---
title: '"Macht das Tor auf": Brandenburg Gate model at the inner-German border, east of Lübeck'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/macht-das-tor-auf-border-gate-1962/
description: A gate of striped pillars in the outline of the Brandenburg Gate stands across a road that ends at the inner-German border; a red banner on top reads…
section: Collection
---

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

[!["Macht das Tor auf": Brandenburg Gate model at the inner-German border, east of Lübeck](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/macht-das-tor-auf-border-gate-1962.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/macht-das-tor-auf-border-gate-1962.jpg)

# "Macht das Tor auf": Brandenburg Gate model at the inner-German border, east of Lübeck

A gate of striped pillars in the outline of the Brandenburg Gate stands across a road that ends at the inner-German border; a red banner on top reads 'MACHT DAS TOR AUF' (Open the gate). The Berlin landmark, closed off by the Wall, is borrowed as the symbol of division, and the slogan asks the other side to open it.

- **Date:** November 1962
- **Period:** [Cold War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=cold-war)
- **Made by:** Erecting body not named in the source (the slogan matches the Kuratorium Unteilbares Deutschland's 'Macht das Tor auf' campaign); photograph by Don O'Brien
- **Region:** [Western and Central Europe](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=western-central-europe)
- **Country:** [West Germany](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=west-germany)
- **Medium:** [Signs and banners](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=sign-banner)
- **Issuer type:** [Mixed](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=mixed)
- **Regime:** [Adenauer Government](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=adenauer-government)
- **Leader:** [Konrad Adenauer](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=konrad-adenauer)
- **Audience:** [Mixed](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=mixed)
- **Purpose:** [Persuade or win support](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=persuade-support)
- **Themes:** [Migration](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=migration), [Security and surveillance](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=security-surveillance)
- **Event:** [Cold War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=cold-war)
- **Techniques:** [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)
- **Source:** Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- **Source:** [Flickr (Don O'Brien) via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:East_German_Border_1962_Macht_Das_Tor_Auf.jpg), retrieved September 29, 2026
- **Rights:** CC BY 2.0 (Flickr licence confirmed by Commons upload bot; file page states it) Don O'Brien / Flickr, CC BY 2.0

## Text on the object

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

```
MACHT DAS TOR AUF
```

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

```
OPEN THE GATE
```

Red capitals on the lintel of the gate.

[← "Der Schutzpatron der Westberliner Spionageorganisation Lemmer": ADN photomontage](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/adn-lemmer-photomontage-1962/) [Civil rights March on Washington, D.C. →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/march-on-washington-reflecting-pool-1963/)

## 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/) (0037 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [Gold coin of Kanishka: King of Kings legend, king at the altar, deity Oesho](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gold-dinar-kanishka-king-of-kings-0130/) (0130 · Transfer)
- [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Bayeux Tapestry, scene 23: UBI HAROLD SACRAMENTVM FECIT VVILLELMO DVCI](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bayeux-tapestry-harold-oath-to-william-1070/) (1070 · Transfer, Card stacking)
- [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Consult of the doctors on the grave illness of the Grand Sultan (Consult vande medicijnen inde swaere siekte vanden grooten Sultaen)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/consult-of-the-doctors-sick-sultan-antwerp-1683/) (1683 · Transfer, Bandwagon)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [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/) (1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)