Mikhail Gorbachev meets Egon Krenz

From: The Making the History of 1989 site

Soviet Record of Conversation between Mikhail Gorbachev and Egon Krenz

The new General Secretary of the SED, Egon Krenz, traveled to Moscow on November 1, 1989 to meet in person with Gorbachev and assess the situation in East Germany and discuss possible paths forward. Throughout the lengthy meeting, Krenz and Gorbachev spoke openly about the challenges that now faced the GDR. Gorbachev, for the most part, remained hopeful that the new GDR leadership could instigate the necessary reforms that would save the GDR from complete collapse. Here, it is quite interesting to note just how steadfast Gorbachev remained in 1989 to the ideals of socialism and the necessity to defend those ideals against the magnetic appeal of capitalism. Also interesting is the personal nature of Gorgachev's observations about leaders in the East and West.

Egon Krenz was also straightforward in his assessment of the situation in the GDR. Like Gorbachev, Krenz remained optimistic that the GDR could withstand the hardships brought about by reform and emerge from the crisis in a better position. One might note that the German notes from this meeting are far longer and richer in detail than the Soviet notes and that these notes focus more on Gorbachev than Krenz. more here >>

See also the East German notes from this same meeting here.