"Wählt die Kandidaten der Nationalen Front": election poster on an advertising pillar, East Berlin

On an East Berlin advertising pillar a yellow-and-white typographic poster reads 'With the peace treaty to peace and unity of the nation! With socialism to the people's happiness!' and, in a blue tag, 'Vote for the candidates of the National Front'. The two promises are abstract virtue phrases with no measures attached, tied to a single ballot instruction. Concert posters share the pillar; a woman stands beside it.

Date: 1961
Period: Cold War
Made by: National Front of the German Democratic Republic (named on the poster); printer not legible
Region: Western and Central Europe
Country: East Germany
Medium: Poster
Issuer type: Mixed
Regime: German Democratic Republic
Leader: Walter Ulbricht
Audience: Domestic public
Purpose: Persuade or win support
Theme: Elections and party politics
Event: Berlin Crisis 1961
Techniques: Glittering generalities
Source: Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
Source: Fortepan (donor: UWM Libraries), retrieved September 29, 2026
Rights: CC BY-SA 3.0 (Fortepan site footer, quoted in notes); covers the photograph only
Fortepan / UWM Libraries, ID 259374 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Text on the object

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

Mit dem
Friedensvertrag
zu Frieden
und Einheit
der Nation!

Mit dem
Sozialismus
zum Glück
des Volkes!

WÄHLT DIE
KANDIDATEN
DER NATIONALEN
FRONT

[other posters on the pillar advertise concerts and are not transcribed]

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

With the
peace treaty
to peace
and unity
of the nation!

With
socialism
to the happiness
of the people!

VOTE FOR THE
CANDIDATES
OF THE NATIONAL
FRONT

[other posters on the pillar advertise concerts and are not transcribed]

Poster text read from the committed 840 x 1280 px image; 'Glück des Volkes' is translated literally as 'happiness of the people'.