
DAS IST DIE ZUKUNFT
DEUTSCHLANDS
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
GDR
THAT IS THE FUTURE
OF GERMANY
```

Read from the committed 1280 px image; no other lettering is visible on the board.

[← Đây! Lối giải phóng của bọn Cộng Phỉ (This! The Liberation Way of the Communist Bandits)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/day-loi-giai-phong-cong-phi-1964/) [Laissez-Passer of the People's Republic of the Congo, Stanleyville (1964) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/stanleyville-laissez-passer-lumumba-1964/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Consult of the doctors on the grave illness of the Grand Sultan (Consult vande medicijnen inde swaere siekte vanden grooten Sultaen)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/consult-of-the-doctors-sick-sultan-antwerp-1683/) (Spanish Netherlands · 1683 · Transfer, Bandwagon)
- [Das ganze Deutschland soll es sein. Haut sie auf den Chassepot! (German broadsheet song and caricature, Franco-Prussian War)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/das-ganze-deutschland-soll-es-sein-chassepot-1870/) (North German Confederation · 1870 · Bandwagon, Name-calling)
- [Boletín nuevo: Noticias importantes (New Bulletin: Important News), Revolución del Parque](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/boletin-nuevo-revolucion-del-parque-1890/) (Argentina · Jul 29, 1890 · Bandwagon, Name-calling)
- [¡¡Glorias de México!! Porfirio Díaz y Ramón Corral, electos por el voto unánime del pueblo (Glories of Mexico!! Porfirio Díaz and Ramón Corral, Elected by the Unanimous Vote of the People)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/glorias-de-mexico-diaz-corral-1904/) (Mexico · 1904 · Glittering generalities, Bandwagon)
- [La vuelta del desterrado (The Return of the Exile)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/la-vuelta-del-desterrado-vanegas-arroyo-1911/) (Mexico · 1911 · Glittering generalities, Bandwagon)
- [Saludo y felicitación al Señor D. Francisco I. Madero al tomar posesión de la presidencia (Salute and Congratulations to Francisco I. Madero on Taking the Presidency)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/saludo-madero-1911/) (Mexico · Nov 6, 1911 · Glittering generalities, Bandwagon)
- [The Menace front page, 12 April 1913 (Aurora, Missouri)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/the-menace-front-page-1913/) (United States · Apr 12, 1913 · Bandwagon, Scapegoating). Content note: Anti-Catholic newspaper front page with a skull-and-crossbones emblem labelled 'Temporal Power' and claims of a Roman Catholic conspiracy.
- [Vote Against Woman Suffrage](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/georgia-vote-against-woman-suffrage-1915/) (United States · 1915 · Fear appeal, Bandwagon)