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New Communist Leader Meets With Protestant Leaders, Visits a Factory : East Germany: Egon Krenz gets plenty of advice from both sides of the Iron Curtain on his first day in office.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Amid speculation as to whether he will follow his predecessor’s hard line or move toward reform, Egon Krenz, the new East German leader, met Thursday with Protestant church leaders and visited a factory, where he chatted with workers.

Krenz, who 24 hours earlier had replaced hard-liner Erich Honecker as chief of the Communist state, met with Werner Leich, senior bishop of the Protestant church, which has been the focal point for much of the agitation for political and economic reform.

The East German news agency ADN said Krenz was accompanied by Werner Jarowinsky, the Politburo member in charge of liaison with religious organizations. Also present was Manfred Stolpe, who has been highly critical of the repressive system that in recent weeks has caused tens of thousands of East Germans to flee to the West.

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Stolpe spoke of an “enormous crush of expectation” and called on Krenz to act decisively to meet the needs of the people.

In the meeting with Bishop Leich, the news agency said, both sides agreed that their “common cause was to promote changes in society that will make life more attractive and meaningful.”

Earlier, Krenz visited a machine tool factory in East Berlin, where according to ADN the workers complained of shortages of consumer goods and other problems.

“Don’t expect miracles,” the agency quoted Krenz as telling a worker.

It quoted this exchange:

A toolmaker: “We are being so open with you so that you up there know what is going on down here.”

Krenz: “What do you mean, ‘You up there’? Surely we have common interests.”

The worker: “You certainly don’t have the problems we have running around after work to find a garage to fix the car.”

On Krenz’s first full day in office, after Honecker stepped down under mounting pressure brought on by the refugee crisis and the uncertain state of his health, about 1,500 East Germans marched through the Baltic town of Greifswald chanting, “Democracy now or never” and “We want perestroika ,” a reference to the Soviet program of political and economic reform.

The authorities in Greifswald did not interfere, according to sources at the Protestant church of St. Nikolai, where the demonstration began.

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At the church, a declaration by the opposition group New Forum was read and hundreds then joined in the march to the city hall.

In Dresden, Hans Modrow, a moderate among East German Communist leaders, told workers: “The political situation . . . requires deep change. The Communist Party has to mobilize the creative power of broad masses for renewal and reform in industry and science, society, art and culture.”

Meanwhile, officials in Munich reported that the change in leadership had not stopped the flight of East Germans to the West. In the previous 24 hours, they said, 1,923 East Germans crossed into West Germany via Hungary, by train, car and special bus.

As the events unfolded, diplomats and other observers in East Germany and West Germany pondered what direction the Krenz regime is likely to take. Many offered advice.

Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev urged Krenz to shift with the times, according to Gennady I. Gerasimov, a spokesman for the Soviet Foreign Ministry.

Gerasimov said the East German Communist Party should “accommodate to current conditions”--that is, adjust to the myriad calls for reform.

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In Warsaw, the Communist Party daily Trybuna Ludu said Krenz will have to carry out “dynamic changes.”

“It becomes more clear all the time,” the newspaper said in an editorial, “that the process of reform initiated by Erich Honecker when he became secretary general of the Communist Party needs more impulse.”

In Budapest, the Hungarian government newspaper declared: “The tempo has speeded up unexpectedly in a country which had proved itself a bastion of post-Stalinist socialism. A favorable historic turn has begun.”

Meanwhile, in Frankfurt, West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher said in a speech: “The dialogue with the people, the churches, New Forum and other oppositions groups announced by the leadership . . . must now actually take place. It will have to be followed by fundamental reforms.” He continued:

“The people will judge the new leadership by how determined and consistent it is in following the path of dialogue and reform. We have no intention to interfere in the internal affairs of (East Germany), but we do want the people to be able to get involved in the internal affairs of the state.”

West Germany’s minister for economics, Helmut Haussmann, said in reference to the dismissal Wednesday of Guenter Mittag, an East German economics official:

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“The replacement of Dr. Mittag shows that the East German leadership itself apparently no longer believes that the rigid economic planning system can solve the difficult tasks it faces. Along with fundamental social reform, East Germany will have to undertake comprehensive economic reform as soon as possible.”

Few political figures in West Germany have met Krenz, but one who says he knows him is Oskar Lafontaine, premier of the Saarland. He said in a televised round-table discussion that Krenz is “as dry and hard as nails.”

Lafontaine, who entertained Krenz last year when Krenz visited the Saarland, conceded that he cannot predict how the new East German leader will perform in office.

Most analysts said Krenz will have to move quickly toward reform in order to alleviate widespread discontent. But there are differing opinions on whether Krenz will, in fact, institute reform measures or only pay lip-service to them.

Some observers, among them Wolfgang Seiffert, who left the Communist Party and is now an academic in West Germany, believe that despite his relative youth, Krenz, 52, is a transitional leader who will temporize and rely on the police and state security apparatus for support.

“Honecker’s fall is an admission that the party’s policies have led to the deepest crisis in East Germany’s history,” Seiffert said. “Krenz was part of the crisis. He was the No. 2 man. He will not be East Germany’s great reformer but instead will try to regain a grip on events with concessions, a certain flexibility, but also with the necessary toughness. The real reformers will take power in the next six to 12 months.”

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Krenz himself has been ambiguous in what he has said so far.

Rudolf Seiters, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s specialist in East German affairs, said: “I do not want to spend too much time going over the past or analyzing his speeches. Everyone knows that skepticism is called for. The next few days and weeks will show whether the new leadership can make good the complete loss of confidence the party has suffered.”

As to whether Krenz will be able to shake off his hard-line past, Ottfried Hennig, another West German official dealing with East German affairs, said: “It would not be the first time in politics that someone got a new job and started making new noises. But if he doesn’t do that, he will be only a transitory figure in East Germany.”

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