E. German Exodus Grows as Czech Border Reopens : East Bloc: As travel restrictions are eased, hundreds more people leave for the West. They say the new regime is unable to bring about reforms.

BONN —  The East German government removed restrictions on foreign travel Wednesday, and several hundred East Germans promptly crossed into Czechoslovakia in the hope of escaping to the West.

In other East German developments:

-- Johannes Chemnitzer, the No. 1 Communist official in the district of Neubrandenburg, hinted that the days of the Berlin Wall may be numbered.

-- Guenter Schabowski, a member of the party’s Politburo, conceded that the centralized East German economy is in difficulty and suggested that wide-ranging reforms may be needed to save it.

-- A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said it is reconsidering a request for official recognition of the opposition group New Reform.

The frontier with Czechoslovakia, which the East German regime had closed a month ago to stem the flow of people fleeing to the West, was reopened at midnight. Within hours, hundreds and possibly thousands of East Germans had crossed it and were headed for Prague.

The destination for most of them was the West German Embassy in Prague, where by late afternoon about 350 had gathered. There they were given documents enabling them to leave Czechoslovakia. A first busload of refugees left for West Germany later in the day.

Since the first of the year, more than 120,000 East Germans have fled the country, about half of them illegally.

The flight to the West touched off mass demonstrations in half a dozen or more cities and led directly to the ouster of hard-line Communist leader Erich Honecker and his replacement by Egon Krenz. Krenz returned to East Berlin late Wednesday from a two-day trip to Moscow, where he conferred with President Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

Many East Germans who crossed into Czechoslovakia on Wednesday told reporters that they did not think the Krenz regime is willing or able to bring about the political and economic reforms the opposition is demanding.

One, a young woman, said: “We don’t have any confidence in the new leaders. They are just the same as the old lot. We want to live our life now, not when we are too old to enjoy it.”

Today, Krenz will travel to Warsaw for a visit with Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki, the first non-Communist leader of an East Bloc country.

Poland, like the Soviet Union and Hungary, has begun reforms.

Chemnitzer, the Neubrandenburg party leader, told reporters that the opening of frontiers in other countries of the East had made the importance of the Berlin Wall “limited and illusory.”

Asked if this means that the wall’s future is open to discussion, he replied, “Surely.”

Schabowski, the Politburo member, said in an interview with the East German magazine Economy Week that economic reform must begin with the elimination of subsidies on many consumer products.

“We subsidize even flowers and taxi fares,” Schabowski was quoted as saying. “That’s an impossible situation.” Also, he said, the party leadership is contemplating a reorganization of industry. Questions have been raised, he said, about whether it still makes economic sense to have industry organized into great “combines.”

The Interior Ministry spokesman said New Forum’s application for legal registration is being reconsidered in response to a request by the Christian Democratic Party, one of four minor parties controlled by the Communists.

New Forum, which was organized in September and almost immediately outlawed, claims a membership of 30,000.

The Interior Ministry spokesman said recognition would probably be extended with the condition that the group adhere to the state constitution. The constitution specifies that the Communist Party is the country’s primary political organization.

In any case, recognition of New Forum would satisfy one of the key demands of demonstrators who in recent weeks have filled streets in cities throughout the country.