SV Dynamo

The Sportvereinigung Dynamo (German: Sportvereinigung Dynamo ) (Dynamo Sports Association) was the sport association of the security agencies (Volkspolizei, Ministry for State Security and customs) of former East Germany. The association was founded on 27 March 1953 and was headquartered in Hohenschönhausen in East Berlin. From the date of its inception until 23 November 1989 the president of the SV Dynamo was Erich Mielke, the Minister of State Security.

SV Dynamo
Founded27 March 1953 (1953-03-27); dissolved: 23 November 1989 (1989-11-23)
LeagueOlympics, World cup, European Championship Nat. League
Based inEast Berlin,  East Germany
ArenaPalast der Republik, Dynamo-Sportforum, Altenberg bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track, Dynamo Sports Hotel
StadiumDynamo Stadium (Dresden), Friedrich Ludwig Jahn Sportpark, Heinz Steyer Stadion and others
Colorswine-red white/ wine-red silver
OwnerMinistry of Interior of the GDR: Volkspolizei, Zollverwaltung, Ministry for State Security, Feuerwehr
PresidentErich Mielke[1]
Championships2.187 nat.; approx. 182 European cup medals approx. 324 World cup medals; approx. 215 Olympic medals[2]

Dynamo was set up following the multi-sports club model developed in the Soviet Union and adopted throughout Eastern Europe. From the beginning it had an overtly political as well as sporting agenda and its many successes were always portrayed as a triumph of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, SV Dynamo was liquidated. At its height, the association had a membership of over 280,000 members.[3] Athletes of the association enjoyed considerable success both in national and international competitions, winning for example more than 200 Olympic medals. After German reunification in 1990 the systematic doping of Dynamo athletes from 1971 until 1989 was revealed by the German media. Doping was done under the supervision of the Stasi and with full backing of the government.[4]

Organization
Acrobatics- show in 1982

The SV Dynamo was divided into fifteen regional units, corresponding to the fifteen districts of the German Democratic Republic. Within each regional unit individual sports clubs existed, with each sport club specializing in different disciplines. 290 sections were included SG Dynamo Dresden (football), SC Dynamo Hoppegarten (judo, shooting sports, parachuting), the SC Dynamo Klingenthal (Nordic skiing), SG Dynamo Luckenwalde (wrestling), SG Dynamo Potsdam (rowing and canoe sprint), SG Dynamo Weißwasser (ice hockey) and the SG Dynamo Zinnwald in Altenberg (biathlon, bobsleigh, luge, skeleton). The most famous sports club of the SV Dynamo was probably the SC Dynamo Berlin offering most Olympic disciplines. The sports system was not designed for transfers, but on schedule. The athletes had to be viewed in their own country. Administrators and coaches from Dynamo Berlin were often sent to support their development. The district organizations, which bore the names of the districts they served, always wore the initials SV Dynamo.

[5] For small children, there was even a Dynamo-Kindergarten. Henceforth the larger children trained every day before and after classes. For the training, there existed a basic plan. If the children themselves are not good at school, they were excluded from the training. The emphasis has been respected that the athletes had to pursue themselves the sporting ideology, because otherwise no success would have been guaranteed. Each year, the best Dynamo-athlete were voted. Few could win 50,- M when they themselves were those who chose the sportswoman/ sportsman of the year. Dynamo employed a planning cycle that set out the club's objectives for the upcoming four-year period.

Politics

The sports association was anti-fascist and communist in nature. Among its founders were former concentration camps prisoners and communist leaders in the fight against National socialists and Social Democrats during the era of the Weimar Republic.

Visits to the Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park and the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, among other places, were common among the youth athletes of its teams. The names of murdered and deceased communists were given as honorary titles for the constituent clubs under the sports society, for example: SG Dynamo "Feliks E. Dzierzynski" Dresden or SG Dynamo "Dr. Richard Sorge" Erfurt.

There were also many hymns and odes written for SV Dynamo. Gerhard Kube, Helmut Baierl and Kurt Barthel wrote many poets about the society and its role as a builder of national sports.

SV Dynamo districts
Flag example

The organization of the society was along district lines as follows:

  • Sportvereinigung Dynamo District - Organisation Rostock
  • Sportvereinigung Dynamo District - Organisation Neubrandenburg
  • Sportvereinigung Dynamo District - Organisation Schwerin
  • Sportvereinigung Dynamo District - Organisation Magdeburg
  • Sportvereinigung Dynamo District - Organisation Potsdam
  • Sportvereinigung Dynamo District - Organisation Frankfurt Oder
  • Sportvereinigung Dynamo District - Organisation East Berlin
  • Sportvereinigung Dynamo District - Organisation Cottbus,
  • Sportvereinigung Dynamo District - Organisation Halle
  • Sportvereinigung Dynamo District - Organisation Leipzig
  • Sportvereinigung Dynamo District - Organisation Erfurt
  • Sportvereinigung Dynamo District - Organisation Gera
  • Sportvereinigung Dynamo District - Organisation Suhl
  • Sportvereinigung Dynamo District - Organisation Dresden
  • Sportvereinigung Dynamo District - Organisation Karl-Marx-Stadt

The measure of the flags of the district clubs is 2.8 × 1.5 m, with, of course, the emblem of the SV with the name of the club in white and at the canton the DTSB arms.

Members
Main article: List of international winning SV Dynamo sports club athletes

Key to East German sporting success was a pyramid system with schoolchildren being assessed for athletic potential and the best (typically the top 2.5%) in each school-year being offered specialised coaching. A small fraction of those would go on to become the top adult athletes of the next generation. This model was initially derided in the West as a "sausage machine" but it has since been adopted in modified form by Australia, France, Spain and others with thousands of children being educated at specialised (often residential) sports schools rather than going through the normal high school system. Overall, 3,7 million athletes were in the GDR at the German Sports federation (DTSB) registered in many other successful clubs in 1989.

Members by year[6]
Year Adults Children Total
195323162none23162
1955559911087466856
19589016018846109006
196110553042822148352
196611865154691173306
197013175274266206018
197213901385295224308
197414435693071237427
197514612796666242793
197614805499337247391
1983170,000110,000280,000

Trainers

Most coaches were also teachers or had other specific occupations. They were all in principle to ease members' fears before starting competitions. To overcome any problems developing, they could deal with them early (at the source) in order to eradicate this. At the same time, they were also the guardians of morality.

Trainers by year[7]
Year Level 1 Level 2 Level 3/4 Total
1964nonenonenone9989
1965nonenonenone9673
196667852466136210613
196767172476148910682
196870782731171211521
196975363009191512460
197073213211205812590
197172153412211912746
197273343598258013512
197373943791301614201
1974113583906309818362
1975118123949340719168
1976123694219352420112

Doping controversies
Birgit Meineke with coach Rolf Gläser
Rosemarie Gabriel with coach Rolf Gläser

The Sportvereinigung Dynamo[8] was especially singled out as a center for doping in the former East Germany.[9] Many former club officials and some athletes found themselves charged after the dissolution of the country. A special page on the internet was created by doping victims trying to gain justice and compensation, listing people involved in doping at the club, the so-called Dynamo Liste.[10]

State-endorsed doping began with the Cold War when every eastern bloc gold was an ideological victory. From 1974, Manfred Ewald, the head of the GDR's sports federation, imposed blanket doping. At the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, the country of 17 million collected nine gold medals. Four years later the total was 20 and in 1976 it doubled again to 40.[11] Ewald was quoted as having told coaches, "They're still so young and don't have to know everything." He was given a 22-month suspended sentence, to the outrage of his victims.[12]

Often, doping was carried out without the knowledge of the athletes, some of them as young as ten years of age. It is estimated that around 10,000 former athletes bear the physical and mental scars of years of drug abuse,[13] one of them is Rica Reinisch, a triple Olympic champion and world record-setter at the Moscow Games in 1980, has since suffered numerous miscarriages and recurring ovarian cysts. Athletes like Renate Vogel, silver medalist at the 1972 Olympics in the swimming competitions, were told the injections were vitamins but failed to believe the explanation and quit her sport.[14]

Two former Dynamo Berlin club doctors, Dieter Binus, chief of the national women's team from 1976 to 80, and Bernd Pansold, in charge of the sports medicine center in East-Berlin, were committed for trial for allegedly supplying 19 teenagers with illegal substances.[15] Binus was sentenced in August,[16] Pansold in December 1998 after both being found guilty of administering hormones to underage female athletes from 1975 to 1984.[17]

Virtually no East German athlete ever failed an official drug test, though Stasi files show that many did, indeed, produced positive tests at Kreischa, the Saxon laboratory (German:Zentrale Dopingkontroll-Labor des Sportmedizinischen Dienstes) that was at the time approved by the International Olympic Committee,[18] now called the Institute of Doping Analysis and Sports Biochemistry (IDAS).[19]

In 2005, fifteen years after the end or the GDR, the manufacturer of the drugs in former East Germany, Jenapharm, still finds itself involved in numerous lawsuits from doping victims, being sued by almost 200 former athletes.[20] Many of the substances handed out were, even under East German law, illegal.[21]

Former Sport Club Dynamo athletes who publicly admitted to doping, accusing their coaches:[22]

Former Sport Club Dynamo athletes disqualified for doping:

  • Ilona Slupianek[23] (Ilona Slupianek tested positive along with three Finnish athletes at the 1977 European Cup, becoming the only East German athlete ever to be convicted of doping[24]). Based on the self-admission by Pollack, the United States Olympic Committee asked for the redistribution of gold medals won in the 1976 Olympics.[25] Despite court rulings in Germany that substantiate claims of systematic doping by some East German swimmers, the IOC executive board announced that it has no intention of revising the Olympic record books. This is an understandable decision as it could otherwise trigger a flood of such claims involving former eastern bloc athletes. In rejecting the American petition on behalf of its women's medley relay team in Montreal and a similar petition from the British Olympic Association on behalf of Sharron Davies, the IOC made it clear that it wanted to discourage any such appeals in the future.[26]

Achievements

Olympics

The sports club won approx. 215 Olympic medals in a 37 years period.[27]

World championships

The sports club won approx. 324 World Cup medals in a 37 years period. The SV Dynamo won more World champion titles than hundreds of other nations (2008). The rowers won the most titles most titles.[28]

European championships

The athletes won approx. 182 European titles.[2]

See also: List of international winning SV Dynamo sports club athletes

Championships

The Dynamo-Athletes won altogether 2.187 titles in 35 sport-sections over a 37-year period.[29]

Main article: List of the national championships of the SV Dynamo

With 280,000 members, it is not surprising that the SV Dynamo multi-sport club has won many championships in the GDR, so that a separate category should be needed. [30] [31] [32] [33]

Award items and badges
The highest award was a banner of Felix Dzerzhinsky

The SV Dynamo sports club awarded various signs, badges, medals and lapel pins to its members. The highest award was the title of Dzerzhinsky-Athlete (German: Dzierzynskisportler).[34]

The pin of the SG Dynamo Adlershof

The pin of the SG Dynamo Adlershof (German: Abzeichen der SG Dynamo Adlershof) was awarded by the SG Dynamo Adlershof. It was a joint badge with the SG Dynamo Adlerhof service focus in sports shooting. The badge (which also existed in embroidered form for track suits) shows the logo of the Sports Club Dynamoys on a burgundy granular base with a white "D". The words "SG Dynamo Adlershof" are written on a triangular tape surrounding the log. [35]

The Badge of the 30th Conference of the leaders of the sports organizations in the protection and security institutions in the socialist countries

(German: Abzeichen der 30. Konferenz der Leitungen der Sportorganisationen der Schutz- und Sicherheitsorgane der sozialistischen Länder) The silver badge, which was designed with a pad printing, has a height of 34.6 mm and a width of 30 mm, shield-shaped superficial and shows the City Hall (German:Rotes Rathhaus) of East Berlin.[35]

Brooch for Championships of the SG Dynamo Hohenschönhausen

(German: Brosche/ Meisternadel der SG Dynamo Berlin Hohenschönhausen) was awarded by the SG Dynamo Hohenschönhausen, an award from the Sports Club. The brooch of the championship in 1968 in medal form has a diameter of 34.6 mm and shows on their obverse four sports. These include volleyball, gymnastics, athletics, climbing on a military pentathlon by a soldier. Among these motifs, the inscription SG DYNAMO BERLIN-HOHENSCHÖNHAUSEN is readable. The reverse of the coin shows the centrally raised embossed inscription 15 years SV Dynamo which has an inscription from one to the upper right curved laurel wreath penetrated. At the top of the medal is an eyelet to which a 40.2 mm wide x 22.5 mm high clip, which should be placed on granular basic black, red and gold enamel. Center is the national emblem of the GDR imprinted on the logo of the Dynamo sports association, the winding "D" is seen. Above the upper band is a curved black field with the ribbon "MEISTER 1968". The needle is like Master of the medal shows of the year 1969, but on her lapel is a change in the inscription, which is readable "20 YEARS GDR" (German: 20 JAHRE DDR).[35]

SC Dynamo Berlin emblem

The SC Dynamo Berlin emblem was a joining badge of the SC Dynamo Berlin. The badge of the SC Dynamo Berlin indicates a service focus on football, basketball, boxing, ice hockey, figure skating, speed skating, parachuting, handball, judo, athletics, equestrian, cycling, rowing, shooting, swimming, diving and gymnastics. The badges show the familiar logo of the Sports Club Dynamo on a burgundy background with the white convoluted "D". This is flanked both sides by a laurel wreath. At the bottom tip of the badge is on a black background of the logo to readable: Sportclub.[35]

Award of 20 years Sports Club Dynamo

(German: Auszeichnung 20 Jahre Sportvereinigung Dynamo) was awarded by the SV Dynamo, an award of the Sports Club. The back of the badge is flat and displays a soldered horizontal stitched needle. This badge is round like a coin, and has a diameter of 39 mm. The logo of the SV Dynamo is in the lower right, a logo of the Soviet Union is in the top left, which is nearly identical to the German pedant. In the upper right side of the coin the inscription "50 JAHRE 20" is readable, the 50 is the anniversary of the "Soviet Union- Dynamo" and the 20 for the German. Next to two logos is shown an upward laurel wreath. The appearance of the lapels is unknown. Growth was the medal on a rectangular 28 mm wide and 11.5 mm high burgundy smooth and glossy protection, the left is the symbol of the hammer and sickle of the Soviet Union and the right to locate the state emblem of the GDR.[35]

SG Dynamo Berlin Hohenschönhausen medal of the 15th anniversary of the SV Dynamo

The (German: Abzeichen der SG Dynamo Berlin Hohenschönhausen zum 15. Jahrestag der SV Dynamo) was awarded by the SG Dynamo Hohenschönhausen, an award of the Sports Club. The back of the badge is flat and displays a soldered horizontal stitched needle. The badge is shaped like a medal with a diameter of 39 mm and is made of enamel and is awarded according to the levels gold, silver or bronze. It shows on their obverse center, the symbolic representation of four sports, volleyball, gymnastics, athletics, climbing a Eskaladierwand with a soldier. Enclosed is the symbolism of a transcription SG DYNAMO BERLIN HOHENSCHÖNHAUSEN that determines the lower half of the coin, and the subsequent laurel branches on both sides. The reverse shows a laurel wreath on the other hand within the logos of the SV Dynamo (bottom right) and top left of the DTSB. Growth was the medal in a trapezoid-shaped plastic clip, the 32.5 mm wide and 9.7 mm in height at the front left side of the mortgaged. It shows the central symbol of the SV Dynamo flanked by laurel wreath and the words 1953 (left) and 1968 (right).[35]

Insignia of the International shooting competitions

(German: Abzeichen der Internationalen Schießwettkämpfe) The Insignia of the International shooting competitions was awarded by the SV Dynamo. On the occasion of the 2nd International shooting, badges were donated. The badge has a shape similar to a gold coin, with dimensions spanning 28.6 mm high and 24.4 mm wide. The front of the badge shows a laurel wreath target, with two diagonally crossed rifles overlaid above it. At the bottom of the coin is the year in which the competition took place. At the top is the 'SV Dynamo' logo, which extends beyond the edge of the coin. The logo serves simultaneously as it braces for the suspension fixed in banner form, which was 10.6 mm high and 28.8 mm wide. It has an inscription reading III. / INT. SCHIESSWETTKÄMPFE / LEIPZIG.[35]

Photos
  • Schwerin's multi use hall
  • Dynamo Stadium and bath, Dresden
  • Sailing in Warnemünde
  • Swimmer
  • The Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Stadion in East Berlin
  • Indoor swimming pool at the Dynamo-Sportforum in East Berlin
  • Gymnastics
  • 1973, Munich
  • Cross country running
  • Rowing
  • Indoor swimming pool Rostock
  • Dresden, Steyer-Stadium

See also

Further reading

Literature
  • Gläser, Andreas (1976). SV Dynamo Ein Almanach (in German). ASIN B0027432ZC.
  • SV Dynamo Mut und Kraft (in German). Offizin Andersen Nexö Leipzig. 1984. ASIN none.

References
  1. https://web.archive.org/web/20191108033734/https://bilder4.n-tv.de/img/incoming/origs20296287/734253781-w1280-h960/32047412.jpg
  2. Data bank for the Magazine Dynamo sport/ Please insert Dynamosport for searching (attention:German language) It is for proving the medals; extra beside the linked athletes here. Archived 29 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Michael, Barsuhn; Jutta Braun; Hans Joachim Teichler. Chronik der Sporteinheit vom Mauerfall bis zur Aufnahme der fünf neuen Landessportbünde am 15. Dezember 1990 in den Deutschen Sportbund (PDF). Deutscher Sportbund. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 13 May 2008.
  4. "Sports Doping Statistics Reach Plateau in Germany". Deutsche Welle. 26 February 2003. Retrieved 4 August 2007.
  5. "Gymn Forum: Maxi Gnauck Biography". www.gymn-forum.net. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  6. SV Dynamo Almanach 1977
  7. SV Dynamo Almanach
  8. Pain And Injury in Sport: Social And Ethical Analysis, Section III, Chapter 7, Page 111, by Sigmund Loland, Berit Skirstad, Ivan Waddington, Published by Routledge in 2006, ASIN: B000OI0HZG
  9. "Dynamo Liste" (in German). doping_opfer@yahoo.com. September 2002. Archived from the original on 20 April 2004. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
  10. "Dynamo Liste: Die Täter" (in German). doping_opfer@yahoo.com. September 2002. Archived from the original on 24 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-11.
  11. "Jenapharm says drugs were legal". ESPN. 28 April 2005. Retrieved 11 March 2008.
  12. "Obituary: Manfred Ewald". The Independent. 25 October 2002. Archived from the original on 21 September 2008. Retrieved 11 March 2008.
  13. "GDR athletes sue over steroid damage". BBC News Europe. 13 March 2005. Retrieved 11 March 2008.
  14. "Doping im DDR-Sport: "Wir waren Versuchskaninchen"" (in German). 3sat.online. 3 February 2005. Retrieved 13 March 2008.
  15. "New doping charges against East German doctors". BBC News. 25 November 1997. Retrieved 7 March 2008.
  16. "East German coaches fined over doping". BBC News. 31 August 1998. Retrieved 11 March 2008.
  17. "Doping of underage athletes in the former GDR" (in German). Schwimmverein Limmat Zürich. 23 March 2000. Archived from the original on 26 February 2008. Retrieved 10 March 2008.
  18. "Drug claim could be a bitter pill". Times Online. 2 March 2005. Retrieved 13 March 2008.
  19. "Accredited Laboratories". World Anti-Doping Agency. January 2004. Archived from the original on 28 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-13.
  20. Harding, Luke (1 November 2005). "Forgotten victims of East German doping take their battle to court". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 11 March 2008.
  21. "Eine gewisse Geheimniskrämerei" (in German). Times Online, Grit Hartmann. 28 July 2005. Retrieved 14 March 2008.
  22. "Drugs update". Sports Publications. July 1998. Archived from the original on 21 September 2008. Retrieved 11 March 2008.
  23. "1977: Here comes Mr. Doping". European Cup - Milan 2007. 2007. Retrieved 11 March 2008.
  24. Michael Janofsky (4 July 1988). "Article on Sports in East Germany". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 March 2008.
  25. Longman, Jere (25 October 1998). "OLYMPICS; U.S. Seeks Redress for 1976 Doping In Olympics". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 March 2008.
  26. "Despite Doping, Olympic Medals Stand". International Herald Tribune. 16 December 1998. Archived from the original on 26 October 2008. Retrieved 12 March 2008.
  27. "Sportmuseum". Sportmuseum-leipzig.de. Archived from the original on 24 February 2013. Retrieved 2012-12-31.
  28. Data bank for the Magazine Dynamo sport/ Please insert Dynamosport for searching (attention:German language) It is for proofing the medals; extra beside the linked athletes here. Archived 29 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  29. "Sport-Komplett". www.sport-komplett.de. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  30. "Sportarten". www.sport-komplett.de. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  31. "Athletes - Famous Olympic Athletes, Medalists, Sports Heroes". International Olympic Committee. 13 December 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  32. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 24 February 2013. Retrieved 2013-12-31.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) (all about the facts and figures at the archives)
  33. "All Competitions". www.allcompetitions.com. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  34. http://gmic.co.uk/index.php/topic/39699-dynamo/
  35. Klaus H. Feder, Uta Feder: Auszeichnungen in Ministerium für Staatssicherheit der DDR: 1950 - 1990. 1. Edition; "Feder Verlag", Rosenheim 1997, ISBN 3-9805114-0-5, Page No. 100
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