"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).
- Date
- December 8, 1961
- Period
- Cold War
- Made by
- German Democratic Republic (billboard at the Friedrichstraße crossing; photograph by the Central Intelligence Agency)
- Country
- East Germany
- Medium
- Signs and banners
- Issuer type
- State
- Leader
- Otto Grotewohl
- Audience
- Foreign public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Techniques
- Glittering generalitiesScapegoating
- Leader
- Otto Grotewohl
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Central Intelligence Agency (Flickr), via Wikimedia Commons, retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work; CIA photograph, Commons PD-USGov)
Central Intelligence Agency (Flickr), via Wikimedia Commons
Text on the object
Laßt uns gemeinsam für Frieden und Verständigung wirken! Der deutsche Friedensvertrag bändigt den westdeutschen Militarismus! [street sign, left:] Zimmerstraße
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.
