Egon Krenz

Egon Krenz
General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany
In office 18 October 1989 – 3 December 1989
Preceded by	Erich Honecker
Succeeded by	position abolished
Chairman of the Council of State of the German Democratic Republic
In office 18 October 1989 – 3 December 1989
Preceded by	Erich Honecker
Succeeded by	Manfred Gerlach
Personal details
Born	(1937-03-19) 19 March 1937 Kolberg, Germany
Political party	Socialist Unity Party of Germany
Profession	Politician

Egon Krenz (born 19 March 1937) is a former communist politician from the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). Succeeding Erich Honecker, he served as head of state of East Germany and leader of the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) for three months in 1989 before the collapse of the communist regime.

Throughout his career, Krenz held a number of prominent positions in the communist regime. He was deputy of Erich Honecker and thus the second most influential politician in the GDR from 1984 until he succeeded Honecker in 1989 amid protests against the regime. Krenz was unsuccessful in his attempt to retain the communist regime's grip on power, and was forced to resign some weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

After the German reunification in 1990 he was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for manslaughter, for his role in the crimes of the regime.

Early years

Krenz was born in Kolberg in what was then Germany, now Poland. His family were resettled in Damgarten in 1944, when Germans were expelled from Farther Pomerania.

Political career in the GDR

Krenz joined the Marxist-Leninist party, the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), in 1955. Throughout his career, Krenz held a number of posts in the SED and the communist government. He was leader of the Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation from 1971 to 1974, and became a member of the central committee of the communist party in 1973. He was also a member of the People's Chamber (the GDR's legislature) from 1971 to 1990, and a member of its presidium from 1971 to 1981. Between 1974 and 1983, he was leader of the communist youth movement, the Free German Youth. From 1981 to 1984 was a member of the Council of State, and in 1983 he joined the politburo and became secretary of the central committee. He rose to supreme prominence when he became deputy of the chairman of the Council of State, Erich Honecker, in 1984, and as such the second most influential person in the East German government.

Krenz visited West Germany for the first time in June, 1989, when he was invited by Oskar Lafontaine, who was then Minister-President of Saarland for the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Reportedly, the West German social democrats were not impressed. Brigitte Schulte, the parliamentary floor leader for the SPD, who accompanied him during his visit, described Krenz as "utterly unsympathetic". Krenz spoke knowledgeably of choice foods, fine wines, and the privileges of power. "He struck me as the consummate apparatchik, a true child of the system, surrounded by the oiliest advisers, the sort of people who would do anything. I was totally shocked", Schulte would later tell reporters. Her impression was not that of a would-be reformer, but of a tough, cynical politician, interested first and foremost in his own career.

Leader of the German Democratic Republic

Egon Krenz (left) officially congratulating Erich Mielke on behalf of the government on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the Stasi in 1985

Following popular protests against the GDR's Communist regime, long-serving leader Erich Honecker was forced to resign on 18 October 1989. At Honecker's suggestion, Krenz was elected as the new General secretary of the SED Central Committee.

Despite many protests, Krenz was elected by the People's Chamber to the positions of both Chairman of the Council of State and Chairman of the National Defense Council. For the second time (the first was on the law on abortion) in the parliament's forty-year history, the vote was not unanimous; 26 deputies voted against and 26 abstained. In the evening, East German television broadcast Krenz's first public pronouncement in his new capacity, with the new leader promising to introduce democratic reforms.

On 7 November, Krenz approved the resignation of Prime Minister Willi Stoph and his entire cabinet along with two-thirds of the politburo. However, the Central Committee unanimously re-elected Krenz to the position of General Secretary. In a speech, Krenz attempted a reckoning with history, which also criticized his political mentor Erich Honecker. Yet, by this stage, events were rapidly spiralling out of his control.

Despite promises of reform, public opposition to the regime continued to grow. In an attempt to stem the tide, Krenz authorized the reopening of the border with Czechoslovakia, which had been sealed to prevent East Germans from fleeing to West Germany. The newly formed Politburo agreed to adopt new regulations for trips to the West by way of a Council of Ministers resolution.

Egon Krenz addressing the Volkskammer.

The opening of the Berlin wall

On the evening of 9 November, Politburo member Günter Schabowski announced the results of the Central Committee plenary. Although the East German government had approved the opening of the borders, a misunderstood press briefing by Schabowski resulted in a spontaneous mass exodus of East Germans into West Berlin. The sudden and dramatic opening of the Berlin Wall would ultimately lead to the political collapse of the SED regime.

On 18 November, Krenz swore in the new coalition government. Instead of an oath, it consisted of a simple handshake. However, in the first days of December, the entire SED Central Committee and Politburo resigned; a working committee assumed the duties of Party leadership in its place. The CDU and the LDPD announced that they were leaving the so-called democratic bloc. The CDU Presidium also demanded the resignation of Krenz as head of the Council of State and Chairman of the National Defense Council.

On 7 December 1989, Krenz—the GDR's last Communist head of state—resigned as leader. In a desperate attempt to improve its image, the successor organisation to the SED, the Party of Democratic Socialism, stripped Krenz of his party membership in 1990.

Trial and imprisonment

In 1997, Krenz was sentenced to six-and-a-half years imprisonment for Cold War crimes, specifically manslaughter of four Germans attempting to escape the communist regime over the Berlin Wall. He was also charged with electoral fraud, along with other criminal offences.

He appealed, arguing that the legal framework of the newly reunited German state did not apply to events that had taken place in the former GDR. Krenz also argued that the prosecution of former GDR officials was a breach of a personal agreement given by West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev during their talks which led to German reunification. However, the verdict was upheld in 1999. Krenz reportedly described his conviction as "victor's justice" and "cold war in court".

Krenz began serving his sentence in Berlin-Spandau shortly thereafter. He was released from prison in December, 2003 after serving nearly four years of his sentence, and quietly retired to Dierhagen in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. He remained on parole until the end of his sentence in 2006.

Unlike several other high ranking members of the communist regime, like Günter Schabowski and Günther Kleiber, Krenz continues to defend the former German Democratic Republic and maintains he hasn't changed his political views. Krenz has on several occasions referred to the German Reunification as "Anschluss".

Quotes

• "The victorious power is revenging itself on the representatives of the defeated power" (Die siegreiche Macht rächt sich an den Vertretern der besiegten Macht).

See also

• Day by Day — East Germany 1989