On 15 June 1961, the East German leader Walter Ulbricht gave a press conference. Annamarie Doherr of the Frankfurter Rundschau asked whether the state border would be set up at the Brandenburg Gate. Ulbricht answered: Mir ist nicht bekannt, dass eine solche Absicht besteht. I am not aware of any such intention. Then he added: Niemand hat die Absicht, eine Mauer zu errichten! Nobody intends to build a wall! None of the journalists present had asked about a wall. In the night to 13 August 1961, the East German leadership began to seal off the sector border in Berlin.
The Federal Agency for Civic Education notes that Khrushchev had not yet agreed to closing the border, and that Ulbricht was probably still aiming at a separate peace treaty. Whether he was already lying that day is uncertain.