Dynamo Dresden : Not To Be Denied

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The yellow-shirted Startelf for East German Oberliga champion DYNAMO DRESDEN line-up on the pitch of the Olympiastadion in Munich just prior to the start of the first leg of the historic European Cup tie opposite West German titlist Bayern Munich on October 24, 1973.

left to right — Gert HEIDLER, Rainer SACHSE, Claus BODEN, Reinhard HAEFNER, Hans-Juergen DOERNER, Siegmar WAETZLICH, Christian HELM, Hartmut SCHADE, Eduard GEYER, Horst RAU and captain FRANK GANZERA
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Although most of the 50,000 spectators at Munich’s Olympic Stadium in late October of 1973, most likely, did not realize such, it was actually a noteworthy accomplishment that DYNAMO DRESDEN were even a first division football club in the first place, let alone champions of the German Democratic Republic’s Oberliga competing in the prestigous European Cup tournament.

Less than two decades earlier, SG Dynamo Dresden had made a rapid descent from national champion to regional league (fourth division) side, all as a result of the direct intervention from politically-motivated central authority at the very highest level of government.

The club had been founded in 1950 as SG Deutsche Volkspolizei Dresden representing the local police, who were actually a part of the national police force in accordance with the contemporary East German domestic structure. After the national sports society (for all police clubs) SV Dynamo was founded in April of 1953, the Dresden club was re-named SG Dynamo. During this same time period, the team led by star goal-scorer GUENTER SCHROETER celebrated its first-ever national football championship at the conclusion of the 1952-53 Oberliga campaign.

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To the north in the Soviet-occupied sector of Berlin, however, the G.D.R. Minister of State Security, the extremely influential General ERICH MIELKE, was rather unhappy. The capital city lacked a powerful football club to better represent the ideals and virtues of the superior East German Socialist state, the notorious spy master concluded. As director of the Ministerium fuer Staatssicherheit, the ambitious Mielke had complete control over all law enforcement in the country and, thus, simply transferred Dresden’ first team — all of the players, technically, being policemen — en masse to the club under his personal control, FC Dynamo Berlin.

Amazingly enough, this ‘re-assignment’ went off in January of 1955 — right smack in the middle of football season. What’s worse, the remainder of Dynamo Dresden were ordered out of the Oberliga immediately and dropped into the second division to replace SC DHfK Leipzig. Left to carry on with reserve and youth team players, Dynamo Dresden soon found itself kicking in the fourth division by the 1956-57 season.

With typical German determination and resolve, the club would recover and worked itself back into the Oberliga by the early 1960s. The team were relegated twice more during this decade but resilient Dynamo Dresden bounced right back up to the top flight, though, at the first attempt on both occasions with a pair of second divison (D.D.R.-Liga) crowns, the latter coming in 1969. Two years later, trainer WALTER FRITZSCH succeeded in steering Dynamo Dresden to its second-ever Oberliga title.

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East Germany international HAN-JUERGEN KREISCHE (10) of Dynamo Dresden ranks third on the all-time list for the D.D.R. with 22 goals. Trailing on the left here prior to the start of the historic meeting at 1974 FIFA World Cup is superstar striker GERD MUELLER (13) of Bayern Munich, the all-time leading marksman for West Germany with 68 international goals. Kreische’s father had been a teammate of Helmut Schoen, the trainer for West Germany at the first and last all-German international derby match who had simply driven across the border in his car roughly a decade before the Berlin Wall went up, on SC Dresden’s national champion sides in 1943 and 1944.
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Fortified mainly by a cast of emerging youngsters such as talented sweeper HANS-JUERGEN DOERNER and midfielder REINHARD HAEFNER, Dynamo Dresden captured yet another Oberliga title in 1973. The Saxon club, who featured a pair of defenders who had won a bronze medal at the 1972 Summer Olympic Games hosted by the city of Munich, captain FRANK GANZERA and SIEGMAR WAETZLICH, then claimed the notable scalp of Italian Serie A giant FC Juventus of Turin in the first round of the European Cup. The eye-opening draw with Bundesligakoenig Bayern Munich afforded Oberligameister Dynamo Dresden the mouth-watering opportunity to prove themselves to be the true champion of all German football.

Dynamo Dresden would, however, be forced to face the Federal Republic of Germany’s representative without its leading goal-scorer. HANS-JUERGEN KREISCHE, who would be chosen as the G.D.R.’s Footballer of the Year for 1973, had been seriously injured playing for East Germany in a World Cup qualification match with Romania the previous May and was out long-term. A major handicap, then, as Kreische had recorded 26 goals in 25 Oberliga matches during the 1972-73 campaign to become the East German Torjaegermeister for the third year running.

Undaunted and enthusiastically supported by seemingly all of the citizens in its home city, Dynamo Dresden crossed the border dividing Germany and made its way to Bavaria to face mighty Bayern Munich nevertheless.

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East Germany international HANS-JUERGEN KREISCHE of Dynamo Dresden (right), a 1972 Olympic bronze medalist who finished as Torjaegermeister in the Oberliga on four occasions over the course of his distinguished career, scores one of his 131 goals in the top flight of the D.D.R. here opposite FC Carl Zeiss Jena at the Rudolf Harbig Stadion in Saxony in early May of 1976.

FC Carl Zeiss Jena

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April 13, 1974 — FC CARL ZEISS JENA captain and striker PETER DUCKE, who paced the Thuringian club with five goals in six UEFA European Cup games and was named the German Democratic Republic’s Footballer of the Year for the 1970-71 season, hoists the German Free Trade Union Cup following the 3-1 defeat of Dynamo Dresden at the massive Zentralstadion in Leipzig.
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Although plaqued by financial difficulties the past few years and currently limping along following a 15th place finish in the German 3rd division last season, the fact remains FC CARL ZEISS JENA were once a very formidable side in the old Oberliga of the now-defunct Deutsche Demokratische Republik and a regular participant in Europe capable of competing with — and conquering — some of the continent’s most well-known teams such as Portugal’s Benfica of Lisbon, CF Valencia of Spain as well as Italian Serie A squad AS Roma.

The most glorious time for FC Carl Zeiss Jena would be the highly-successful stretch from 1963 to 1975 which saw the Thruingian team (known as SC Motor Jena until 1966) capture three Oberliga titles and finish in second place on a further six occasions.

FC Carl Zeiss Jena also claimed the Frei Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund Pokal (Free German Trade Union Cup) four times including a haul of three trophies in a nine-year stint from 1972 to 1980; perhaps most significantly, the East German club took part in European competitions 15 of 16 years thru the end of the 1983-84 football season.

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The squad of FC CARL ZEISS JENA pose for a photograph with the medals earned for having won the 1969-70 Oberliga title; this picutre marks the last time, in fact, the Thuringian club would ever win the elite football championship of the old Deutsche Demokratische Republic.
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Some consider the crowning achievement of FC Carl Zeiss Jena to be its arrival at the 1981 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup Final in Dusseldort, West Germany, although the D.D.R. kickers lost late 2-1 against Georgian side Dinamo Tbilisi of the Soviet Union despite scoring first in the second half.

FC Carl Zeiss Jena did engage West German Bundesliga clubs twice in the UEFA Cup but lost after extra time to MSV Duisburg during the 1978-79 campaign and were beaten resoundly by Bayer Uerdingen during the 1986-87 season.

As one might expect, the Thuringian club contributed its share of players — 33 in all — to the national team of East Germany. Of the ten players with the most international caps in the history of the Deutsche Demokratische Republik, exactly half spent at least a little time with FC Carl Zeiss Jena at some point in their careers. Defender KONRAD WEISE, who was in the East German Startelf against West Germany at the 1974 FIFA World Cup and later won the Olympic gold medal at Montreal in 1976, played 78 games recognized by FIFA as full internationals for the D.D.R. and is, accordingly, the club’s most decorated Laenderspieler.

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Deutsche Demokratische Republik attacker PETER DUCKE of FC Carl Zeiss Jena, who collected a bronze medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Muinch and ultimately scored 15 goals in 68 full international matches over the course of his career for East Germany, steps around Holland defender WIM RIJSBERGEN of Feyenoord Rotterdam at the Parkstadion in Gelsenkirchen during the 1974 FIFA World Cup tournament in West Germany.
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Other accomplished internationals for FC Carl Zeiss Jena included striker EBERHARD VOGEL, the two-time Olympic bronze medalist and second-leading all-time scorer with 24 goals for Deutsche Demokratische Republik, as well as defender LOTHAR KURBJUWEIT, the two-time Olympic medalist who appeared with the East German Startelf against both West Germany at the 1974 FIFA World Cup and also for the 1976 Gold Medal Match with Poland in Montreal.

The Dynamo Derby (Pt 1)

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The bright, developing midfielder MATTHIAS SAMMER of Dynamo Dresden, already a regular at 21 years of age in the national team of the Deutsche Demokratische Republik, is hauled down by his teammate with the D.D.R. Nationalmannschaft, Dynamo Berlin midfielder RAINER ERNST (right) while defender HENDRIK HERZOG observes during the East German Oberliga match contested on September 24, 1988, in front of 36,000 spectators at the Rudolf Harbig Stadion in the cultural and historical Saxony city of Dresden. (Ulrich Haessler/ADN-ZB/Bundesarchiv)
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Prior to the Mauerfall in November of 1989, the two most powerful teams in the East German top flight the last decade and a half or so were DYNAMO BERLIN and DYNAMO DRESDEN — the Oberliga’s police clubs.

Certainly not like any of the other great Derby fixtures found in Western Europe, the seeds of this unique rivalry in the Deutsche Demokratische Republik were firmly planted with the demotion of SG Dynamo Berlin to the third division at the end of the 1953-54 season.

It was determined to be in the best interests of the heroic East German socialist worker in the never-ending class struggle that a football team in the top national league should be fielded in the country’s capital city. Thus, the entire first team of Dynamo Dresden was ordered — who had been Oberliga champions for the 1952-53 season — to muster in East Berlin and report for training with re-named SC Dynamo Berlin. Not surprisingly, the re-stocked team, quickly earned promotion up to the first division in short order.

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East Germany international striker HANS-JUERGEN RIEDIGER of Dynamo Berlin, who won 41 “full” caps and earned a gold medal at the 1976 Summer Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada, races for the ball with Dynamo Dresden defender UDO SCHMUCK, who made seven appearances for the national team of the Deutsche Demokratische Republik, during the Oberliga match of April 25, 1975, at the Friedrich Ludwig Jahn Sportpark in East Berlin. (Rainer Mittelstaedt/ADN-ZB/Bundesarchiv)
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Dynamo Dresden were summarily left to carry on with the reserve team. To its credit, the club would rebuild and capture more Oberliga titles. But it would be nearly twenty years before the next championship in 1971.

Featuring defender HANS-JUERGEN DOERNER, whose 96 caps for the D.D.R. stand second for all time, Dynamo Dresden won three consecutive Oberliga titles from 1976 to 1978.

At this point, it was decided by all-powerful communist government officials that a new policy was required in order to finally defeat Imperialist Capitalism on the other side of the Anti-Fascist Protection Wall. Now, the East German socialist worker would be served well if once-more re-named FC Dynamo Berlin, who had never, ever won the Oberliga title before, claimed the domestic championship every year thereafter. According to legend, GENERAL ERICH MIELKE, the overlord of the Ministry of State Security (Staatssicherheit, or, more commonly, Stasi), appeared in the changing room after the 1979 title was won to inform the capital city club players of this latest development.