The Gauliga Ostpreußen was the highest

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

league in the

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n province of

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

(German: Ostpreußen) and the

Free City of Danzig The Free City of Danzig (; ) was a city-state under the protection and oversight of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) and nearly 200 other small localities in the surrou ...

from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and the '' Gau''

. Danzig however did not become part of the East Prussia, but was rather integrated in the ''Gau'' Danzig-West Prussia in 1939 instead.

Overview

The league was introduced by the

Nazi Sports Office Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequen ...

in 1933, after the Nazi take over of power in Germany. It replaced the ''Bezirksliga'' as the highest level of play in German football competitions. The ''Gauliga Ostpreußen'' was established with fourteen clubs in two divisions of seven each. As such, the league consisted of clubs from

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and the

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of Danzig, which was under the protection of the

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and not part of Germany. The Gauliga replaced as such the ''Bezirksliga Ostpreußen'' and the ''Bezirksliga Grenzmark'', the highest leagues in the region until then. Both were part of the ''Baltenverband'', the German ''Baltic Football Association'', which determined its own ''Baltic champion''. In its first season, the league had fourteen clubs in two groups. Teams in the same division played each other once at home and once away. The ''Gauliga'' champion was determined by a home-and-away final of the two division winners. This club then qualified for the German championship while the bottom team in each group was relegated. This system remained in place for the 1934-35 season. From 1935, the ''Gauliga'' was expanded to four divisions of seven clubs. The two top teams of each division then entered a finals round which consisted of two four-team groups. The two group winners then played out the ''Gauliga'' champion. In 1938, the league system was simplified by introducing a single-division ten-team league. The bottom two teams were supposed to be relegated but the increasingly restrictive politics of the

meant, that the club of the

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

minority, KS Gedania Danzig, had to resign from the league and was disbanded. In 1939-40, the league was supposed to play with only eight clubs. In January 1940, the competition was cancelled altogether and four selected teams played a ''Gauliga'' championship tournament instead. At the end of this season, the clubs from the Danzig region,

Preußen Danzig Preußen Danzig was a German association football club from the city of Danzig, West Prussia (today Gdańsk, Poland). __TOC__ History The club was established in 1909 as ''Turn- und Fechtverein Preußen Danzig'', a gymnastics and fencing club. ...

, SV 19 Neufahrwasser and SG Elbing, left the ''Gauliga Ostpreußen'' and joined the new '' Gauliga Danzig-Westpreußen'' instead. The '' Gau Ostpreußen'' was in itself enlarged when parts of

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were added to it from the end of 1939. The 1940-41 season was played as a single division again, now with seven clubs. This system remained in place until the disbanding of the league in 1944. The imminent collapse of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

in 1945 gravely affected all ''Gauligas'' and football in East Prussia ceased in 1944 due to the arrival of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

in the region. The 1944-45 season was most likely not started anymore. With the beginning of the East Prussian Offensive in January 1945, the region was completely engulfed by war.

Aftermath

With the end of the Nazi era, the ''Gauligas'' ceased to exist. East Prussia came under

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

control. The region was split into a northern half, now part of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and a southern half, part of Poland. The German population was almost completely expelled from the region, especially in the Soviet half. Football clubs in the two halves now either play in the Russian or Polish leagues. All German football clubs were dissolved.

Founding members of the league

The fourteen founding members and their positions in the 1932-33 ''Bezirksliga Ostpreußen'' and ''Bezirksliga Grenzmark'' season were: * Group I *

, ''2nd Bezirksliga Grenzmark'' *

VfB Königsberg VfB Königsberg was a German association football club from the city of Königsberg, East Prussia. The team played its home games at the ''Sportplatz des Vereins für Bewegungs Spiele'' near the Maraunenhof Stadtgärtnerei, aside from 1940 to 1 ...

, ''4th Bezirksliga Ostpreußen'' *

SV Prussia-Samland Königsberg SV Prussia-Samland Königsberg was a German association football club from the city of Königsberg, East Prussia (today Kaliningrad, Russia). The club was founded in early 1904 as ''Fußball-Club Prussia Königsberg'' and in 1908 merged with ' ...

, ''2nd Bezirksliga Ostpreußen, Baltic champion'' * Rasensport-Preußen Königsberg, * BuEV Danzig, ''winner Bezirksliga Grenzmark'' * KS Gedania Danzig * Viktoria Elbing * Group II * MSV Hindenburg Allenstein, ''winner Bezirksliga Ostpreußen'' * SV Yorck Insterburg * SV Masovia Lyck * SV Viktoria Allenstein * Tilsiter SC, ''3rd Bezirksliga Ostpreußen'' * FC Preußen Gumbinnen * Rastenburger SV 08, ''5th Bezirksliga Ostpreußen''

Winners and runners-up of the league

The winners and runners-up of the league:

Placings in the league 1933-44

The complete list of all clubs participating in the league: * In 1939-40, the championship was strongly affected by the war. All military and police teams were unable to compete. Eventually, an eight-team championship was started on 26 November 1939 but because of the severe winter conditions, it was cancelled in January and replaced by a four-team championship.

References

Sources

* ''Die deutschen Gauligen 1933-45 - Heft 1-3'' Tables of the Gauligas 1933-45, publisher: DSFS * ''Kicker Almanach'', The yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937, published by the Kicker Sports Magazine

External links

*
The Gauligas
''Das Deutsche Fussball Archiv''

at RSSSF.com

Article on cross-border movements of football clubs, at RSSSF.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Gauliga Ostpreussen Gauliga Football competitions in East Prussia Sports leagues established in 1933 1933 establishments in Germany 1944 disestablishments in Germany Gau East Prussia