On June 15, 1961, during a press conference, Annamarie Doherr from the Frankfurter Rundschau asks GDR (The German Democratic Republic, also simply known as East Germany) head of state Walter Ulbricht if he believes that creating a free city will involve building a state border at the Brandenburg Gate.
Ulbricht replies: ”I understand your question in this way: that there are people in West Germany who want us to mobilise the construction workers of the GDR capital to build a wall. Am I right? I am not aware of any such plans. Most of the capital’s construction workers are busy building flats and their manpower is being put to full use in these projects. Nobody has any intention of building a wall.”
Two months later, the Berlin Wall construction is completed, dividing East and West Germany for the next 28 years.
Just another example of a failed experiment in socialist dictatorship.