“Put Out That Light—Do You Want to Blow Up the Place?”
Nikita Khrushchev made Berlin a focal point for a Cold War showdown in August 1961. In the week before Herblock published this cartoon, East German authorities created a barricade to keep tens of thousands of citizens from fleeing to the West. By Friday, August 19, a five-foot concrete barricade had been erected in parts of the city. Herblock used powder kegs and missiles not only as a metaphor for the initial five-foot barricade, but also for the confrontation between East and West, arguing that what the Soviets feared the most was liberty for their people.
Nikita Khrushchev made Berlin a focal point for a Cold War showdown in August 1961. In the week before Herblock published this cartoon, East German authorities created a barricade to keep tens of thousands of citizens from fleeing to the West. By Friday, August 19, a five-foot concrete barricade had been erected in parts of the city. Herblock used powder kegs and missiles not only as a metaphor for the initial five-foot barricade, but also for the confrontation between East and West, arguing that what the Soviets feared the most was liberty for their people.