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
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.
- Date
- 1952
- Period
- Cold War
- Made by
- GDR display panel, sponsor not named; photographed by Roger and Renate Rössing (Deutsche Fotothek)
- Country
- East Germany
- Medium
- Cartoon
- Issuer type
- Mixed
- Leader
- Otto Grotewohl
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Demonize
- Themes
- War and the military, Labor
- Event
- Cold War
- Techniques
- Name-calling
- Source
- Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- Source
- Deutsche Fotothek (SLUB Dresden), df_roe-neg_0006396_014, via Wikimedia Commons, retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- CC BY-SA 3.0 de (Deutsche Fotothek release on Wikimedia Commons; file page states the licence)
Deutsche Fotothek / Roger und Renate Rössing, df_roe-neg_0006396_014 / CC-BY-SA 3.0 DE
Text on the object
Ausgang „Well, die Deutschen sind doch komische Leute. Draußen ist's kalt & sie krempeln trotzdem die Ärmel hoch.“
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'.
