The West German journalist whose question drew Ulbricht's 'No one intends to build a wall'
'I would like to ask a supplementary question: does the formation of a free city mean, in your opinion, that the state border will be erected at the Brandenburg Gate?'
A German journalist who studied law in Hamburg without finishing her degree and went into the press. After the war she worked for the Soviet-controlled Berliner Rundfunk, then moved to West Berlin in 1949 as the Frankfurter Rundschau correspondent, where on 15 June 1961 her question to Ulbricht about whether the state border would run at the Brandenburg Gate elicited his famous 'No one has the intention to erect a wall.'
Career Timeline
- 1929Began studying law at the University of Hamburg
- 1934Volunteer at the Institute for Foreign Policy in Hamburg
- 1936Worked at the Hamburg World Economic Archive
- 1942Moved to Berlin as editor of Wirtschafts-Ring
- 1943Editor at the controlled Transocean-Europapress central desk
- 1945Joined the Soviet-controlled Berliner Rundfunk
- 1946Editor of the Berliner Rundfunk's 'Zeitecho'
- 1949West Berlin correspondent of the Frankfurter Rundschau