Egon Krenz - The Opening of The Berlin Wall

The Opening of The Berlin Wall

On the evening of 9 November, the Politburo finished the draft of the new travel regulations, which allowed anyone who wanted to go to West Germany to do so through East Germany's border crossings with official permission. However, no one briefed the regime's de facto spokesman, East Berlin party boss Günter Schabowski, that the regulations were going to come into effect the following afternoon. Thus, at the daily press conference, when a reporter asked when the regulations would come into force, Schabowski assumed they were already in effect and replied, "As far as I know—immediately, without delay." This prompted a mass exodus to the Berlin Wall by thousands of East Berliners, believing the statement to be a decision to open the border crossings at the Wall. Krenz and the rest of the leadership were unwilling to order the use of deadly force. Finally, the unprepared and outnumbered border guards, on their own authority, let the crowds pass into West Berlin.

The fall of the Berlin Wall destroyed Krenz and the SED politically. 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 1 December, the Volkshammer deleted the provision in the East German constitution referring to the "leading role" of the SED, officially ending Communist rule in East Germany. On 6 December 1989, Krenz resigned all of his leadership posts. He was succeeded as head of state by LDPD leader Manfred Gerlach. 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.