Sounds like they took a page from Ulbricht (Walter, not Ross!): "Nobody has any intention of building a wall", then shortly after starting construction of a wal

Sounds like they took a page from Ulbricht (Walter, not Ross!): "Nobody has any intention of building a wall", then shortly after starting construction of a wall to imprison the citizens of East Germany, and calling it "the antifascist bulwark". The GDR soldiers that shot fleeing citizens in the back were praised as heroes that defended the glorious Soviet Republic against traitors.