EUROPE: FIVE YEARS LATER : Key Figures of 1989: WHERE ARE THEY NOW

Erich Honecker. The hard-line East German Communist leader who supervised construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 was toppled from power in October, 1989. He fled to Moscow in early 1990 but was returned to Germany the following year to face trial for killings at the Wall. Suffering from cancer, his trial was terminated on health grounds in early 1993 with no verdict. He flew immediately to Chile to spend his final months with his daughter. He died in Santiago in May at age 81.

Egon Krenz, 57. Honecker’s successor and the man who ordered free passage through the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 1989, lasted only six weeks in power. He was swept away by the East German revolution and resurfaced in 1990 working as an investment adviser to a Berlin businessman. He is now unemployed. He spends his time trying to present the Communist regime in a positive light.

Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, 71. Poland’s Communist leader who imposed martial law in 1981 to crush the pro-democracy Solidarity movement had come to terms with the trade union and helped negotiate the country’s move to a multi-party democracy in 1989. He served as Poland’s president until December, 1990, and is now retired. He occasionally attends conferences as an expert on societies in transition. He is now recovering after being attacked in September by an angry pensioner, who blamed Jaruzelski for the loss of his livelihood during the 1980s.

Milos Jakes, 72. The Czechoslovak Communist Party leader, who fell from power a week into the Czech revolution, was questioned briefly by authorities following his downfall but was never formally charged with a crime. He now lives quietly in Prague and is spotted occasionally shopping at neighborhood stores.

Todor Zhivkov, 83. The Bulgarian Communist Party leader for 35 years was ousted the day after the Berlin Wall fell. He was expelled from the party at the end of 1989 and convicted three years later on charges of corruption. His case remains under appeal, and he presently lives with a grandchild in Sofia.

Nicolae Ceaucescu. Romania’s brutal Communist leader for more than two decades was overthrown in December, 1989. He was arrested as he tried to flee Bucharest, was tried secretly and then executed along with his wife, Elena, on Christmas Day at age 71. The Ceaucescu’s three children, Nicu, Zoia and Valentin, all live in Bucharest.