---
title: '"Laßt uns gemeinsam für Frieden und Verständigung wirken!": GDR peace-treaty billboard at the Friedrichstraße crossing (CIA photograph)'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gdr-friedensvertrag-billboard-friedrichstrasse-1961/
description: Workmen on ladders mount a large dark board of white capitals at the sealed Friedrichstraße crossing in East Berlin, watched by uniformed guards.
section: Collection
---

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

[!["Laßt uns gemeinsam für Frieden und Verständigung wirken!": GDR peace-treaty billboard at the Friedrichstraße crossing (CIA photograph)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/gdr-friedensvertrag-billboard-friedrichstrasse-1961.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/gdr-friedensvertrag-billboard-friedrichstrasse-1961.jpg)

# "Laßt uns gemeinsam für Frieden und Verständigung wirken!": GDR peace-treaty billboard at the Friedrichstraße crossing (CIA photograph)

Workmen on ladders mount a large dark board of white capitals at the sealed Friedrichstraße crossing in East Berlin, watched by uniformed guards. The wording pairs an appeal to 'peace and understanding' with a claim that a German peace treaty would 'restrain West German militarism'. The tells are the abstract goal words (glittering generalities) and the single named cause, West German militarism, attached to the proposed remedy (scapegoating).

## Text on the object

Original (German) · checked against a source transcription

```
Laßt uns gemeinsam für Frieden und Verständigung wirken!
Der deutsche Friedensvertrag bändigt den westdeutschen Militarismus!

[street sign, left:] Zimmerstraße
```

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

```
Let us work together for peace and understanding!
The German peace treaty restrains West German militarism!

[street sign, left:] Zimmerstraße
```

In the committed photograph the board is partly hidden by workmen, ladders and guards; the visible words 'Laßt uns gemeins… für Frieden und verständig… wirken! Der deutsche Friedensvertrag bänd… den west…' match the full wording recorded on the Commons page for Bundesarchiv Bild 183-88832-0004, which shows the same board. Translation by machine, not verified by a fluent reader.

[← "Wer uns angreift wird vernichtet": GDR border sign beside the new Berlin Wall (CIA photograph)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gdr-wer-uns-angreift-wird-vernichtet-sign-1961/) ["Der deutsche Friedensvertrag bändigt den westdeutschen Militarismus!": sign at the Friedrichstraße checkpoint, Berlin →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gdr-friedrichstrasse-checkpoint-peace-treaty-sign-1961/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Colour lithograph of the Latin text of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti on the wall of the temple of Roma and Augustus at Ancyra, with the heading in large letters (Perrot, Guillaume and Delbet, 1872)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lithograph-res-gestae-ancyra-heading-0014/) (Roman Empire · 0014 · Card stacking, Glittering generalities)
- [Bronze sestertius of Trajan, reverse S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI, S C, the emperor on horseback riding down an enemy](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-trajan-optimo-principi-0103/) (Roman Empire · 0103 · Testimonial, Glittering generalities)
- [Gold solidus of Constantine I, reverse RESTITVTORI LIBERTATIS](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-constantine-i-restitutori-libertatis-0313/) (Roman Empire · 0313 · Glittering generalities)
- [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (Byzantine Empire · 0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [The Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I (Royal Museums Greenwich version), oil on panel](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/armada-portrait-elizabeth-i-greenwich-1588/) (England · 1588 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Medal of Elizabeth I: portrait in a ruff, reverse an ark on stormy waves with SAEVAS TRANQVILLA PER VNDAS (18th-century aftercast of a 1588 model)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/elizabeth-i-ark-medal-aftercast-1588/) (England · 1588 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (Dutch Republic · 1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)