German sports committee
From 1948 to 1957 the German Sports Committee was the umbrella organization of sport in the Soviet Occupation Zone (SBZ) and German Democratic Republic (GDR). Joint sponsors were the youth organization Free German Youth (FDJ) and the trade union association Free German Trade Union Federation (FDGB).
prehistory
In 1945, the occupying powers dissolved the existing sports clubs. The Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD), as the military government of the Soviet occupying power, initially only allowed municipal sports groups in its occupation zone. Any re-admission or re-establishment of independent sports clubs was initially prohibited in the Soviet occupation zone. By May 1948, the entire sporting activity in the Soviet occupation zone, with the exception of Berlin, came under the influence of the youth organization Free German Youth, founded on March 7, 1946.
founding
On October 1, 1948, the Free German Trade Union Federation and the Free German Youth jointly founded the "German Sports Committee" at the Berlin seat of the FDJ Central Council. The founding deed was signed by the chairman of the FDGB Hans Jendretzky and the chairman of the FDJ Erich Honecker .
organization
The committee provided the uniform management structure for all organized sport in the Soviet occupation zone with the exception of Berlin. As a centralized sports structure, it was largely based on the Soviet model. Independent sports associations did not initially exist. The sports committee, which had its own secretariat with full-time employees, was required to report to the FDJ and had to submit its own decisions to it. It was subdivided into five regional sports committees and maintained individual departments or sections for the recognized sports disciplines such as football , handball , track and field , heavy athletics , gymnastics , swimming or cycling , which organized competitions for their sports. In 1949 there were already 542,000 members in the sports committee. The first head of the German Sports Committee was Waldemar Borde (1948–1949). He was followed by Ernst Horn (1949–1951), Fred Müller (1951–1952) and Rudi Reichert (1952–1957).
activities
The sports committee promoted the restructuring “on a production basis” from the start. On April 3, 1950, he made the decision to set up central sports associations based on the structure of the FDGB. As a result, sports associations were created for all economic and administrative areas, for example SV activist for mining to SV science for higher education. The existing and the newly emerging company sports associations (BSG) that took over the name of the sports association, for example BSG activist Brieske-Ost or BSG Wissenschaft Quedlinburg, were assigned to them. This essentially heralded the end of the municipal sports groups. One of the most effective activities of the German Sports Committee in 1949 was the establishment of the football league as the top division in the Soviet zone of occupation and later in the GDR.
resolution
As early as the early 1950s, criticism was voiced of the sports committee, which allegedly did not do enough ideological work. From this, the SED Politburo drew the consequence in April 1952 to create a state committee for physical culture and sport , which was finally established on July 24, 1952 and made the highest state authority in the field of physical culture and sport. The German Sports Committee was temporarily retained for political reasons, it was supposed to continue to maintain sports relations with the Federal Republic, which had got into a crisis with the Oberwesel resolutions . In connection with the establishment of the German Gymnastics and Sports Association (DTSB) on 27./28. In April 1957, the German Sports Committee was finally dissolved together with the sports associations.
literature
- The parties and organizations of the GDR . Karl Dietz Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-320-01988-0
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jutta Braun, Hans Joachim Teichler (ed.): Sports city Berlin in the cold war . Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2006, p. 285-286 .
- ^ New Germany , October 2, 1948
- ↑ see also East Zone Tour 1949 and GDR Tour
- ↑ argus.bundesarchiv.de