Krenz, Egon (1937– )

East 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 protégé 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 in December 1989 after only a few weeks as party general secretary and head of state. In 1997 a Berlin court found Krenz guilty of manslaughter in connection with the deaths of East Germans who had attempted to flee to the West during the period of communist rule, and sentenced him to six and a half years' imprisonment. In 1999 an appeal against his conviction was unsuccessful and his conviction was upheld.