EAST BLOC IN TURMOIL : E. German Communists Meet With Opposition and Agree on Reforms : East Bloc: The party calls for radical departure from its Stalinist framework. A crucial congress opens today.

Admitting responsibility for “the deepest crisis in East German history,” the Communist Party met with opposition groups for the first time Thursday and agreed on proposals to rewrite the constitution and hold free elections by May 6.

About 2,500 pro-democracy demonstrators gathered outside the “round-table meeting” in an East Berlin church residence, and the government renewed appeals for public calm.

“In a state of chaos and anarchy, we could not continue the process for democratic renewal,” said government spokesman Wolfgang Meyer.

Meyer said he does not think East Germany is moving toward anarchy, “but there are signs some groups are trying it.”

The round-table session came on the eve of the most critical congress in the party’s 40-year history of rule here.

The emergency session called for today will attempt to salvage the party from the ruins of a corruption scandal that forced out long-time leader Erich Honecker, the Politburo and the Central Committee. Honecker remains under house arrest.

In outlining its platform Thursday, the party called for “a radical breach” from its Stalinist framework.

Although the prime minister and 16 of 27 Cabinet members are Communist, the government has made concerted efforts to divorce itself from the party amid public cries for democracy.

Prime Minister Hans Modrow appealed on state television for calm Thursday as did the head of the secret police.

The government in recent days has issued numerous warnings coupled with vague reports of citizen unrest and violence, but few cases could be documented by reporters.

Lt. Gen. Wolfgang Schwanitz, head of national security, told a press conference Thursday that secret police headquarters in at least a dozen cities had been ransacked by angry mobs.

The citizens purportedly occupied the buildings to prevent destruction of any files or documents that might link Communist officials to illegal activity.

In fact, Schwanitz’s dramatic accounts of ransacking and the “life-threatening danger” his employees now face proved to be totally unfounded in one of the headquarters that was supposedly among the worst hit.

Schwanitz claimed that the headquarters in Cottbus, Dresden, Suhl and Rostock were paralyzed by vigilantes.

“Employees and their families fear they’re in the utmost danger for their lives,” he said.

Pressed for details, Schwanitz said there were “many many injuries,” but none serious.

He said that some apartments in the compounds were “practically turned on end” and that windows were shattered.

But in Cottbus, a coal town of 115,000 near the Polish border, state security headquarters were perfectly calm Thursday night and a Times reporter permitted inside found no signs of any ransacking.

The deputy director, Eberhard Bender, said his chief’s report was “a misunderstanding,” and that there was “never even any attempt to occupy these buildings. Not so much as a single stone was thrown.”

Bender said members of the opposition group New Forum came by with local police Wednesday morning to check out a tip that documents were being burned inside.

The state prosecutor sealed the office archives and steps were taken to prevent erasure of computer files, Bender said.

“Nothing has been destroyed,” he said.

Bender said that citizens were upset by Schwanitz’s false report and that the Cottbus headquarters had informed Schwanitz that they were not besieged.

Bender said he contacted Schwanitz again Thursday night by telephone when three Western reporters arrived.

He said, “The general asked that it be conveyed that his staff made a mistake” in naming Cottbus as one of the besieged headquarters.

He did not retract the accusations of public violence in the other three cities, however. East German media carried no independent reports Thursday of any such attacks.

At the press conference, Schwanitz warned that vigilante raids on his facilities could “lead to unforeseen consequences.”

That followed a thinly veiled warning the previous day by the government, which mysteriously cautioned against any “encroachments” on army installations and reminded citizens that the soldiers are “armed and trained” to counter any attacks.

East Germany’s pro-democracy movement has been fast-moving but peaceful, although Honecker reportedly favored “the Chinese solution” in Leipzig last October.

Democratic reforms already are having considerable impact on the national security forces, or secret police, whose very jobs demanded unquestioning loyalty to the corrupt Communist leadership.

Schwanitz urged the public not to hold secret police responsible for “carrying out the incorrect security policy of the former government.”

He said the national security forces would be reduced by “up to 50%” but refused for security reasons to say how many people that would involve.

Those laid off will either be retired, retrained or placed in new jobs “in the mines or in transportation or other sector to help serve the economy,” Schwanitz said.

East Germany’s labor force suffered a crippling blow when borders were opened a month ago and about 300,000 East Germans emigrated to West Germany.