‘Judicious dismantling. French steel. German coal. The peace pipe. Steel. Coal. This is where the hatchet was buried.’ On 11 and 17 May 1950, German cartoonist Beuth illustrates the economic and political significance of the Schuman Plan, which is contributing to the establishment of closer relations between France and the Federal Republic of Germany within a European coal and steel pool. French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman and Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer are working together to dismantle all the obstacles (the barbed wire) in order to facilitate this new agreement based on French steel and German coal. The political aim is also to bury the hatchet and put an end to the age-old antagonism between France and Germany.