Helmut Bark

Helmut Bark (born September 28, 1926 in Berlin ; † June 11, 2019 in Zernsdorf ) was a German judoka.

Life as an active judoka

Helmut Bark was already interested in martial arts as a pupil , especially in Jiu Jitsu and Judo , and at the age of 14 began to train the judo fall school and Jiu Jitsu and judo fighting techniques in a sports club . As a teenager he successfully took part in judo competitions and championships. At the German Youth Championships in 1944 he reached 3rd place in his age and weight class. After the Second World War , the occupying powers banned any kind of martial arts in Germany by means of a control council directive . During the prohibition period, Helmut Bark contacted sports fans again in Berlin and met them in basements or boat sheds for judo training. From 1948, the martial arts ban was gradually lifted in the occupation zones, so that some Berlin sports clubs accepted judo athletes again and hosted competitions. Helmut Bark became a member of the BSG Glühlampenwerk Berlin in 1949 , in which the Dan bearer Hans Becker trained a strong judo team. In the Soviet occupation zone (SBZ) the " German Sports Committee " (DS) was founded on October 1, 1948 , which in 1949, on the initiative of Hans Becker, incorporated the sport of judo into its " heavy athletics " department . Together with Hans Becker, Willi Lorbeer , Lothar Skorning , Ewald Schönrock , Arno Frank and other Berlin judo athletes, Helmut Bark was one of the founding members of the East Berlin Judo Association in the "heavy athletes in the DS". The DS hosted the first individual judo championships in Dresden in 1950 , where Helmut Bark won his first championship title in the welterweight division. He was able to repeat this success at the judo championships in 1951, 1952 and 1953. In December 1953 he also took part in the all-German judo championships organized by the German Athletes' Association (DAB) in Bremerhaven , where he lost the final against Josef Daxer from TSV Munich Großhadern and won the runner-up championship.

With the team of BSG Mechanik Friedrichshain / Ost , Helmut Bark won the first GDR team championship in Görlitz in 1951 against BSG Motor Südost Leipzig . With the same team he won under the new club name BSG Motor Friedrichshain 1952 in Schwerin behind the BSG unit Dresden-Süd the GDR runner-up. From 1951 Helmut Bark was appointed several times to the GDR's selection teams . In 1955 he took part in the tournament for the Mitropa Cup of the European Judo Union (EJU) in Nuremberg with six East German competitors .

By decision of the presidium of the "Judo Section" in the DS, the Dan College in East Berlin was formed on May 8, 1954 in East Berlin , which carried out a Dan exam for the first time and Helmut Bark, together with Horst Wolf and Siegmund Haunschild, won 1st Dan Judo awarded. After that, Helmut Bark was one of the first 10 Dan bearers in the GDR in 1954.

Life as a judo trainer and functionary

As a member of BSG Empor Berlin , Helmut Bark began his career as an active judoka in 1952 as a judo trainer, which he continued from 1954 at SC Dynamo Berlin . In 1956 he resigned from active competitive sport and worked as a trainer for SC Dynamo Berlin , which won the GDR team championship in 1958 and replaced the judo team of SC Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt , which had dominated since 1952 . At the team championships in 1959 and 1960, the judoka of the SC Dynamo Berlin reached 3rd place. In February 1958 Helmut Bark took part in an international referee training of the EJU in Saarbrücken on behalf of the "Judo Section" in the DS together with Horst Wolf . Then he was appointed chairman of the DJV referee commission when the German Judo Association (DJV) was founded. In 1958, the DJV conducted an examination for the 2nd Dan Judo for the first time in Leipzig, with Helmut Bark, Willi Lorbeer and Alfons Neumann fulfilling the requirements of the Dan College. In addition to his function as chairman of the DJV referee commission, Helmut Bark was appointed to the graduation and dan examination commission of the DJV in the 1960s and also worked as a referee with an EJU license.

At the Sportforum Hohenschönhausen Helmut Bark not only looked after judoka of the SC Dynamo Berlin until 1960 , but also trained the judo athletes of the HSG Humboldt University and the SG Dynamo Hohenschönhausen there until the mid-1970s . The HSG Humboldt-Uni won seven individual and four team titles at the GDR men's championships under his leadership. In addition, under his aegis , the team from the HSG Humboldt-Uni came second and four times third in the GDR team championships, and at the GDR individual championships for men, the fighters from the HSG Humboldt-Uni achieved three second and 10 third places. Behind the judo sports clubs , the HSG Humboldt University thus had a leading position among the judo clubs in the GDR in the 1960s and 70s. From 1974 Uwe Stock succeeded Helmut Barks as judo trainer at the HSG Humboldt University .

As chairman of the referee committee for many years, the DJV awarded Helmut Bark the 4th Dan in 1970. In the 1970s he took on more and more tasks as a functionary in the DJV. He was one of the organizers of the Judo European Championships for men in 1970 and the juniors in 1977 in East Berlin. In 1984 he organized the European Championships in Rostock . In 1974 the executive committee of the DJV appointed him chairman of the DJV graduation committee, which set up the Dan examination commissions in the districts and controlled their work. The DJV awarded him the 5th Dan in 1976, the 6th Dan in 1978 and the 7th Dan in 1988. He remained chairman of the DJV graduation commission until the union of the DJV with the German Judo Association (DJB) in February 1991. During the fall of the GDR, Helmut Bark advocated the integration of the East Berlin judoka into the Judo Association Berlin (JVB) and the continuation of his sport in the new association and club structures. On behalf of DJV President Erhard Buchholz , he conducted negotiations in 1990 with those responsible at the DJB in order to agree on joint graduation and examination regulations before the two judo associations were merged. As a DJV negotiator, he was able to bring proven principles and procedures of the DJV into the negotiations and successfully assert them for the new, East German state judo associations.

Since 1991 he has been a member of the JVB, which made him an honorary member , appointed him to the JVB's awards committee and installed him as an examiner in Dan and Kyu examination commissions . At his place of residence, Helmut Bark became a member of the Brandenburg judo club JV Königs Wusterhausen / Zernsdorf . As a member of this association, he was also appointed to examination commissions by the Brandenburg Judo Association (BJV) up to the age of 88 . He was also an honorary member of the Berlin judo clubs SC Lotos and Martial Arts School in the Klostergarten (KiK) .

For his services, Helmut Bark was honored in the GDR as “ Master of Sports ” and “ Honored Master of Sports ”. As part of the EJU / IJF tournament for the European Cup Cadets U17 in Berlin on May 5th and 6th, 2012, the President of the DJB , Peter Frese , honored him with the award of the 8th Dan Judo.

Helmut Bark died on June 11, 2019 and was buried in the forest cemetery in Zernsdorf.

Success as a judoka

• 1944: Berlin youth champion and third in the all-German youth championships
• 1950: GDR welterweight champion
• 1951: GDR welterweight champion, GDR team champion
• 1952: GDR welterweight champion, second place in the GDR team championship
• 1953: GDR welterweight champion; Runner-up in the overall German individual championship of the DAB

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Directive No. 23 of December 17, 1945: "Restriction and demilitarization of sport in Germany".
2. ↑ GDR Judo Master - Light Middleweight (accessed April 19, 2020)
3. ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 25, 1951, p. 8
4. ↑ Judo championships in the GDR 1950 to 1952 (accessed on April 19, 2020)
5. ^ GDR team championships - Judo (accessed April 19, 2020)
6. ↑ Dan examinations in the DJV of the GDR (chronicle by Willi Gruschinski) (accessed on April 20, 2020)
7. ^ Judo GDR team champions (men) (accessed April 19, 2020)
8. ^ Karlheinz Otto: Helmut Bark - Congratulations on your 90th birthday. (Congratulations from the JVB, accessed on April 19, 2020)
9. ↑ Helmut Bark is celebrating his 90th birthday. (BJV birthday greetings, accessed on April 19, 2020)
10. ↑ International championship for juniors up to the age of 17.
11. ^ Karlheinz Otto: Judo Berlin mourns Helmut Bark. (Obituary of the JVB, accessed on April 19, 2020)