(1937-) East German communist politician. A member of the East German Socialist Unity Party (SED) from 1955, he joined its politburo 1983 and was a hard-line protégé of Erich Honecker, succeeding him as party leader and head of state 1989 after widespread prodemocracy 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 Dec 1989 after only a few weeks as party general secretary and head of state.
In 1995 he was charged in connection with the deaths of East Germans who had attempted to flee to the West during the period of communist rule.