Wolfgang Loetzsch

Wolfgang Lötzsch (right) in conversation with Gus-Erik Schur on April 3, 1988 before the start of the Berlin-Leipzig road race

Wolfgang Lötzsch (born December 18, 1952 in Chemnitz ) is a former German cyclist .

Life and Sports Career

Already in his early youth Lötzsch was considered one of the greatest cycling talents in the GDR . He won two titles in the races of the Children's and Youth Partakiade in 1970. However, due to political concerns from the GDR sports officials, Lötzsch was "delegated" from SC Karl-Marx-Stadt in 1972. The reasons for this were probably his contacts with relatives in the West - his cousin Dieter Wiedemann had fled to the West in 1964 - and his refusal to join the SED . This meant the de facto downgrading to a hobby athlete: Lötzsch was excluded from the state subsidy system. He started for various company sports associations ( Aufbau Centrum Leipzig, Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt , Motor Ascota Karl-Marx-Stadt ) in the competitions advertised for the BSG drivers and in certain races within the GDR (tender category "GDR open"). On the other hand, important international races such as the Peace Drive or the World Championship were closed to him. In 1976 he was sentenced to ten months' imprisonment for "defamation of the state", which he spent in the Karl-Marx-Städter prison. In the 8 m² cell he completed his daily training program. This included pushups and 5,000 squats. Thereafter Lötzsch was closed to cycling races until 1979. In 1985 he joined the SED after all, because he saw this as the only possibility to take part in larger competitions again. While reading his 2000-page Stasi files after the political change , he learned that he was being observed by up to 50 unofficial Stasi employees .

Without a doubt, Wolfgang Lötzsch was one of the best cyclists in the GDR during the 1970s and 1980s . During this time, Lötzsch dominated the amateur area of ​​the BSG athletes accessible to him at will and won the "GDR Best Determination" (championship for BSG athletes) around 30 times on track and road, as well as in cross-country races in 1982 . His dominance was also shown in the fact that he won the annual ratings of the BSG selection races six times (1979, 1981-85) until 1985. In his few participations in more prominent races, Lötzsch was able to celebrate some important successes. In 1972 he won the GDR International Cycling Week , 1974 and 1983 the classic Rund um Berlin , 1973, 1974 and 1986 the Grandstand Mountain Prize, 1985 Berlin – Cottbus – Berlin and 1986 the world's longest amateur bike race Prague – Karlsbad – Prague (250 km ). On the track, he was GDR champion in the 4,000 m single pursuit in 1973 and 1974 . In 1986 he took bronze behind Olaf Ludwig and Uwe Ampler at the GDR road championship. In December 1987 he achieved the 500th victory of his career in a cyclo-cross race in Crimmitschau .

From 1990 to 1992 he was active for the Hanoverian RC in the Rad-Bundesliga through the mediation of Rudi Altig and won the German championship in 1990 with this club in the 100 km street four. Lötzsch contested his last race at the age of 42 in 1995 in Chemnitz, in this he achieved the 550th victory of his career. The Wolfgang Lötzsch junior team was founded in Zwickau on January 29, 2014. Lötzsch is also active there as a youth coach.

Professional

Jobs in sequence:

• Chemnitz Police Sports Club (CPSV), as a trainer in the cycling section
• Team Nürnberger, as a mechanic
• Team Gerolsteiner , as a mechanic
• Until January 2008 Lötzsch worked as a mechanic for Team Milram .
• 2011–2013 Lötzsch worked as a mechanic for the NSP team
• from 2013 trainer at ESV Lokomotive Zwickau

exhibition

In the Cottbus Human Rights Center, an exhibition of historical documents and biographies of inmates of the Karl-Marx-Städter prison took place from mid-February to March 20, 2018, which also illuminates and pays tribute to the life of Lötzsch.

Honors

• Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon (October 5, 1995)
• Inclusion in the Hall of Fame of German Sports (2012)
• Chemmy (2013)

literature

• Philipp Köster : Lötzsch. The long journey of a talent of the century. Covadonga Verlag, Bielefeld 2004, ISBN 3-936973-12-1
• Christoph Dieckmann: Feature. In: Die Zeit , No. 28/2005

Movie

• Sportsfreund Lötzsch , documentary by Sandra Prechtel and Sascha Hilpert, Germany 2007, 85 minutes

Web links

Commons : Wolfgang Lötzsch  - Collection of Images

• Portrait, dates and biography of Wolfgang Lötzsch in the Hall of Fame of German Sports
• Contemporary witness Wolfgang Lötzsch. Learning and memorial site Kaßberg prison e. V.
• Literature by and about Wolfgang Lötzsch in the catalog of the German National Library
• Wolfgang Lötzsch at ddr-zeitzeuge.de

Individual evidence

1. ^ DNB, catalog of the German National Library: 1953
2. ^ German Cycling Association of the GDR (ed.): The cyclist . No. 30/1979 . Berlin 1979, p. 3 .
3. ↑ Lötzsch, Wolfgang - Kaßberg prison. In: gedenkort-kassberg.de. December 18, 1952, accessed January 20, 2020 . 
4. ↑ Philipp Köster: Lötzsch. The long journey of a talent of the century . Covadonga Verlag, Bielefeld 2004, ISBN 3-936973-12-1 , p. 128 .
5. ↑ In the spirit of clean sport (Frankfurter Rundschau)
6. ↑ ^{a b c} Georg Zielonkowski: The lightning-fast public enemy . In: Lausitzer Rundschau , Senftenberg edition, March 15, 2018, accessed on March 16, 2018
7. ^ German Cycling Association of the GDR (ed.): The cyclist . No. 53/1982 . Berlin 1982, p. 3 .
8. ^ German Cycling Association of the GDR (ed.): The cyclist . No. 47/1985 . Berlin 1985, p. 2 .
9. ^ German Cycling Association of the GDR (ed.): The cyclist . No. 4/1988 . Berlin 1988, p. 4 .
10. ↑ Office of the Federal President