Book Pitch a Slap in Face for Krenz

KARLSRUHE, West Germany — Former East German Communist leader Egon Krenz was twice slapped in the face by an angry East German immigrant when he appeared in public to promote a book he has written on the Communists’ fall from power, a newspaper said Friday.

A crowd of about 100 people chanted “Not a penny for turncoat Krenz” and “Criminals out” when Krenz stepped out of a car at a bookstore in Karlsruhe on Thursday, the daily Badische Neueste Nachrichten said.

Krenz, who took over for only six weeks as East German leader after his mentor, Stalinist boss Erich Honecker, was ousted last October, was trying to promote his book “Wenn Mauern Fallen” (“When Walls Fall”).