WI: 1986 House-Cleaning in the DDR

An idea I had awhile ago but didn't get much input on, so I'll rephrase and see what everyone thinks.

In 1986 Mikhail Gorbachev had been in power in the Soviet Union for a year and was immensely popular among the citizens of some Warsaw Pact countries, especially East Germany. 1986 is also the year of the XI Congress of the Socialist Unity Party, the DDR's ruling party, and Gorbi just happened to make an appearance. What if a combination of Gorbi's presence and the popular appeal (from what I've read, there were unusually large crowds outside the Palast der Republik chanting Gorbachev's name) force the old guard out? Honecker is getting on in years and can rationalize it as "retirement for health reasons," but who succeeds him? Is Egon Krenz too tainted by his association with Honecker to be considered a Gorbi lite?

And what about Mielke's personal empire in the Stasi? I'd imagine any cleaning out would want to get rid of the man who makes J. Edgar look like an honest detective, but who do you call upon to replace the man around whom every facet of the organization literally revolves?
 
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