Mike Polley

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Mike Polley (born April 23, 1972 in Berlin ; † November 3, 1990 in Leipzig ) was a German football fan and victim of violence. He was killed by a police officer during the riots around the Oberliga game between FC Sachsen Leipzig and FC Berlin .

Life

Polley, who came from Berlin-Malchow , was a fan of the GDR series champions BFC Dynamo, which was called FC Berlin from 1990 onwards. He was considered a newcomer to the football fan scene.

In the run-up to the fatal shots

The death of Polleys and another five seriously injured were the escalation of a long chain of riots in the football field. The police had already used firearms on September 9, 1990 in a game between 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig and FC Bayern Munich and on September 29, 1990 in a game between FC Sachsen Leipzig and FC Carl Zeiss Jena . In April 1990, Berlin hooligans had devastated the city center in Jena, and Soviet soldiers were attacked in Magdeburg, with one soldier also firing a warning shot.

In particular, the conditions in connection with games of BFC Dynamo , which had been playing as FC Berlin since February 1990, had worsened. During the GDR era, the BFC was hated by opposing fan scenes because of its dominance and its patronage by the Ministry for State Security (with Erich Mielke at the helm). Due to this fact, there were regular violent clashes between the fan groups at BFC games, which led to a constant radicalization of the scene on the part of the BFC annex. The GDR leadership did not react to such incidents because officially they did not exist. After the fall of the inner-German border and the ensuing loss of authority of the GDR law enforcement officers (e.g. the transport and people's police ), the violent incidents escalated, which also attracted West German hooligans.

Circumstances of Polley's death

As a fan of FC Berlin, Polley was with other supporters of his club on November 3, 1990 in Leipzig at the game against FC Sachsen. In connection with the game there were riots by hooligans that lasted several hours, during which overburdened police officers were surrounded by fans on the station grounds in Leipzig-Leutzsch and shot into the group of people feeling threatened. Here Polley was fatally hit by a police bullet. However, the course of events is unclear, and reports have also been made of a shot "allegedly from behind". A total of 80 preliminary investigations were initiated against known persons and 74 against unknown persons. The taz commented critically on the events of the day, questioning the police officers' self-defense situation: “After two days, however, there was no longer any talk from the police chief, whose (...) 'order to shoot' eleven (or more?) Magazines from pistols were empty , and who is still on duty. No question why one dead and four seriously injured, 40 [...] meters from the shooter away, can be the result of, self-defense '. " . Eyewitnesses claimed that police shot after fans fleeing.

Consequences of the killing shots

On November 10, 1990, fans remembered the killed Mike Polley at the game between FC Berlin and HFC Chemie.

Due to the assessments of the threat dared German Football Association not (DFB), which planned for mid-November 1990 union international between the East Germany national football team and the football team of Germany in Leipzig Zentralstadion conduct and said the game against the selection of the German Football Association of DDR (DFV). The game was originally drawn as a qualifier for the 1992 European Championship and should instead be played as a friendly game. The taz speculated that the lack of investigation into the fatal shots contributed to the further escalation, "since the authorities have so far backed away from this investigation, the only thing left was the cancellation of the game." The security authorities officially stated that "neither the situation with the security forces nor the structural State of the stadium such a game ”. The police also reported that several thousand hooligans wanted to come to the game.

After the fatal shots, over 1000 people (including the player Waldemar Ksienzyk from FC Berlin) demonstrated against police violence in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg during the game between FC Berlin and HFC Chemie on November 10, 1990 . About 500 hooligans came to the game; this group was joined by another 500 after the final whistle, who were banned from the stadium. The hooligans set up their own group of stewards and were accompanied by around 1200 police officers. The march went from the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark to the Brandenburg Gate and was peaceful. At the time, the front banner read: "We mourn Mike - hooligans".

The death of Polleys is remembered again and again when clashes between police officers and hooligans lead to deaths or serious injuries or when these are forecast.

For several years now, the BFC Dynamo fan scene has organized the Mike Polley memorial tournament .

Reception in literature

In Clemens Meyer's novel Als we dreamed of 2006, which contains autobiographical elements, the protagonist and a friend, who are actually on their way to the chemistry block, end up in a group of guest fans. The group is denied entry to the stadium by the police. There is rioting, chaos and finally shots are fired.

literature

  • Winfried Bonengel, Ingo Hasselbach: The accounting. A neo-Nazi gets out . Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-7466-7036-5 , pp. 86 ff .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Hennig: This is how it all went: The riots in Leipzig and the death of Mike P. In: Football week. November 5, 1990, accessed July 9, 2010 .
  2. ↑ Stefan Schwarz: Fatal shots after riots. In: taz . November 5, 1990, accessed July 9, 2010 .
  3. ↑ Shot from a service weapon killed Mike Polley. In: Netzeitung . netzeitung.de, February 12, 2007, archived from the original on October 24, 2008 ; Retrieved July 9, 2010 .
  4. ↑ In the leg . In: Der Spiegel . No. 37 , 1990 ( online ).
  5. ↑ Completely out of control . In: Der Spiegel . No. 14 , 1990 ( online ).
  6. ↑ The willingness to use violence among East German hooligans is increasing . In: taz , March 22, 1991
  7. ↑ Gerhard Pfeil, Steffen Winter: Combat machines and smoke bombs . In: Der Spiegel . No. 8 , 2007 ( online ).
  8. ↑ a b Friedhard Teuffel: Always in the face . In: Tagesspiegel , May 28, 2010
  9. ↑ Investigations, in: taz of January 18, 1991
  10. ↑ Why a canceled international match interests more than fatal police shots . In: taz , November 15, 1990
  11. ↑ Self-defense situation of the police utter nonsense . In: taz , November 7, 1990
  12. ↑ radicalization of the fans. In: Spiegel Online . August 1, 2007, accessed July 9, 2010 .
  13. ↑ The powerlessness of the mighty . In: taz , November 15, 1990
  14. ↑ Leipzig: No violence - football festival is canceled because there is no funeral service in: taz from November 14, 1990
  15. ↑ Football gala is to be canceled - Leipzig worried - safety of visitors and citizens endangered - rowdies want revenge . In: Nürnberger Nachrichten , November 9, 1990
  16. ↑ Gunnar Meinhardt : At the very least, go along here. In: Junge Welt . November 12, 1990, accessed July 9, 2010 .
  17. ↑ Holger Stark: The fans of the East Berlin club BFC Dynamo are considered the most brutal in the republic . In: Tagesspiegel , November 18, 1999
  18. ↑ The intelligent idiots . In: taz , November 12, 1990
  19. ↑ Murder in the train compartment - Schalke fan stabbed to death . In: Stuttgarter Zeitung , August 24, 1992
  20. ↑ Maja Wiens: Mike Polley memorial tournaments. August 13, 2006, accessed July 9, 2010 .
personal data
SURNAME Polley, Mike
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German football fan and victim of violence
DATE OF BIRTH April 23, 1972
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH 3rd November 1990
Place of death Berlin