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Border workers were paid partly in West German currency and the GDR government used this as propaganda to cause jealousy and resentment amongst the people towards the border workers and also as a means to justify the harsh state treatment towards them. Any wages paid in West German currency were subject to a compulsory exchange. Many services could be exchanged in the GDR for West German cash. In early August, the border workers were forced to give up their jobs in the West and register as job-seekers in the GDR.
GDR propaganda aimed to denounce West Berlin as a dangerous trouble spot in the East-West conflict. The GDR’s campaign accused the FRG government of intensive war preparations, aiming to conquer the GDR and parts of Poland.
The increasing measures taken against refugees and border workers, as well as the fierce propaganda campaigns in the GDR, increased suspicions in the West that it would not just be individuals who were victimised by the GDR government. A televised speech by Khrushchev on 7th August 1961 caused many of those watching to fear that a Wall may be built along the Berlin border. People assumed, however, that the measures would be enforced along the “ring around Berlin”. Nobody thought that the city would be cordoned off. That was a massive error of judgement, as would soon be proved.