---
title: '"Was hast du für den Frieden getan?": backdrop quoting Anna Seghers at the 3rd German Writers'' Congress, Berlin'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gdr-writers-congress-seghers-peace-quote-1952/
description: 'A speaker stands at a lectern marked ''DSV'' beneath a stage panel: ''Für jeden Schriftsteller steht die Frage: Was hast du für den Frieden getan?'', signed…'
section: Collection
---

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

[!["Was hast du für den Frieden getan?": backdrop quoting Anna Seghers at the 3rd German Writers' Congress, Berlin](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/gdr-writers-congress-seghers-peace-quote-1952.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/gdr-writers-congress-seghers-peace-quote-1952.jpg)

# "Was hast du für den Frieden getan?": backdrop quoting Anna Seghers at the 3rd German Writers' Congress, Berlin

A speaker stands at a lectern marked 'DSV' beneath a stage panel: 'Für jeden Schriftsteller steht die Frage: Was hast du für den Frieden getan?', signed with the name of the author Anna Seghers and her prizes. The question is put in the voice of a celebrated writer, so the demand to take a public peace stance carries her authority.

## Text on the object

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

```
Für jeden Schriftsteller steht die Frage:
Was hast du für den Frieden getan ?

Trägerin des Stalin-Preises
und Nationalpreisträgerin
ANNA SEGHERS

DSV
```

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

```
For every writer the question arises:
What have you done for peace?

Holder of the Stalin Prize
and National Prize holder
ANNA SEGHERS

DSV
```

Read from the 547 px image and a 3x crop. The small attribution lines are low-resolution; 'Stalin-' is the reading judged most likely and is marked here as uncertain. 'DSV' is on the lectern.

[← 他們總是說「不！」 (They Always Say "No!")](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/tamen-zongshi-shuo-bu-soviet-no-poster-1952/) [Free vs. Communist (Vietnamese two-column photo sheet) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/free-vs-communist-vietnamese-1952/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Bronze sestertius of Gaius (Caligula), reverse S P Q R P P OB CIVES SERVATOS in an oak wreath](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-caligula-ob-cives-servatos-0037/) (Roman Empire · 0037 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [Seljuq gold dinar of Sanjar, dated 493 AH, with the Abbasid caliph named on one face](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/seljuq-gold-dinar-sanjar-caliph-name-1099/) (Great Seljuk Empire · 1099 · Testimonial)
- [J'Accuse...! Lettre au Président de la République (J'Accuse...! Letter to the President of the Republic), L'Aurore, 13 January 1898](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jaccuse-laurore-front-page-1898/) (France · Jan 13, 1898 · Testimonial). Content note: Newspaper page about a wrongful-conviction controversy; the letter text refers to a prisoner held in torture-like conditions on Devil's Island; no graphic imagery.
- [The Speaker, front page 'The Week', 22 June 1901: Hobhouse report and 'methods of barbarism'](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/speaker-hobhouse-camps-methods-of-barbarism-1901/) (United Kingdom · Jun 22, 1901 · Name-calling, Testimonial). Content note: Text on deaths of women and children in British camps in South Africa, with mortality rates.
- ["The War with Japan" (Puck cover, 23 October 1907)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/puck-the-war-with-japan-1907/) (United States · Oct 23, 1907 · Testimonial, Scapegoating)
- [Bande Mataram (Paris), memorial page to Madan Lal Dhingra, 17 August 1909](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bande-mataram-paris-dhingra-memorial-1909/) (France · Aug 17, 1909 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [Indian Opinion (Phoenix, Natal), page 266: 'Natal Mercury's Comments' and 'The Durban Conference' during the coal-mine strike, 29 October 1913](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/indian-opinion-natal-mercury-durban-conference-1913/) (Union of South Africa · Oct 29, 1913 · Testimonial)
- ['Do your duty bravely. Fear God. Honour the King.' Lord Kitchener postcard (about 1914)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kitchener-duty-bravely-postcard/) (United Kingdom · 1914 · Testimonial, Transfer)