When the Cold War emerged, the building was physically within West Berlin lying in the British zone, but only a few metres from the border of East Berlin, which ran around the back of the building and in 1961 was closed by the Berlin Wall. During the Berlin blockade, an enormous number of West Berliners assembled before the building on 9 September 1948, and Mayor Ernst Reuter held a famous speech that ended with ""Ihr Völker der Welt, schaut auf diese Stadt!"" ("You peoples of the world, look upon this city!")