---
title: Caricature panel of a US soldier with workers at an exit door, Rössing photograph
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gdr-us-soldier-caricature-panel-1952/
description: A painted panel shows an obese US soldier in a horned helmet slumped in an armchair, shouting and gesturing at a woman beside him, while two men at an…
section: Collection
---

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

**Content note:** Caricature of a US soldier as an obese, shouting figure in a horned helmet; East German display panel. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![Caricature panel of a US soldier with workers at an exit door, Rössing photograph](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/gdr-us-soldier-caricature-panel-1952.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/gdr-us-soldier-caricature-panel-1952.jpg)

# Caricature panel of a US soldier with workers at an exit door, Rössing photograph

A painted panel shows an obese US soldier in a horned helmet slumped in an armchair, shouting and gesturing at a woman beside him, while two men at an 'Ausgang' (exit) door look on, one holding a club. His speech bubble calls the Germans 'funny people'. The soldier is drawn as grotesque and coarse, a standing caricature rather than a depiction of any individual.

## Text on the object

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

```
Ausgang

„Well, die Deutschen sind doch komische Leute. Draußen ist's kalt & sie krempeln trotzdem die Ärmel hoch.“
```

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

```
Exit

"Well, the Germans are funny people after all. It's cold outside and they roll up their sleeves anyway."
```

Read from the 800 px image and a magnified crop. The US soldier's speech bubble is in lettering that mixes English 'Well' with German; the sign at the door reads 'Ausgang'.

[← "Der RIAS merk's dir armer Tropf": anti-RIAS display-case panel, Leipzig](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gdr-rias-display-panel-leipzig-1952/) [中共土改真相 大陸農民厄運 (The Real Story of Red China's Land Reform: Misfortune of the Mainland Peasants), U.S. photo poster →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/real-story-red-china-land-reform-usia-poster-1952/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521/) (Electoral Saxony · 1521 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [Anacoana fut pendue sans raison (engraving in Le miroir de la cruelle et horrible tyrannie espagnole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anacoana-hanged-miroir-tyrannie-espagnole-1620/) (Dutch Republic · 1620 · Fear appeal, Name-calling). Content note: Engraving of a hanged, bare-breasted Taino woman, burning huts and people being killed by Spanish soldiers.
- [Ondersoeckt de Geesten, ofse van den Duyvel syn, of niet (the De Witt brothers as devils)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ondersoeckt-de-geesten-de-witt-devils-1672/) (Dutch Republic · 1672 · Scapegoating, Name-calling)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (Great Britain · 1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [The North Briton, No. XLV, 23 April 1763 (John Wilkes), opening page](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/north-briton-no-45-wilkes-1763/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Apr 23, 1763 · Name-calling)
- [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Province of Massachusetts Bay · Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking). Content note: Hand-coloured engraving of bloodied dead and wounded colonists after soldiers fired on a crowd.
- [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (France · 1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sans-culottes-bread-of-liberty-gillray-1793/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Jan 12, 1793 · Fear appeal, Name-calling)