It was a bureaucratic mistake in the messaging, although it's not clear what the East Germans' actual plan was, it seems they did want to open the border: https

It was a bureaucratic mistake in the messaging, although it's not clear what the East Germans' actual plan was, it seems they did want to open the border: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_the_Berlin_Wall https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_the_Berlin_Wall