5 Top E. German Communists to Leave Their Posts, Krenz Says

New Communist Party leader Egon Krenz announced Friday that five members of the ruling Politburo would step down, and he made a dramatic appeal to East Germans to stay in the country. “We need you,” he said.

In an address broadcast on state TV, Krenz promised sweeping political and economic reforms and urged that East Germany’s restive citizens trust the new leadership’s resolve to change.

But as he spoke, more than 80,000 people demonstrated for more democracy in at least four cities around the country, the state news agency ADN said.

Another 4,500 East Germans who took refuge in West Germany’s embassy in Prague, Czechoslovakia, prepared to head West after East Germany said they could leave.

The five Politburo members stepping down were closely associated with former party leader Erich Honecker, who was ousted on Oct. 18 and replaced by his protege, Krenz.

They included ideology chief Kurt Hager, 77, and security chief Erich Mielke, 81.

The other three were Hermann Axen, 73, in charge of foreign policy; Erich Mueckenberger, 79, head of the party control commission, and Alfred Neumann, also 79, the first deputy premier.

Krenz said the five had asked to be relieved of their duties. He said they will step down at a meeting of the party’s Central Committee that will open Wednesday.

The party chief also appealed to East Germans to stay in the country.

“Trust our policy of renewal! Your place, dear fellow citizens, is here. We need you,” Krenz said.

But he said those who still wanted to leave should address themselves to authorities in East Germany. Tens of thousands of people have fled their Communist homeland in recent months.

In a 22-minute address, Krenz also announced new laws that would allow draft resisters to serve in the civil service, the formation of a constitutional court to protect citizens’ rights, and plans to abolish special privileges of high-ranking party functionaries.

He also said limits would be placed on the length of state and party functions.

Krenz said that independent, non-communist groups would have a wide say in forging the course of reforms, but did not say if opposition groups would be legalized.

He also did not mention free elections, one of the major demands made by the pro-democracy demonstrators.

ADN said 50,000 people rallied in Erfurt and called for legalization of opposition groups Friday. Another 20,000 marched in Karl Marx Stadt, 10,000 rallied in Dessau and 6,500 in Guestrow, the agency said.

The Liberal Democratic Party, one of the four non-communist parties allied with the communists in the communist-dominated National Front, issued a statement calling for an immediate session of Parliament to ask for the resignation of the government of Premier Willi Stoph.

The party also proposed the replacement of People’s Chamber (Volkskammer) Speaker Horst Sindermann, 74, a member of the Communist Party Politburo, by Manfred Gerlach, the head of the Liberal Democrats.

Diplomats said it was unlikely that the Liberal Democratic Party would have made such a public proposal without Krenz’s personal approval.

Demonstrators have demanded that leaders take the consequences for what the government admits is “a critical political and economic situation” left behind by Honecker’s regime.

Some leadership changes already have been made to appease the demonstrators and the reform movement.

Two of the 15 provincial Communist Party leaders have been replaced along with the head of the communist-run labor federation, and Margot Honecker, the education minister and former leader’s wife. Also replaced were the economic planning chief, the propaganda watchdog, and the heads of the National Democrats and the Christian Democrats, two other parties in the ruling National Front coalition.

Earlier Friday, the mayor of Leipzig resigned after hundreds of thousands of residents of his city took to the streets in recent weeks in the largest pro-democracy protests in East Germany’s history.

Mayor Bernd Seidel, 40, stepped down after losing the confidence of the city’s citizens, ADN said.

About 300,000 people demonstrated in Leipzig, a city of 650,000, on Monday, and a similar number protested the week before.

The pro-democracy movement began in Leipzig several months ago before spreading across the country and leading to the exodus of tens of thousands of East Germans to the West.

In January, witnesses reported that police used clubs and a water cannon to break up a demonstration by human rights activists in the Leipzig.

Dorothee Wilms, West Germany’s minister for intra-German relations, told reporters in West Berlin the number of East Germans arriving in West Germany this year could reach 190,000. Earlier this year, Bonn officials had estimated 100,000 arrivals.

A senior East German health official said the departure of skilled medical workers is seriously straining health services in the country. A Leipzig newspaper said soldiers have been drafted to drive ambulances and medical students have been sent to work in hospitals.

Also Friday, Communist authorities lifted a 38-year-old ban on the Christian Science Church.