State doping in the GDR

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In the GDR enforced doping was practiced by the state . The official name for the state requirements that led to the establishment of a secret and comprehensive system of state-organized, forced doping among competitive athletes and the development of corresponding substances in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was state plan topic 14.25 . Around 12,000 athletes were affected, with around 2,000 of them expected physical or psychological long-term effects, and several athletes died as a result of the damage.

Doping before 1974

There was extensive doping practice even before the state plan. This took place in different phases. During the first period, known as the pre-anabolic phase, mainly stimulants such as amphetamines were used. These had the advantage of good accessibility and quick effectiveness. However, they were highly addictive. From 1964 onwards there was talk of an initially decentralized "anabolic phase" in which hormone doping was practiced more and more and testosterone in pure form and its derivatives gradually shaped everyday doping in the GDR. These human trials took place first for athletes in Dynamo clubs, and then across the country. By 1968 at the latest, the use of anabolic-androgenic substances had established itself in the entire high-performance area of ​​the German Gymnastics and Sports Association (DTSB).

State plan

Building of the former VCS (right area) (2007).

The state plan topic 14.25 belonged to "Complex 08" (so-called sports complex) within the framework of the annual national economic plan, which, in addition to the doping topic 14.25, also deals with the support and movement system (14.26), sliding friction - based on runners for winter sports equipment and with image measurement methods (14.28) busy.

The reason for the state plan was the increasing loss of control of the SED state over doping processes. Since from 1974 improved doping controls were carried out in international competitions, which could also prove anabolic steroids , the sports management feared that the international reputation of the GDR gained through competitive sport could be damaged by doping cases of GDR athletes.

Manfred Ewald (right) together with Waldemar Cierpinski

On October 23, 1974, the state plan for the consistent centralization of research and application of doping was created, which was supposed to continue the practice of doping conspiratorially. The basis for this was a resolution of the Central Committee of the SED of June 14, 1974, which was based on a submission by the competitive sports commission of the GDR.

The overall responsibility and decision-making authority was subject to Manfred Ewald . In coordination with the Deputy Head of the Sports Medicine Service (SMD) Manfred Höppner and the Deputy Director of the VCS Alfons Lehnert , guidelines for “supporting funds” (UM) were determined for 4-year cycles and application concepts were developed. The supporting funds working group was formed. Their tasks included research into the development of strength skills in the areas of throwing, pushing and jumping. Furthermore, the use of "UM" in the area of ​​endurance in swimming and skiing in training and in competition should be checked. The use and development of “UM” to shorten learning times, especially in gymnastics, was one of the research group's tasks. Höppner was also responsible for exit controls, especially before all competitions abroad. Like Edelfrid Buggel and Rolf Donath , Lehnert was also involved in pro-doping research and prevention of the consequences of doping.

In Berlin, Höppner handed over approved and unlawful preparations, which were produced with the assistance of Buggles, to association doctors or representatives in Berlin, who forwarded them personally to the main sports medical advice centers with lists of names and dosage instructions. From there, the "UM" were handed over to the section doctors and finally to the trainers, who together determined the dosage for the respective athlete and also monitored the athletes' effectiveness and health. The majority of athletes ultimately received the preparations from their hands. The doping structures existed in this form from 1974 to the end of the GDR at the latest.

Involved persons, cooperation partners and confidants

The initiative of centrally controlled doping came from the sports leadership of the GDR and was therefore also known to the highest party bodies and state agencies or was approved by them, even if doping was officially rejected. The state plan was a set of tasks to be carried out by the research institutions.

Oral-Turinabol pack in the DDR Museum Berlin

The institutions involved in the state plan included, among others, the Research Institute for Physical Culture and Sport , the Central Institute for Microbiology and Experimental Therapy and the Military Medical Academy Bad Saarow in the field of research, as well as VEB Jenapharm and the Dresden Medicinal Plant as manufacturers of the preparations used. Mainly used were anabolic steroids such as the substances Oral-Turinabol , Androstenedione and Mestanolon developed in the GDR .

The highest-ranking officials for their role in the doping system in the GDR for aid for assault after turning and peaceful revolution judgment to imprisonment for parole were convicted were, Manfred Ewald , President of the German Gymnastics and Sports Confederation (DTSB) and later the National Olympic Committee of the GDR , Manfred Höppner , the deputy head of the Sports Medical Service of the GDR , and Lothar Kipke , the chief physician of the German Swimming Association of the GDR.

Other people involved and confidant included Günter Erbach (Director of the Research Center of the German University of Physical Culture in Leipzig), Horst Röder (Vice President of the DTSB ), Hans Schuster (Director of the Sports Medical Service) and Erich Mielke , Minister for State Security and Chairman of the Sports Association Dynamo .

Every year at least 1,500 people were involved in the doping system, sometimes in overlap with separate interests of the secret service, in 90 cases there were investigative proceedings. Giselher Spitzer researched "that in the eighties every tenth GDR sports doctor left the competitive sports field because the doctors could no longer reconcile the harmful hormone doping with their conscience". The GDR State Security was responsible for keeping the plan secret .

Affected and long-term consequences

Gerd Bonk , one of the most famous doping victims of the GDR (1979)

The number of athletes affected, some of whom were minors at the time of the doping - in some cases only seven years old - and who were often not informed about the nature of the preparations administered to them, is estimated at 12,000, of which around 15 percent (expected up to 2000) suffered physical or psychological long-term effects or died from them. Other data speak of up to 15,000 people affected. In 2016, the database of the Doping Victims Aid recorded almost 60 athletes who died of late doping effects, and in 2018 more than 300 athletes who died as a result of doping effects were known.

GDR doping victims die on average ten to twelve years earlier than the normal population. In addition, they get sick 2.7 times as often, with mental illness the factor is 3.2. In addition, there are “victims of the second generation”: there is a “noticeable accumulation of damaged children of these mothers and fathers who were athletes in the GDR”. In 2018, around 200 cases were known in which children had consequential damage. Although it has not been unequivocally established that doping damage can be passed on to children, it is considered likely that this is the case in some of the cases.

Work-up

On May 31, 1994, the report of the Enquete Commission “Working on the history and consequences of the SED dictatorship in Germany” was presented. Under “7.4. Doping in the GDR competitive sport "the GDR doping system is analyzed:" After the end of the GDR, despite extensive document destruction campaigns, over 150 clear and unimpeachable documents on doping practice in sport in the GDR have so far been secured. They were mostly listed as 'Confidential classified information' (VVS) or 'Confidential official matters' (VD) and demonstrate an extensive, state-ordered and controlled doping system in GDR sport since 1967 at the latest. Since the early 1970s, doping agents were used by the GDR. Used year after year by the government and its Sports Medicine Service to improve performance in most sports and by thousands of athletes. Harmful side effects were accepted and z. Sometimes even recorded in the reports. As a rule, the athletes were not informed about the nature of the doping agents and the risks of side effects; rather, those affected had to commit to strict confidentiality. The increase in performance achieved through doping was systematically evaluated. Special research projects dealt with the development of methods to 'undermine' international doping controls; some of these scams have ended up becoming routine. The systematic violation of the rules of international sport and of medical and scientific ethics, but also of the GDR's Medicines Act , was concealed by language regulations and justified with the political objectives and the ideological and moral superiority of one's own political system ”.

The association Doping Victims Aid , founded in 1999, supports former athletes who are affected by the consequences of doping in GDR sport .

With the law on financial aid for doping victims in the GDR (Dopingopfer-Hilfegesetz - DOHG) of August 24, 2002, an aid fund in the amount of 2 million euros was set up at the Federal Administration Office, from which people who had suffered considerable damage to their health were compensated if they or their mothers were given doping substances during pregnancy. The Second Law on Financial Aid for Doping Victims of the GDR (Second Doping Victims Aid Act) of June 28, 2016 increased the funds to 13.65 million euros and extended the application deadline to December 31, 2019. DOHG paid a one-time payment of 10,500 euros. Persons who have been harmed by the fact that their mother was already doped before pregnancy are not eligible.

In 2012 , Henner Misersky and his daughter Antje Harvey were inducted into the Hall of Fame of German Sports of Deutsche Sporthilfe for their stance against state-ordered doping . Already in 2005 and 2009 both received the Heidi-Krieger-Medal from the Association for Doping Victims Aid.

In 2013, the US trade magazine Swimming World removed all GDR swimmers who had been awarded the title “ World Swimmer of the Year ” since 1973 from the best lists because of the systematic doping in swimming in the GDR .

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Klaus Latzel : State doping - The VEB Jenapharm in the sports system of the GDR. Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar 2009, ISBN 978-3-412-20329-0 , p. 63.
  2. ^ GDR doping victim: The fight against time , Deutschlandfunk , August 30, 2015.
  3. ↑ Klaus Latzel, Lutz Niethammer (Ed.): Hormones and high performance. 2008, pp. 70-72.
  4. ^ Klaus Latzel: State doping. 2009, p. 99.
  5. ^ Klaus Latzel: State doping. 2009, pp. 65-67.
  6. ^ Spitzer: Doping in the GDR. 1998, p. 54.
  7. ↑ Klaus Latzel, Lutz Niethammer (Ed.): Hormones and high performance. 2008, pp. 70/71.
  8. ^ Klaus Latzel: State doping. 2009, p. 169.
  9. ↑ Doping process: "First of all it's good". In: Spiegel Online . July 18, 2000, accessed January 5, 2017 .
  10. ↑ Giselher Spitzer : Role model or caricature? GDR high-performance sport in the light of new research. ( Memento from January 23, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) In: Horch und Guck . 51/2005.
  11. ↑ a b Barbara Bürer , Nils Klawitter: Since 1990, the West has adorned itself with athletes from GDR production. Their creators are now on trial. In: zeit.de . March 19, 1998, accessed January 5, 2017 .
  12. ↑ Thomas Purschke: Vitamin drinks were "mixed". In: Thuringian regional newspaper . March 28, 2003.
  13. ^ Shadows on the ice, Stasi and doping entanglements in the figure skating center in Karl-Marx-Stadt. In: Deutschlandfunk . March 6, 2011.
  14. ^ The GDR, the Stasi and top sport. In: Thuringian General . 19th November 2014.
  15. ↑ a b c Oliver Fritsch, Harald Freyberger: GDR doping victims die ten to twelve years earlier. In: Zeit Online. March 26, 2018. Retrieved April 25, 2018 .
  16. ↑ dip21.bundestag.de
  17. ↑ Udo Scheer: Take that, it's good for you. In: welt.de . August 31, 2001, accessed January 5, 2017 .
  18. ^ Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com): Geipel: "Doping of minors is a form of child abuse" - Sports - DW.COM - 16.08.2013. In: dw.com. January 4, 2017. Retrieved January 5, 2017 .
  19. ↑ The situation of doping victims is becoming more and more precarious. In: berliner-zeitung.de. January 5, 2017, accessed January 5, 2017 .
  20. ^ Henry Bernhard : Achievement eugenics of a dictatorship. In: Deutschlandfunk. March 7, 2018, accessed April 26, 2018 .
  21. ^ Ines Geipel : The fairy tale of the exemplary support system The GDR competitive sport was based on systematic fraud. Many doped athletes later become ill . In: The Parliament . July 25, 2016.
  22. ↑ a b More deaths from doping than victims of the Wall . In: Ostthüringer Zeitung. March 6, 2018, p. 21.
  23. ↑ Peter Ahrens: Broken bodies, broken souls. In: Spiegel Online. April 25, 2018. Retrieved April 25, 2018 .
  24. ↑ Law on the trade in medicinal products - Medicines Act of May 5, 1964, Journal of Laws of May 8, 1964, Part I No. 7, pp. 101 ff.
  25. ↑ Oliver Fritsch: Doping: Poisoned by the GDR Die Zeit , March 26, 2018
  26. ↑ BT-Drs. 12/7820 : Report of the Enquete Commission “ Coming to terms with the history and consequences of the SED dictatorship in Germany” 7.4. Doping in competitive sport in the GDR p. 84.
  27. ↑ BGBl. I p. 3410
  28. ↑ BGBl. I p. 1546
  29. ↑ Possible loopholes in the Second Doping Victims Aid Act. Response of the Federal Government to a small inquiry, BT-Drs. 19/4491 of September 24, 2018
  30. ↑ Award for doping victims. In: tagesspiegel.de . July 22, 2005, accessed January 5, 2017 .
  31. ↑ Jens Weinreich: A symbol that makes you think. In: dradio.de. August 22, 2009. Retrieved January 5, 2017 .
  32. ↑ "Swimmer of the Year": Kristin Otto loses her award. In: Spiegel Online . December 3, 2013, accessed January 5, 2017 .