Egon Krenz

Krenz was born in Kolberg in what is now Poland, and was re-settled in Damgarten[?] in 1944, when Germans were expelled from Poland following World War Two.

He joined the SED (East German Communist Party) in 1955, and throughout his career, Krenz held a number of senior posts in the Communist Party, joining the politburo in 1983.

Follwing popular protests against East Germany's Communist regime in in 1989. Long serving leader Erich Honecker was ousted. And on October 24th 1989 Krenz was drafted in as his replacement.

Krenz promised to introduce democratic reforms, but events soon spiralled out of control. He unintentionally presided over the opening of the Berlin Wall on November 9th 1989, which was caused by a misunderstood press briefing by one of his ministers. This quickly lead to a mass exodus and the the collapse of the Communist state.

He resigned as leader on December 7th 1989, and in a desperate attempt to improve it's image, the Communist party stripped of his party membership in 1990.

In 1997, Krenz was sentenced to 6 1/2 years imprisonment, for the deaths of people who tried to cross the Berlin wall.

To this day, Krenz is one of the few former Communist politicians who continues to defend the former East Germany.