Life — July 25, 1918 — page 13: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a wartime satirical cartoon from *Life* magazine, likely from World War I era, depicting religious/clerical figures at the gates of heaven. Two robed priests or monks converse with an angel, while children with severed hands stand nearby. The caption reads: "New Arrival: What's the matter? You look pretty well torn up—and those children have their hands cut off. 'Why, a German spy got in here yesterday.'" The cartoon satirizes German wartime atrocities, specifically referencing documented reports of Belgian children having hands amputated during the German invasion of Belgium (1914). By placing this scene at heaven's gates, the artist condemns German actions as so morally heinous they're incomprehensible even in sacred space. The "German spy" framing sarcastically suggests such brutality couldn't originate from normal warfare—only from deliberate evil.