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,
Willi Stoph to 14 July 1960. As defense minister, he was awarded the rank of Armeegeneral. After serving as first deputy prime minister from 1960 to 1964, he was named Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Ministerrat), or prime minister, in 1964. He was initially thought to be the heir apparent to longtime East German leader Walter Ulbricht, but his ascendancy was checked by Erich Honecker. After Ulbricht's death in 1973, Stoph became Chairman of the Council of State--a post equivalent in rank to president of the GDR. After Volkskammer elections in 1976, the state and party leadership structure was re-arranged, and