Content note: Caricature of a man in a suit riding a rocket on a ladder marked NATO, on a GDR border billboard. This object is shown as it was published. Why
"Wer hoch hinaus will, fällt tief": GDR border billboard near Mackenrode
A large field-side billboard shows a caricatured man in a dark suit riding a rocket upward on a ladder marked 'NATO', held by a helmeted soldier at its foot, under the proverb 'He who aims high falls low.' Two uniformed men walk past in the foreground. The tell is the proverb as a warning: it promises a fall to the NATO-armed rocket-rider, a threat directed across the border (fear appeal).
- Date
- 1960
- Period
- Cold War
- Made by
- Sponsor not named in the record; billboard on the GDR side of the inner German border near Mackenrode, Thuringia (photograph by Flickr user md61)
- Country
- East Germany
- Medium
- Signs and banners
- Issuer type
- Mixed
- Leader
- Otto Grotewohl
- Audience
- Foreign public
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Theme
- War and the military
- Event
- Cold War
- Techniques
- Fear appeal
- Leader
- Otto Grotewohl
- Source
- Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- Source
- Flickr user md61 (photo 3816633497), via Wikimedia Commons, retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- CC BY 2.0 (Flickr user md61; Commons page states the licence, Flickr review 7 Nov 2009)
md61 (Flickr), CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Text on the object
WER HOCH HINAUS WILL. FÄLLT TIEF. [on the ladder:] NATO
HE WHO WANTS TO GO HIGH FALLS DEEP. [on the ladder:] NATO
Read from the committed 922 px image and matched against the annotation on the Commons file page. Translation by machine, not verified by a fluent reader.
