Association of German Sailors

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The Federation of German Sailors of the GDR (BDS) was the umbrella organization for sailors in the former GDR. The BDS was founded on April 20, 1958, initially under the name of the Deutscher Segelsport-Verband (DSSV) . In order to avoid confusion with the West German DSV at a time of fundamental German-German tension, the name was changed to the BDS at the turn of the year 1959/1960.

history

For the newly formed and loosely organized sailing groups since 1948, the sailing section of the GDR was established in 1952 as a professional association within the German Sports Committee . The design possibilities of the central section turned out to be very limited in practice compared to the company sports associations and other sailing groups. This was expressed e.g. B. in the slowly progressing construction of a central boat register as well as in the implementation of the East German sailing symbol "GO" introduced in 1953.

It was only with the establishment of the German Gymnastics and Sports Federation (DTSB) in 1957 and the reorganization of the sailing association as DSSV / BDS that took place in the following year that "democratic socialism" of East German characteristics was able to spread more strongly in sailing, particularly through the district and district technical committees. However, in 1963 the BDS executive committee felt compelled to point out that the use of the formerly all and now purely West German sailing symbol "G", which was still noticeable, was forbidden and would lead to disqualification in regattas.

The main task of the BDS and its specialist commissions was to organize and coordinate the expansion and further development of sailing in the GDR. The association also had to deal with the almost consistently poor supply situation, which at least in the first few years led to critical comments in the association's organ "Der Segelsport".

With the tightening of the border regime in the GDR, the BDS under President Herbert Fechner increasingly had the task of communicating and communicating to its members the growing isolation of the country and especially the "wet" border in the north. The extent to which the BDS leadership, which was to a large extent occupied by active sailors, tried to counteract these tendencies, which are particularly harmful to sea sailing, is a research desideratum.

In regatta sport, the BDS was very successful until 1990, top athletes such as Jürgen Vogler , Paul Borowski and Jochen Schümann brought the GDR successes and numerous medals in international competition. The less prestigious recreational and cruising sailing, on the other hand, suffered noticeably from the poor supply situation and outdated equipment. The introduction of very successful new types of boats such as the 1969 sailing dinghy " Ixylon " (design: Ulrich Czerwonka) or 1972 of the sea cruiser "Hiddensee" (design: collective around Walter Loos and Ulrich Lass) could not hide this fact.

The history of the development of the Hiddensee yacht type initiated by the BDS proves the creativity with which the association sometimes tried to meet the general shortage situation. Developed in 1971 as the successor to the smaller keel yacht "Raja" (design: Werner Siegel, Manfred Frach) for serial shipyard construction, the quarter-tonner finally became the world's most successful do-it-yourself project for seagoing yachts with around 500 units.

After German reunification, the BDS decided to merge with the DSV in January 1991, and the following German Sailing Day confirmed the merger under the old and new name "Deutscher Segler-Verband" (DSV).

President

1958–1961: Günter Kley
1961–1990: Herbert Fechner
1990: Walter Kaczmarek

literature

  • Frank Engelhardt: Finally take the blindfold off your eyes, Leipzig 2014.
  • André Keil: The history of the GDR sailing sport. Between Grenzallee and Bleilochtalsperre, Bielefeld 2006.
  • Conny Müller: Sailing before the turnaround, Greifswald 2004.
  • The sailing sport, organ of the Association of German Sailors in the German Gymnastics and Sports Association, 1953–1990.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Der Segelsport 1967, Book 1, p. 3.
  2. ^ André Keil: The history of the GDR sailing sport, Bielefeld 2006, pp. 16-19; The sailing sport 1957, issue 12, p. 363.
  3. ↑ Der Segelsport 1963, Issue 10, p. 160.
  4. ↑ Der Segelsport 1956, Issue 5, p. 144: "At the Leipzig Spring Fair 1956 the boat show of our boat building trade was again characterized by excellent material and good quality work, but not a single sailboat in" lightweight construction "made of plywood or synthetic resins was to be seen, although In international boat building, lightweight dinghies made of plywood and fiberglass-polyester resins have been made for some time, which have proven to be very effective. The question therefore arises, why are we not that far in boat building? "
  5. ↑ Der Segelsport 1963, No. 2, p. 19.
  6. ↑ Here, eyewitness reports are particularly interesting: Conny Müller: Segeln vor der Wende, Greifswald 2004; Frank Engelhardt: Finally take the blindfold off your eyes, Leipzig 2014.
  7. ^ André Keil: The history of the GDR sailing sport, Bielefeld 2006, pp. 79–83.
  8. ↑ Der Segelsport 1971, No. 6, p. 89.