1937- . German communist politician. A member
of the East German Socialist Unity Party
(SED) from 1955, he joined its politburo in
1983 and was a hardline protege of Erich
Honecker, succeeding him as party leader and
head of state in 1989 after widespread
pro-democracy demonstrations. Pledging a `new
course', Krenz opened the country's western
border and promised more open elections, but
his conversion to pluralism proved weak in
the face of popular protest and he resigned
after a few weeks in Dec 1989, as party
general secretary and head of state. He was
replaced by Gregor Gysi and Manfred Gerlach
(1928-) respectively.