The Sports Club Dynamo Berlin was an East German sports club that existed from 1954 to 1991. It was the largest sports club of SV Dynamo, the sports association of the security agencies. The club was disbanded after

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

and eventually succeeded by sports club SC Berlin.

Sporting spectrum

The sports club offered the following kinds of sport in the 1980s: team handball, athletics, gymnastics, cycling, speed skating, racewalking, figure skating, ice hockey, fencing, boxing, and volleyball. The departments in

equestrianism Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding (Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, Driving (horse), driving, and Equestrian vaulting, vaulting ...

modern pentathlon The modern pentathlon is an Olympic sport consisting of fencing (one-touch épée), freestyle swimming, equestrian show jumping, pistol shooting, and cross country running. The event is inspired by the traditional pentathlon held during the anci ...

and

parachuting Parachuting, including also skydiving, is a method of transiting from a high point in the atmosphere to the surface of Earth with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or parachutes. For ...

were separated from the sports club in 1956 and merged into the new sports club SC Dynamo Hoppegarten in Hoppegarten. The football department was separated from the sports club in 1966 and reorganized as

football club A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all- ...

BFC Dynamo Berliner Fussball Club Dynamo e. V., commonly abbreviated to BFC Dynamo () or BFC (), alternatively sometimes called Dynamo Berlin, is a German football club based in the locality of Alt-Hohenschönhausen of the borough of Lichtenberg of Berli ...

. BFC Dynamo eventually became the record champion of 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 ...

. The judo department was transferred to SC Dynamo Hoppegarten in 1966.

Dynamo-Sportforum

The Dynamo-Sportforum was a large multi-use sports complex in

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

that contained an athletic stadium, a gymnasium, a roller-skating hall, an ice rink and a velodrome. The Sportforum is still in operation and is now used by SC Berlin and BFC Dynamo, as well as junior teams of Eisbären Berlin, among several other tenants.

Controversies surrounding the Sports Club

The case of doping

Two former SC Dynamo Berlin club doctors, Dieter Binus, chief of the national women's team from 1976 to 1980, and

Bernd Pansold Bernd Pansold (born 3 April 1942 in Zwickau) is a German doctor and practitioner of sports medicine. From 1968 to 1990 he was the team doctor of East Germany, East German sports club SC Dynamo Berlin, and from 1971 was an unofficial member of the ...

, in charge of the sports medicine center in East Berlin, were committed for trial for allegedly supplying 19 teenagers with illegal substances. Binus was sentenced in August, Pansold in December 1998 after both being found guilty of administering hormones to underage female athletes from 1975 to 1984.

The Stasi and Erich Mielke

The president of SV Dynamo Erich Mielke was also the head of the

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 ...

from 1957 to 1989. The Stasi was widely regarded as one of the most effective intelligence agencies in the world. The organization had 91,000 staff members and 174,000 unofficial collaborators by 1989.

End of East Germany

SV Dynamo was dissolved after the

Peaceful Revolution The Peaceful Revolution (german: Friedliche Revolution), as a part of the Revolutions of 1989, was the process of sociopolitical change that led to the opening of East Germany's borders with the West, the end of the ruling of the Socialist Unity ...

. SC Dynamo Berlin was then renamed 1. Polizei-Sportclub Berlin on 21 March 1990.

Harold Dimke Harold Dimke (born 21 November 1949) is a German rower who competed for SC Dynamo Berlin The Sports Club Dynamo Berlin was an East German sports club that existed from 1954 to 1991. It was the largest sports club of SV Dynamo, the sports asso ...

became the president of PSC Berlin. PSC Berlin included departments in boxing, figure skating, speed skating, fencing, handball, judo, athletics, cycling, rowing, swimming, gymnastics, volleyball and judo. The department in judo was taken over from SC Dynamo Hoppeparten as a branch of PSC Berlin in Hoppegarten. The former ice hockey departement of SC Dynamo Berlin became independent as ice hockey club

EHC Dynamo Berlin EHC may refer to: * Eastern Harbour Crossing, a transport tunnel in Hong Kong * EHC Hoensbroek, a Dutch football club * The Electric Hellfire Club, an American industrial metal band * Encompass Health, an American healthcare provider * Environ ...

. Both PSC Berlin and EHC Dynamo Berlin were sponsored by the Ministry of the Interior of East Germany. PSC Berlin was renamed 1. SC Berlin on 23 April 1990. Sports club SC Berlin then emerged as the legal successor to 1. SC Berlin at the turn of the year. Several more departments became independent or joined other clubs. The former men's handball team of SC Dynamo Berlin joined SV Preußen Berlin and formed handball club HC Preußen Berlin. The men's volleyball players joined SCC Berlin and the women's handball players joined CJD Berlin. The focus of SC Berlin in the following years was swimming, figure skating and speed skating. Successful swimmers of the club during this period were Steffen Zesner,

Daniela Hunger Daniela Hunger (born 20 March 1972 in East Berlin) is a former medley and freestyle swimmer from East Germany, who won two golden medals at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea: in the women's 200 m individual medley, and as a ...

and Ingolf Rasch. Budō athletes of SC Berlin founded a new SC Dynamo Hoppegarten in 1996. SC Berlin had 2,800 members as of 2021. The club has twelve departments in various sports and has produced numerous Olympic athletes of Germany. The sports club is still based in the Sportforum Hohenschönhausen.

Honours

SC Dynamo Berlin produced numerous well-known athletes, including Christoph Höhne ( racewalking), Ilona Slupianek (

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

), Karin Janz ( gymnastics),

Axel Peschel Axel Hermann Peschel (born 2 August 1942) is a German former cyclist. His sporting career began with SC Dynamo Berlin. He competed for East Germany in the team time trial at the 1968 Summer Olympics. Peschel won the Peace Race in 1968. His son, ...

( cycle racing),

Joachim Ziesche Joachim Ziesche (born 3 July 1939 in Dresden, Nazi Germany) is a retired ice hockey defender. He participated at the 1968 Winter Olympics. He was inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in 1999. He played for SC Dyn ...

and Dietmar Peters ( ice hockey),

Helga Haase Helga Haase ( Obschernitzki; 9 June 1934 – 16 June 1989) was a speed skater in East Germany. She was born in Danzig and died in East Berlin. Career Haase's career began 1952, when she introduced herself at 18 years at the SC Dynamo Berlin ...

( speed skating), and

Barbara Krause Barbara Krause (later Wanja, born 7 July 1959 in East Berlin) is a former freestyle swimmer from East Germany. She was a three-time Olympic gold medalist and eight-time world record holder. At the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Krause won go ...

( swimming).

References

External links

Official website of SC Berlin
{{Authority control History of sport in East Germany Sports clubs and teams in East Germany Dynamo Berlin Berlin, SC Dynamo Berlin Dynamo Berlin Dynamo Berlin Dynamo Berlin 1954 establishments in East Germany 1991 disestablishments in Germany Football clubs in East Germany Dynamo Multi-sport clubs in Germany Berlin, Dynamo SC Athletics in Berlin