John Heartfield was one of Germany’s most biting political satirists, creating numerous posters skewering Fascism and war. While best known as a Dada collage artist, his composition for this poster relies on straightforward illustration to emphasize that only a firm hand can control the snake that is nuclear war. Heartfield originally produced this design in 1936 for the Brussels Peace Congress, in which the words on the snake read “Der Krieg” (the war) rather than “Atomkrieg” (nuclear war). His ability to recycle the same image 20 years later testifies to the strength of the design. Although Heartfield was an outspoken member of the Communist Party, his extended stay in England during and after World War II made the East German government suspicious of his allegiances. He was repeatedly denied permission to emigrate back to the U.K. or to gain employment in his native Germany.