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It was via this propaganda offensive that Ulbricht invoked fears of military action from the West from which the GDR needed to protect itself. But for the GDR government, this was not actually about protecting GDR citizens, it was about preventing them free access to West Berlin. The aim was to stabilise the GDR.
The action was led by Secretary of the SED, Erich Honecker. He coordinated the complex task of closing the border. An operational group was formed at the Department for National Security to carry out the planned action. Whilst Soviet troops in the GDR and adjacent Eastern Bloc countries had been reinforced between May and July 1961 by several hundred thousands23, cordoning off the border was to be conducted by the GDR border police, riot police and the company brigades. Entities of the National People’s Army had to be on emergency standby to stop potential attacks from the West. A third security squadron was formed by the Soviet troops at the “ring around Berlin”. The Ministry for State Security (MfS) was responsible for the internal political protection of the Wall’s construction.24 The GDR Ministry of State Security was in charge of securing the building of the Wall domestically. The mission operated under the names “Mission Rose” and “Mission Ring” and took place right across GDR territory.25 The records of intensive supervision of the GDR’s population were to be passed on to the Ministry hourly for the first two days. All mail in cross-border traffic was subjected to control, and telephone traffic to West Germany was completely interrupted. A state of all-encompassing supervision was to be established.