Gerd Weber (born 31 May 1956 in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

) is a former

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

soccer player. Weber began his career in 1973 with

SG Dynamo Dresden Sportgemeinschaft Dynamo Dresden e.V., commonly known as SG Dynamo Dresden or Dynamo Dresden, are a German association football club based in Dresden, Saxony.Grüne, Hardy (2001). Enzyklopädie des deutschen Ligafußballs 7. Vereinslexikon. Kasse ...

in the

DDR-Oberliga The DDR-Oberliga (English: ''East German Premier League'' or ''GDR Premier League'') was the top-level association football league in East Germany. Overview Following World War II, separate sports competitions emerged in the occupied eastern ...

. Between 1975 and 1980 he played 33 times as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for the East Germany national team, scoring 5 goals. He won the gold medal at the football tournament of the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...

with the East Germany Olympic team. He was a

Stasi The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the Intelligence agency, state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990. The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maint ...

informer from 1975 onward.Ingolf Pleil: ''Mielke, Macht und Meisterschaft: Die „Bearbeitung“ der Sportgemeinschaft Dynamo Dresden durch das MfS 1978 - 1989.'' Ch.Links Verlag, Berlin 2001, , page 67 In 1981, he along with two teammates (

Peter Kotte Peter Kotte (born 8 December 1954) is a German former footballer. He scored 54 goals in the Oberliga for Stahl Riesa and Dynamo Dresden Sportgemeinschaft Dynamo Dresden e.V., commonly known as SG Dynamo Dresden or Dynamo Dresden, are a Ger ...

and Matthias Müller), were arrested by the

, just as they were to travel to

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

for an international match. Weber had contacts to

West German West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

side 1. FC Köln, and had solicited escape plans, intending to flee to the West. Weber was sentenced to seven years and seven months' imprisonment. After eleven months he was released. However, he was banned from returning to professional football. In the summer of 1989 he fled to the West before the

fall of the Berlin Wall The fall of the Berlin Wall (german: Mauerfall) on 9 November 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, was a pivotal event in world history which marked the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain and one of the series of eve ...

with his family.

References

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* * * * 1956 births Living people Footballers from Dresden People from Bezirk Dresden German footballers East German footballers Olympic footballers of East Germany East Germany international footballers Dynamo Dresden players DDR-Oberliga players Association football midfielders Footballers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for East Germany Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze German footballers needing infoboxes People of the Stasi {{Germany-Olympic-medalist-stub