History of Germany (1945–90) eventually hundreds of thousands of people in several cities—particularly in Leipzig—continued to grow. On 7 October, the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev visited Berlin to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of East Germany and urged the East German leadership to pursue reform, without success. The movement of civil resistance against the East German regime—both the emigration and the demonstrations—continued unabated. On 18 October, Erich Honecker was forced to resign as head of the SED and as head of state and was replaced by Egon Krenz. But the exodus continued unabated, and pressure for political reform mounted. On 4 November,
Erich Honecker In accordance with longstanding practice, Honecker voted for his own removal. When the public announcement was made, it was branded as a voluntary decision on Honecker's part, ostensibly "due to health reasons". Krenz was unanimously elected as his successor as General Secretary. Communist rule in East Germany only survived that of Honecker by two months. Three weeks after Honecker's ousting the Berlin Wall fell, and the SED swiftly lost control of the country. On 1 December, its guaranteed right to rule was deleted from the East German constitution. Two days later he was expelled from the SED along with other