http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manfred_Gerlach
I'm thinking of creating a TL where Germany doesn't unify in 1990 but the DDR goes through a reformist phase in line with Gorbachev. The initial POD I've decided on is the 11th Party Congress in 1986. With Gorbachev newly-arrived to power and looking to shape the Warsaw Pact in his own reformist image, Soviet powers-that-be decide that apparatchik Honecker has to go. With the backing of Gorbachev and the reformist elements of the Politburo, Gerlach is persuaded to throw his name in and wins the election for General Secretary and Chairman of the Council of State.
The only thing I haven't quite worked out yet is what to do about Egon Krenz and the rest of the people in high places who came up under Honecker and were men after his own heart.
I'm thinking of creating a TL where Germany doesn't unify in 1990 but the DDR goes through a reformist phase in line with Gorbachev. The initial POD I've decided on is the 11th Party Congress in 1986. With Gorbachev newly-arrived to power and looking to shape the Warsaw Pact in his own reformist image, Soviet powers-that-be decide that apparatchik Honecker has to go. With the backing of Gorbachev and the reformist elements of the Politburo, Gerlach is persuaded to throw his name in and wins the election for General Secretary and Chairman of the Council of State.
The only thing I haven't quite worked out yet is what to do about Egon Krenz and the rest of the people in high places who came up under Honecker and were men after his own heart.