NID: EAST GERMANY: POLITICAL VACUUM IN THE MAKING

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe: A 30-Year Legacy
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06826808
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 26, 2019
• Document Release Date: December 10, 2019
• Publication Date: December 7, 1989

Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826808
6.2(d)
EAST GERMANY: Political Vacuum in the Making
Premier Modrow and other democratically minded forces are
scrambling to develop an alternative political structure as Communist
rule crumbles in East Germany.
The State Council yesterday named Liberal Democratic Party leader
Manfred Gerlach the country's first non-Communist president,
replacing Egon Krcnz. The Peasants' Party and Gerlach's Liberal
Democrats have followed the Christian Democrats in withdrawing
from the National Front group, which the Communists have used in
their effort to assert authority. According to Western press reports,
the State Council has accepted the resignation of the entire National
Defense Council�the supreme commanding body for the military
and security services. The Communist party, meanwhile, announced
that it is moving up its emergency party congress by a week, to
tomorrow
Roundtable talks are to open today in East Berlin between
opposition and government leaders. The Communists will have two
representative out of 31; opposition groups will have 14, the four
non-Communist parties 12, and the Protestant Church three.
Comment: The Communist party is virtually finished as an effective
authority in East Germany; democratic forces will have to move fast
to prevent anarchy. Though Gerlach is probably an interim figure, his
appointment is a major step toward a non-Communist government,
which is certain to follow a national election; that election could come
as early as the next few months. The small parties formerly allied with
the Communist party probably will scramble to es7blish their
independence before an election.
The roundtable talks are likely to get off to a slow start because
participants will be jockeying for position on the issue of power
sharing. The talks probably will diverge onto other issues, includin
reunification, which may become a major election theme
The Communist party probably will split at tomorrow's congress over
efforts to reconstitute itself as a reformed socialist party. Even a
reformed party is likely to do poorly in an election. Modrow must
build on what legitimacy he has if he is to stay ahead of events. At
a minimum he will have to bring independent activists into his
cabinet and assign them key nortfo! ios such as foreign affairs or
interior.
2
--TorSeeFOL-
TCS 2983/89
7 December 1989
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Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826808