THE EAST GERMAN SPORTS SYSTEM:

IMAGE AND REALITY

by

BARBARA CAROL COLE, B.A., M.S.Ed., M.I.J.

A DISSERTATION

IN

HISTORY
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty
of Texas Tech University in
Partial Fulfillment of
the Requirements for
the Degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Approved
73 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

^ '' Diese Arbeit ware nicht moglich gewesen ohne die Hilfe viele Personen die ich

hier aus Platz Griinden im einzehien nicht nennen kann. Aber ganz besonderen Dank

mochte ich den folgenden Personen gegeniiber ausdriicken: Professor Dr. Giinther

Wonneberger und seine Frau, Dr. Ingeburg Wonneberger, fiir die unermudliche Hilfe und

Gastfreundschaft die mich all die Jahre, die diese Arbeit in Anspriich nahm, begleitet

haben; Professor Dr. Klaus Bartonietz, der viele Interviews mit Sportlem/innen

ermoglicht hat; Dr. BClaus Reinartz, der unermudlich Fragen beantwortet hat; Frau Hanne

Lore Gehrmann und meine Tante, Dr. Eleonore Lenz, fur all die Zeitungsartikel die mich

auf Laufenden gehalten haben; Professor Dr. Hans Joachim Teichler, fur Zugang zu

Dokumenten an der Potsdam Universitat; Lilli und Uwe Hinrichs, Priska Sellung und

Rosi Anderson fur ihre Freundschaft und Unterstutzung; Herr Volker Lange, bei

SAPMO, fiir die Hilfsbereitschaft.

Many thanks to Dr. Otto Nelson for his tireless assistance and editorial expertise.

Dr. Allen Kuethee and the Office of International Affairs were very generous and

resourceful with procuring fmancial assistance for this research. Without Ed

Youngblood's technical assistance, this work would have been considerably delayed. Dr.

Steve Bogener's support and advice were very helpful. My dear friends Caroline

Bissonnier, Stephanie Wehmeier, Jennifer Hankins and Theresa Havens supplied

encouragement and support.

Last, but most important, this work is dedicated to my brother Ken Cole, whose

infectious love of sports has kept me motivated, and to the memory of Omi and Opi.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii

ABSTRACT v

LIST OF FIGURES vii

GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND ACRONYMS ix

CHAPTER

I. INTRODUCTION: THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY 1

II. THE POLITICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF SPORTS IN

GERMANY: AN HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE 31

m. ARISING FROM THE RUINS...GERMANY, UNITED, FATHERLAND! 62

IV. THE 1960s: CREATING BARRIERS AND ATHLETIC STRUCTURES 88

V. THE 1970s: THE GRAND DEBUT OF A SPORTS SUPERPOWER 124

VI. THE FINAL DECADE: THE 1980s 160

VII. THE SYSTEM: THE ATHLETES SPEAK OUT 202

Vni. STASI, STEROIDS AND VERGANGENHEITSBEWALTIGUNG 254

IX. THE PRICE OF ATHLETIC TRIUMPH IN THE GDR 318

X. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 358

BIBLIOGRAPHY 374
APPENDICES

A. PROFESSOR DR. KLAUS BARTONIETZ 407

B.UDO BEYER 431

C. WALDEMAR CIERPINSKI 445

D. BIRGIT DAHLKE 456

iii
E. PROFESSOR DR. GUNTHER ERBACH 459

F. FEMALE TRACK ATHLETE 495

G. GERHARD GRUNER 514

H. FRANK HARTMANN 528

I. JORG HOFFMANN 553

J. AXEL KAHLERT 565

K. CAROLA KAMCHEN 571

L. HELMA KNORSCHEIDT 584

M. ANTJE MAAS 593

N. ANETT POTZSCH 602

O. FALKOPOY 614

P. EBERHARD ROSCH 623

Q. DIETMAR SCHAUERHAMMER 626

R. MARC DENNIS SCHULZ 643

S. RONNYWELLER 659

T. ANDRE ZOSCHKE 669

IV
 ABSTRACT

In its short-lived history of 41 years (1949-1990) the German Democratic

Republic produced the world's most successful sports system in modem history. Sports

in this country became an instrument of pohtics as the Cold War polarized Eastem and

Western Blocs, and the iron curtain was fortified with concrete barriers, minefields and

barbed wire. The East German athletes were called upon to serve as missionaries,

embodying the "socialist personaUty," thus validating the superiority of "socialism" over

capitaUsm by winning medals. While many athletes did not believe in the superiority of

the GDR's variety of socialism or the Marxist-Leninist teachings with which they were

thoroughly indoctrinated, their athletic performance surpassed that of athletes from

countries ten and twelve times larger in population.

In the post Wall years, many questions arose as to the true nature of the success

story of this sports superpower. Accusations were made that the entire success of this

sport phenomenon could be ascribed solely to an ostensible "state-ordered, systematic

and universal" usage of illegal performance-enhancing dmgs. The dispute as to how

much and to what degree athletes received such illicit substances took center stage during

trials held in Berlin. These trials were to investigate coaches and physicians who

ostensibly administered steroids to unwitting minors without the knowledge or consent of

the children's parents.

At the heart of this debate taken up by the press, among historians and in the

courtroom, stood the athletes. The athletes present a decidedly different view than the

typically negative one most frequently depicted for the public-at-Iarge. Testimonies of
athletes in both the Berlin trials and for this dissertation reveal surprisingly positive

attitudes towards a sports program that is unceasingly vilified in the public eye.

The GDR sports system has never been examined to this extent in the English

language. The primary documents used, chiefly from the Stiftung Archivfur Partei und

Massenorganisationen der DDR, have never been made accessible to the public until

recent years. This dissertation comprises a comprehensive and thorough overview of the

history and chronology of the poUtical and sporting events of the GDR sports system. It

includes twenty interviews with athletes, coaches, a biomechanist and the former State

Secretary for Sports and Physical Culture. It is a consideration of the behind-the-scenes

story and the impressions of the chief role-players who experienced it.

VI
 LIST OF FIGURES

1: Waldemar Cierpinski 240

2: Dietmar Schauerhammer 240

3: Dietmar Schauerhammer 241

4: Jorg Hoffinann 241

5: Jorg Hofi&nann 242

6: Hekna Knorscheidt 242

7: Eberhard Rosch 243

8: Eberhard Rosch 243

9: Axel Kahlert 244

10: AxelKahlert 244

ILRonny Weller 245

12: Anett Potzsch 246

13: AnettPotzsch 246

14: Anett Potzsch-Rauschenbach 247

15: Altenberg Bobsled Track 247

16: Altenberg Bobsled Track 248

17: Altenberg Biathlon Training Center 249

18: Professor Dr. Klaus Bartonietz 249

19: Kreischa Doping Analysis Laboratory 250

20: Kreischa Doping Analysis Laboratory 250

21: Youth Exercise and Sport Poster 251

22: Professor Dr. Giinther Erbach 252

vii
23: Udo Beyer 252

24: The Berlin Wall 253

25: Der Spiegel Chart on GDR and FRG Olympic teams "'Bei uns ist immer
Olympia,' Der Sport der DDR vor den Sommerspielen in Miinchen," Der
Spiegel 26, no. 7 Aug. 1972, 87. 280

26: Nominierte Olympia Kader der Sportvereinigung Dynamo, 1968, DY

12/364/6186, SAPMO, Anlage H. 344

viu
 GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND ACRONYMS

BRD-Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Federal Republic of Germany, West Germany)

Bundesrepublik-Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)

DDR-Deutsche Demokratische Republik (German Democratic Republic, East Germany)

DHfK-Deutsche Hochschule fur Korperkultur und Sport (German College for Physical
Culture and Sport)

DSA-Deutschen Sportausschuss (German Sport Committee, East Germany)

DSB-Deutscher Sportbund (German Sport Federation, West Germany)

DTSB-Deutsche Tum und Sportbund (German Gymnastics and Sport Federation, East
Germany. Also oftentimes translated as German Exercise and Sport Federation)

FRG-Federal Republic of Germany, West Germany

GDR-German Democratic Republic, East Germany

IOC-International Olympic Committee

NOC-National Olympic Committee

Republikflucht-Defection from the GDR, FUght from the Republic (from East Germany)

SAPMO-Stiftung Archiv fur Parteien imd Massenorganisationen der DDR (Foundation

for the Archive of Parties and Mass Organizations of the GDR)

SC-Sport Club

SED-Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschland (SociaUst Unity Party of Germany, East)

TC or TZ-Training Center, Traming Zentrum

WC-World Championship

Vergangenheitsbewaltigung-Coming to terms with the past

Wende-the turning point in recent German history: the fall of the Berhn Wall

ZK-Zentral Komitee (Central Committee)

ix
 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION:

THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY

During the Cold War the German Democratic Republic, a satellite state of the

Soviet Union, created the most successful sports system in modem history. This athletic

success peaked in the early 1970s and continued right up to the fall of the Berlin Wall on

November 9, 1989. The GDR's noteworthy record of accumulated medals during the

Olympic Games from 1972 to 1988 is even more remarkable in light of this country's

relatively small population. Since its debut in 1968 in Mexico City, when the GDR was

first acknowledged by the International Olympic Committee as a state separate from the

Federal Republic of Germany, until 1988, the GDR accumulated 519 medals, in

comparison to the Soviet Union's 774 medals and the United States' 624 medals. This

daunting accomplishment appears even greater when perceived on a per capita basis

where the GDR had over 10 times more medals than the U.S.S.R. and nearly 13 times as

many as the U.S.' In the 1988 Olympic Games held in Seoul, the final games of the

GDR's 41 years of existence, the GDR placed third after the superpowers of the Soviet

Union and the United States. In the winter Games held in Calgary of the same year. East

Germany ranked second after the Soviet Union. The GDR at this time numbered only

17.2 milUon inhabitants in contrast to the 266 million of the Soviet Union and 246

million of the United States.^ This was not the first time the GDR had ranked higher than

'Michael Janofeky, "East German Perquisites Draw Fire," New York Times. 11
Dec. 1989, CI, C4.

^Frances Mvmnings, "Can East German Athletes Hold Their Competitive Edge?"
1
the U.S. It had done so previously in the winter Olympic Games in 1976 in Montreal. In

Lake Placid, the United States' own hosted winter Olympic Games of 1980, the GDR not

only ranked above the United States, it ranked number one of all nations with a medal

count of 23. Most disconcerting to the Federal RepubUc of Germany was that the tiny

"socialist" East German state had handily surpassed its nearly four times greater West

German capitalist counterpart in every Olympic Games since the 1972 summer Games.

This was a highly symbolic defeat as the 1972 summer Games were held on West

German soil in Munich, and were also the first Olympic Games at which the International

Olympic Committee mandated the Federal Republic of Germany's formal recognition of

the sovereignty of the German Democratic RepubUc.^ As American foreign

correspondent Leslie Colitt noted, "Espionage and sports were among the few fields of

endeavor in which the GDR was able to prove itself superior to the West."'*

Eleven years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, referred to in Germany as die

Wende, or the turning point, the debate as to the causes of this tremendous athletic

success has become more rancorous and acerbic than ever before. The schools of thought

on the writing of GDR sports history have become as bifurcated and politically polemical

as the allegiances of the Cold War once were. At issue is to what degree was this system

legitimately successful, i.e., an astute state-sponsored (and unabashedly politically

The Physician and Sports Medicine. 18, no. 4, (Apr. 1990): 111.

^Horst Uberhorst, Von Athen bis Munchen, (Berlin: Verlag Bartels und Wemitz
KG. 1969), 176, cited in Gerald Anthony Carr, The National Sociahst Programme of
Sport. Physical Education and Recreation and that of the German Democratic RepubUc.
(Ph.D. diss.. South Africa: University of Stellenbosch, 1972), 246.

'^Leslie Colitt, Spymaster: The Real Life Karla, His Moles and the East German
Secret Pohce. (London: Robson Books, 1996), 58.
2
motivated) program with savvy talent selection and training techniques bolstered by a

troupe of elite coaches (the East German view), versus the view that this was a system

cormpted by illegitimate forms of success in an athletic program saturated with steroid

use and other performance-enhancing means while being simultaneously suffused with

secret police control. In the final analysis of this latter particular (and predominantly

West German) view, sport was a tool of the state, whose government oftentimes

completely disdained any respect for human rights to achieve its ends. This latter view

finds its strongest voice currently at Potsdam University, notably with Professor Dr. Hans

Joachim Teichler and Dr. Giselher Spitzer as well as at Heidelberg University,

represented especially by microbiology Professor Dr. Wemer Franke, husband of Brigitte

Berendok, Germany's leading author on the illegitimate use of performance-enhancing

drugs in sports and particularly the practice of this use in the GDR. Professor Franke also

wrote the official parliamentary report for the famed Enquete Commission that is

investigating the "history and consequences of the SED Dictatorship" in a multi-volume

series of reports on various topics pertinent to institutions of the former GDR. The

authors of the reports have been solicited as well as financed by the German parUament.^

Other prominent West German historians, such as (recently deceased) Professor Dr. Hajo

^All are contributing authors to Grit Hartmann's, ed. Goldkinder: Die DDR im
Spiegel ihres Spitzensports. (Leipzig: Forum Verlag, 1997). Note also Brigitte
Berendok's book Doping: Von der Forschung zum Betrug. (Hamburg: Rowohlt
Taschenbuch Verlag Gmbh, 1992). See also, Wemer Franke, "Funktion und
Instrumentalisierung des Sports in der DDR: Pharmakologische Manipulationen (Doping)
und die Rolle der Wissenschaft," Rolle und Bedeutung der Ideologic integrativer
Faktoren imd disziplinerender Praktiken in Staat und Gesellschaft der DDR. Band III/2,
Materialien der Enquete-Kommission "Aufarbeitving von Geschichte und Folgen der
SED-Diktatur in Deutschland," 12. Wahlperiode des Deutschen Bimdestages,
(Herausgegeben vom Deutschen Bundestag, Frankfiirt am Main: Nomos Verlag, 1995),
Bemett and Dr. Peter Ktihnst as well as journalist Gunter Holzweissig, have been

proponents of this view.^ The former view is supported by many of the former GDR's

leading sports historians, journalists, and sports officials, among them the former GDR

State Sport Secretary, Professor Dr. Gfinther Erbach; East Germany's former leading

sports historian and Chancellor of the GDR's premier sports college, the Deutsche

Hochschule fur Korperkultur, or the German College for Physical Culture (henceforth,

DHfiC), Professor Dr. Giinther Wonneberger; former professor at Potsdam University

Professor Dr. Hehnut Westphal, and many others.^

Other more moderate historical positions has been taken by both East and West

historians, the most femous being (West German) Professor Dr. Amd Kriiger, who

represents the Gottingen University school of thought.* Krtiger takes the position that the

common theme of critics of the GDR sports system, such as the contributing authors of

Grit Hartmann's Goldkinder, is shown in the tendency to deny that there are any

redeeming features whatsoever in the GDR elite sports system. The focus on Stasi (the

904-1369.

^Hajo Bemett, Korperkultur und Sport in der DDR: Dokumentation eines

geschlossenen Systems. (Schomdorf: Verlag Hofinann, 1994); Peter Kuhnst, Der
misbrauchte Sport: Die politische Instmmentalisierung des Sports in der SBZ 1945-1957.
(Cologne: Verlag Wissenschaft vmd PoUtik, 1982); Gunter Holzweissig, Diplomatic im
Trainingsanzug: Sport als pohtisches Instrument der DDR in den innerdeutschen und
intemationalen Beziehungen. (Munich: R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 1981) and Sport imd
Politik in der DDR. (Berhn: Verlag Gebr. Holzapfel, 1988).

'These individuals have collaborated in the founding of a post Wall sports journal
Beitrage zur Sportgeschichte. a journal dedicated to coming to terms with the West
German views which oftentimes "...degrade...and negate the knowledge of historians
from the East." Beitrage zur Sportgeschichte. 1 (1995): 3.

*Prof Dr. Amd Kriiger, Sport und Politik. (Hannover: Fackehrager-Verlag,

1975).
4
GDR's acronym for the State Secret Police) and doping is considered by Kriiger and

other predominantly East German contributors to Beitrdge zur Sportgeschichte, as being

the leading apologetic publication on behalf of GDR sports, to be a smokescreen that

conceals that there were indeed many exemplary qualities of the GDR's sports system

worthy of consideration by the westem Germans.^ East German Dr. Karsten Schimiann

notes in his doctoral dissertation, entitled Empirical Theoretical Study of the Determinant

Developmental Factors of Elite Sports in the GDR. that, due to the plethora of

contradictory information regarding the GDR's sportmg success, the formulation of

public opinion ranges on a wide scale from "...glorification...to a flat judgment or

bedevihnent."'"

Colored by the influence of the West German press, the views of the international

community towards the GDR sports system tend to be equally focused on those

sensational elements of oppressive treatment of athletes, infiltration of the Stasi, and use

of performance-enhancing drugs. This trend can be seen in both scholarly journals and

the pubUc press. The case of Katarina Witt, for example, is clearly exaggerated by British

journalist David Miller, who claims Witt had been inducted into the sports program at an

early age and that her parents "had little choice once the Karl Marx Stadt sports club had

made its decision."" This was cited in a scholarly American journal as a Ukely event

^Prof Dr. Amd Kriiger, "Aktuelles in Kiirze," Leistungssport. 27, no. 4, (1997):
26-27.

'"Karsten Schumann, Empirische-theoretische Studie zu

entwicklungsbestimmenden Bedingungen des Leistxmgssports der DDR. (Ph.D. diss.,
Universitat Leipzig: Fakultat der Sportwissenschaft, 1997), 1.

' 'John M. Hobermann, "The Transformation of East German Sport," Joxanal of

Sport History. 17, no. 1, (Spring 1990): 63.
5
when in fact Witt testifies in her autobiography that, since she came into the program late

for her age, she had to exert herself considerably to achieve the rigorous standards for

admission to the ice skating school program lest she be excluded. Witt's mother did not

helplessly "lose" her little girl but gave her tips on how to appear better than the other

little girls on the ice.'^

In the American popular press what appears to be the key issue regarding this

sports system is the more scandalous aspects of steroid abuse. In the popular sports

magazine Track and Field News one finds, for example, confessions of former javelin

thrower Ruth Fuchs to usage of illegal substances, as well as testimonies of both Uwe

Hohn, also a javelin thrower, and of the father of the recently deceased hammer record

holder, Detlef Gerstenberg, regarding health abuses they experienced (or knew of) under

the GDR state sports physicians.'^ A notation in the Fall 1997 section "On Your Marks,"

in Track and Field News reveals that "Federal prosecutors are about to start filing charges

against former East German coaches and doctors."'"* Newsweek notes that the whole

point of East Germany's State Plan 14.25 was to invent better ways to dmg athletes.'^ Yet

earUer American scholarly accounts in the immediate post Wall years were concemed

more with the inner machinations of the sports system itself and less with the scandalous

'^Katarina Witt, Meine Jahre zwischen PfUcht und Kur. (Munich: Wilhehn
Goldmann Verlag, 1995): 32-3.

'^Pekka Holopainen, "Betrayed by the System," Track and Field News. July 1994,
44. "On Your Marks," Track and Field News. Mar.-Apr. 1993, 39. "Last Lap," Track and
Field News. Oct. 1996,91.

"•"On Your Marks," Track and Field News. Sept. 1995, 73.

'^Geoflfrey Cowley and Martha Brant, "Doped to Perfection," Newsweek. 22 July

1996,31.
6
parameters of drugs and secret police collaboration. Frances Munnings elaborates, as a

case in point, in The Physician and Sportsmedicine. the high tech sports equipment and

the "labor intensive medical talent" as well as the East German propensity towards

selective state sponsorship.'* British historian David Childs notes that, historically,

Germans distmguished themselves in sports by the application of science and medicine to

enhance athletic performance.'^ The French press has remarked that the key to the GDR's

"miracle" was intensive school sports, as well as talent selection at the nation-wide

Spartakiade youth Olympic sports competitions and the secure existence granted those

who made it into the elite athletic program.'*

At issue here is something far greater than determining whether the East German

athletes were anaboUc steroid sinners number one or not, or that the entire sports system

was hopelessly enmeshed in secret police entanglements, oppressing young, vulnerable

athletes. The real issue behind the writing or rewriting of the history of any GDR-related

topic in the 1990's appears to be political and a reflection of the rancorous, if not

oftentimes acrimonious, process of unification Zeitgeist. This motive has been astutely

assessed by numerous historians, among them Konrad H. Jarausch of the University of

North Carolina, Hermann Weber of the University of Mannheim, who is also a member

of the aforementioned Enquete Commission and Mary FuUbrook of Great Britain. The

writing of this part of Germany's past has taken on all the bitter overtones of Cold War

'Runnings, 111-115.

"David Childs, "The German Democratic Republic," cited in James Riordan, ed.
Sport under Communism. (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1978), 75.

'^Robert Pariente, "La Miracle de la RDA," L'Equipe. 20 May 1981, 1.

7
rhetoric reminiscent of the Reagan years. We are entering into phase II of

Vergangenheitsbewdltigung, that is, the Germans' phrase for coming to terms with their

past: the first phase being the Nazi regime and the second the SED Communist

Dictatorship.'^ Phase II of Vergangenheitsbewdltigung has resulted in a 1990's German

style of McCarthyism. Social factors of East German successes are generally disparaged

as historian Konrad Jarausch observes: "Lurid revelations of SED corruption and Stasi

repression are more designed to appeal to voyeurist instincts than to meet a desire for

information." Jarausch also notes that defense attomeys m current cases regarding

coaches administering steroids to minors refute the use of secret service documents

and/or party records as a credible source of material. A world champion swimmer of the

former GDR, Jorg Hofi&nann, contends that the very Stasi documents deemed scurrilous

by West Germans after the fall of the Wall are precisely those documents used by the

FRG to press charges against former East German sports physicians and coaches for

administering performance-enhancing drugs.^' Jarausch concisely assesses the West

German approach by noting that:

The media have largely reduced the discussion about the GDR to the Stasi issue...
Much of the public debate is dominated by an accusatory discourse that paints the
GDR as a repressive regime, an Unrechtsstaat...The political intent of a
condemnatory stance is the discrediting of everything East German and the

"Konrad H. Jarausch, "The German Democratic Republic as History in United

Germany: Reflections on Public Debate and Academic Controversy," German Pohtics
and Society. 15, no. 2, (Summer 1997): 33.

^°Ibid., 35.

^'interview with the GDR Elite Athlete, World Champion in Swimming, Olympic
Bronze medalist, Jorg HofiBnann Oct. 5, 1997, by telephone from Anchorage, Alaska to
Potsdam, Germany.

8
 demand for its replacement with superior westem practices. ^^

This approach, Jarusch believes, at worst Ukens the dictatorship of the GDR to

that of the Third Reich. Mary FuUbrook notes that this is precisely the same comparison

the East Germans advanced during the Cold War, namely that the West German regime

was a form of continuous government with the Third Reich, and was therefore "fescist."

The tendency towards polemics in post Wall Germany is strong. The vaUdity of using

Stasi documents is a questionable method en^loyed by German historians and

government ofificials for the reasons, which FuUbrook reveals:

The Stasi developed insidious methods: ascertaining intimate details of a person's

private Ufe, in order to build up and propagate distorted stories with enough of a
kemel of truth to sow suspicion and discredit the individual. Photographs taken
and doctored to appear as if the subject had been caught in compromising
circumstances, and the spreading of rumours, were common techniques of
distorting a person's reputation and destroying their relationships.^'*
With the East Germans, considerable error is also at hand as the criminal elements are

downplayed and the "...SED system [is seen] as a 'noble experiment' that only failed due
to unfortunate circumstances and mistaken poUcies."^* Jarausch accurately assesses that
the whole poUtical motive behind disparaging anything East German is the effort to
rehabilitate Marxist and socialist principles. If this is to occur, aU manifestations of how
these principles were practiced in the GDR must be rejected if they are to have a credible
future. Democratic sociaUsm, albeit not the GDR brand of sociaUsm, is stUl seen by many
German leftist inteUectuals as a valid modus operandi agamst the potential excesses of an
"exploitative capitalism." Thus, the future of democratic sociaUsm must be saved by

^^Jarausch, 38-9.

"ibid., 41.
24n
*Mary FuUbrook, Anatomy of a Dictatorship: Inside the GDR 1949-1989.
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), 24, 54-5.
25
Jarausch, 39.
critiquing the GDR's wayward brand of "socialism."^* The GDR sports system has
become a target in particular of the West German leftist inteUectuals as it is the one area
in which the GDR clearly excelled over its West German brethren, and this was
accomplished in part via capitalist incentives for the athletes.

There may be another reason for the current focus on dopmg and Stasi in
Germany in regard to the East German sporting past. The present generation of historians
in Germany has experienced what Robert G. MoUer notes as a transition in the West
German reconstmction of the Nazi regime. Throughout the 1950s the central feature of
this past was the suffering endured by Germans themselves, and not "Nazi crimes and the
victimizations of others. "^^ The student movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s was,
in part, a rejection of the Germans-as-victims view, a perspective of the youth that had
started as early as the late 1950s on to the early 1960s.^* The trend in Germany m the
1990s, thus, is an endeavor to supersede this historical perspective common in the
immediate decades after World War II. This period was deemed by the youth as a failure
to "come clean" and take responsibility for the nefarious Nazi past, and instead ascertain
the dimensions of human rights violations under twentieth century German poUtical
systems as an overarching theme. This reaction finds German historians thus likening the
abuses under Hitler to those under Honecker. This is known as a Diktaturvergleich, or
dictatorship comparison.
The vilification of the East German sports system thus has a niche, which fits well

^^Ibid., 43.

^'Robert G. MoUer, "War Stories: The Search for a Usable Past in the Federal
Republic of Germany," American Historical Review. 101,4 (Oct. 1996): 1013.

^"ibid., 1034-5.

^'Jarausch, 41.

10
into this schema. This manner of historical expose has served only to intensify bitter

feelings in the processing of GDR sports history. In Leipzig, the seat of the former

premier East German sports coUege, DHfK, one joumaUst penned with considerable

cynicism a portrayal of East German sports in the media:

'Famous athlete X was doped as was athlete Y, that is, the one with numerous
medals hanging on his neck and who had swaUowed the blue pUls which Coach Z
personally delivered to this "quick taker" and which coach had even worked for
the Secret PoUce.' Such accusations are quickly made...even more quickly made is
the impression that under the auspices of GDR sports nothing else [i.e. other than
doping and secret poUce coUaboration] was on the daUy agenda, saluting the flag
perhaps. In all cases, prosecuting attomey inquiries aggravate the very climate in
which Vergangenheitsbewdltigung is to occur.^°
Indeed, on the same page of this issue of the Leipziger Volkszeitung. four articles
pertaining to East German sports are printed: two of them on East German athletes and
drug abuse, one on a caU to ban a former GDR sports physician who ostensibly delivered
illegal performance-enhancing drugs to athletes and who is currently employed in the
FRG, and one article on a GDR athlete and his alleged secret poUce collaboration.^'

The problem of a biased use/misuse in the "processing of GDR history" has been
addressed also by German historians, among them Hermann Weber, who notes in
particular the emphasis on the aforementioned trend toward "political
instmmentalization" of history. ^^ There are numerous errors and problems facing
historians concerning research on the GDR. This, Weber believes, has to do v^ith not only

^"Winfried Wachter, "Akten sorgen fiir scharfes Kluna," Leipziger Volkszeitimg.

15 Oct. 1997, 30.

^'"Beyer: Ich wurde gefragt xmd habe geantwortet," "Rica Reinisch-Martyrerin

Oder Nestbeschmutzerin?," "Leipziger Arztin weist Anschuldigungen von sich," and
"Widerstand gegen Wahl von Kristin Otto," Leipziger Volkszeitung. 15 Oct. 1997, 30.

^^Hermann Weber, "'Asymmetric' bei der Erforschimg des Kommunismus und der
DDR-Geschichte? Probleme mit Archivalien, dem Forschungsstand imd bei den
Wertungen," Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte. [Beilage zur Wochenzeitung Das
Parlament], B26/27, 20 June 1997, 3.

11
the undergirding motive of the critics of the GDR, but also vdth a matter of document
credibility. The danger is to range towards either "blind trust" of the documents, notably
those of the Socialist Unity Party {Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschland, henceforth
SED), and those of the Ministry for State Security, to a dismissal of these sources
altogether as having a "lying nature." The chief current interest, Weber notes, is
"...concentrated in spectacular accounts of'unofficial' secret poUce coUaborators' reports
which present daUy life of the GDR in a false light." The trend, Weber considers, is then
to make snap judgments without the necessary basis of detaUed knowledge and
evaluation of sources.^^ This tendency, to formulate conclusions on the basis of
information fragments, thus misrepresenting the whole picture, can be seen most clearly
in current assessments of GDR sporting history. This appears to be the case particularly if
those sources used are based solely on State Secret Police (Stasi) reports without the
benefit of hearing testimony from the relevant actors. Katarina Witt, again, points out in
her autobiography the sometimes ludicrous "facts" she read about herself in her file. One
zealous mformant reports that she had made love to a long time acquaintance for aU of
seven minutes, from 8:00 PM to 8:07 PM at the Hotel Bellevue in Dresden on November
17,1988. She responds in astonishment, that what, in fact, had happened, was nothing.
She was simply resting in the room of a goodfriend.^"*Weber thus cautions against "...the
practice of research on GDR history based on Secret PoUce reports as it...presents a
distorted picture. "^^ The other extreme Weber warns against in this aU too commonly
misconstmed picture of GDR Ufe and culture is to render the SociaUst Unity Party
dictatorship as harmless.^* StUl, even official state documents, not necessarily of a

"ibid., 5.

^'Witt, 27-8.

"Weber, 5.

^^Ibid., 6.
12
sensitive matter, contain gaps that require complementary information. Weber notes that

many of the original GDR documents are misused in the respect that aU manner of non-

existent behavior and/or meaning is being read into them."

Since the reunification of Germany on October 3, 1990, the sports documents of

the Centt-al Committee of the SED, the GDR's chief sports federation known as the
German Exercise and Sport Federation (DTSB), the GDR's own coUection of papers on
the Olympic Games, and those of many other official GDR govemment branches, such as
the Sports Committee, have been made available for scholarly research. Most of these
documents are currently housed at the "Foundation for Archives for Party and Mass
Organizations of the GDR," now based in Berlin. ^^ Much of the research conducted prior
to the fall of the Wall on the GDR's national sports system, such as the dissertations by
Gerald A. Carr and Peter WUfred Sutcliffe, was done without the benefit of many of the
more confidential state documents of the Central Committee.^' It was also done without
the benefit of interviews with the key players: athletes who were not refugees, their
coaches, and some of the leading sports officials. To reconstmct a picture of the GDR
sports system accurately, in light of the current trend towards polemics—glorification or
vilification of this system—one must exert caution first and foremost in exercising what
Weber perceives as a balancing of the circumstances of the document with a detailed
knowledge of the background facts. Coupled with an assessment of the credibUity of the

"Ibid., 8.

^*I.e., Stiflung Archiv fiir Partei und Massenorganizationen der DDR. Henceforth
referred to as SAPMO.

^^Gerald A. Carr, The National Socialist Programme of Sport. Physical Education

and Recreation and that of the German Democratic Republic. (Ph.D. diss.. South Africa:
SteUenbosch, 1972). Peter WUfred SutcUfife, The Stmcture and PoUtical Significance of
Sport in the German Democratic Republic: A Sociohistorical Study of the Development
of Sport in Germany Prior to 1945 and Its Subsequent Political Instrumentalisation m the
German Democratic Republic. (Ph.D. diss., England: University of Bradford, 1987).

13
source, should be an assessment of the subject matter's probabUity based on repeated
trends or patterns as revealed in the documents and testimonies of the concemed parties.

Historians now have the unprecedented opportunity to deal directly with the
makers of history itself m open discussions with athletes, coaches, and sports officials
without any potential poUtical and/or security recriminations hindering their testimonies.
Yet one must, even here, exert caution. As of July 1997, the Zentrale Ermittlungsstelle
Regierungs und Vereinigungskriminalitdt (Central Investigation Division of the Federal
Govemment for Unification Crime, henceforth ZERV) has conducted investigations
regarding allegations of coaches, sports physicians, and other sports officials of the
former GDR sports system of administering performance-enhancing dmgs, in particular,
steroids, either to athletes who were minors (without either parental knowledge or
consent) or to adult athletes who were administered drugs under pressure. The charges of
doping minors appear to be the most grievous and to have been conducted specifically
under the jurisdiction of the parUamentary Enquete Commission at the behest of
molecular biologist Wemer Franke.'**' These charges focus significantly on eleven former
swimming clubs in East Germany. Female swimmers excelled in particular under the
GDR system.'*' Considerable attention was granted Kristin Otto, for example, in the
summer of 1997 by the German media, as she is the most decorated Olympic athlete of
both East and West Germany. Otto was—and stUl is—under fire in the media as she claims
she cannot say whether any of her victories were due to performance-enhancing drugs,
even though medical records reveal that she was indeed a recipient of steroids."^

'*°Thomas Kistner, "Die vertrauten Vorstosse der Fahnder ins Vakuum,"

Siiddeutsche Zeitung. 18 Apr. 1997. Sport. See also, Franke.

"'"Eine Trainer-Delegation, vielfach belastet," Siiddeutsche Zeitung. 18 Aug.

1997.

'*^Kistner, "Die vertrauten Vorstosse der Fahnder ins Vakumm."

14
 Another spotUght issue in the processing of GDR sports history (and of concern to
ZERV) and whether leaders of the SED knew of; or even endorsed, the use of
performance-enhancing dmgs in eUte sports. In Ught of former leader Egon Krenz's
conviction in August of 1997 and sentencing to six-and-one-half years in prison for the
shooting deaths of East Germans who attempted to flee to the West, this particular charge
raises questions as to the chain of responsibility in the sports-related dmg issues,
particularly those pertaining to the administration of steroids to minors.'*^ No more than at
the 1945-46 Nuremburg trials the defense contention that "I was only foUowing orders"
would not hold water in Krenz's case, even though he was the East German leader who
ordered the opening of the Wall.

In 1968 the member of the Central Committee of the SED responsible for
Physical Culture and Sport, Rudi Helhnann, wrote a letter to Party Chair and GDR state-
head, Erich Honecker, regarding a case of a positive detection of an illegal substance
used by a GDR athlete as determined by a Czechoslovak physician on the occasion of the
Friedensfahrt (i.e., the Eastem Bloc's equivalent of the West's Tour de France).
HeUmann noted that the usage of this preparation, "Haemortyl" was employed by many
different teams and was therefore not registered as a doping case by the physician.
Helhnann informed Honecker that, prior to the race, aU athletes were ordered not to use
any "Ulegal substances." This particular document is revealing on the problem of leaders'
knowledge of doping cases. One can assume that, if the leaders can order athletes not to
take dmgs for a certain time period, then they can also order athletes to take them. It also
reveals that the administration was aware of the practice enough to at least know when to
order changes in the usage of illegal substances.

'*^Paul Geitner, "Ex-German leader sentenced for deaths at waU," Anchorage

DaUvNews. 26 Aug. 1997, A6.

'*'*ZK der SED Sport, Sport Dept., Rudi HeUmann letter to Erich Honecker, May
17, 1968, DY30 FV A2/18/6, SAPMO.
15
 In many cases, the credibUity and motives of both East defenders and West
accusers in the ZERV manhunt is nebulous at best. Oftentimes, the East Germans appear
in a more favorable Ught, or on equal terms with their westem counterparts. Usually it is
the East Germans whose credibility is damaged and their life-long professions, which are
endangered. In facing charges of illicit dmg distribution, Leipzig swimming coach Uwe
Neumann vehemently denies ever having done bodUy harm to anyone, but he also faces
charges for Stasi coUaboration and possible dismissal from his position as coach at an
Olympic training center if the allegations can be verified.'*^ Many sports physicians who
•were present in sporting arenas in the GDR days, but who may have had nothing to do
with the dmg distribution, stand to have their professional licenses revoked. One woman
sports physician has been accused by historians Dr. Spitzer and Professor Dr. Teichler as
having been mvolved in the administering of performance-enhancing dmgs which, in this
case, affect the nervous system of the athlete. While the two historians base their report
on Stasi files and beUeve that Dr. Frohner should be dismissed from her position as a
sports physician at the Federal Institute for Sports Science, Dr. Frohner has received
supporting testimonies from one of her leading and most successful athletes, indicating
that the athlete was by no means mistreated."^ Another GDR physician has been charged
with unethical conduct for making note of the forbidden growth hormone Genotrophine
in the medical records of an athlete while in the meantime actuaUy giving her, what he
claimed was a mere salt preparation. West German coUeagues do not beUeve Dr.
Kliimper's story and would Uke to see him dismissed from his position as Chief Physician

'*^"Schwimmtrainer Neumann: "Niemanden geschadet,'" Siiddeutsche Zeitung. 19

Aug. 1997, 15. See also: Frank Schober, "Giitetermin im Fall Neumann zweimal
verschoben," Leipziger Volkszeitung, 10 Nov. 1997,19.

'*^Frank Mertens, "Leipziger Arztin weist Anschuldigungen von sich:

Sporthistoriker Spitzer wirft Dr. Frohner Mittaterschaft vor," Leipziger Volkszeitung. 15
Oct. 1997,30.

16
of the Sport Trauma Clinic in Breisgau.''^ These cases confirm historian FuUbrook's
assessment of post WaU history:

Reputations and careers were smashed in an instant once Stasi connections were
so much as adumbrated, let alone proven. It became the ultimate litmus test of
complicity or defiance, being on the side of the devils or the angels, under the old
regime...[this] witch-hunt...threw the role of the Stasi into a wider prominence, to
some extent deflecting pubUc attention from the primary iniquities of the system
as a whole.'**

One should note that, in Ught of the pending federal investigations which are

treating such cases as crinunal proceedings, much is at stake, oftentimes more than mere

lawsuits. When Winfried Leopold, a swimming coach of the GDR employed after the

Wende as the head swim coach of the German Swimming League in Leipzig, promised,

via letter, to a West German coUeague that he would endeavor to keep a "doping free"

group of athletes and not have a "pUl popping or intravenously infused" swim team, such

as he remembered under the old system in the GDR, it eventuaUy led to West German

swim coach Manfred Thiesmann caUing in an open letter for an investigation into

Leopold's background and possible participation in the doping schemes. Leopold's

confession via letter to having merely known of the usual GDR doping practices among

swimmers cost him his job. While numerous former GDR coaches, as weU as FRG

coaches, are currently unemployed, the competition has become fierce for the scarce

positions and in particular for the higher positions in the federal sports hierarchy, such as

Leopold enjoyed. Even admitting knowledge of the doping practices caused Leopold to

47,,
'"Freiburger Mediziner wegen Mittelvergabe kritisiert: Arzte verurteUen
Kliimper," Leipziger VoUcszeitung. 16 Oct. 1997, 21.

'^^FuUbrook, 46-7.

17
lose his position as head coach, although he was eventually reinstated as a federal coach

for j)erformance di^nostics.'"

One former GDR female swimmer, Ubike Lebek, believes the intensive critique

of former East German coaches to be unjustified even though she herself received

anaboUc steroids as a child. She feels there were many highly skilled coaches who did not

deal with the dmgs and were most adept atfreatuigathletes quite well. Ms. Lebek notes

that "what is now coming out [as a result of the investigations] is only a part of the

tmth."'"

Much of the truth wUl probably never be known, except by the participants in this

past, who are not speaking. A nine time gold medalist in track andfieldevents, American

Carl Lewis, has observed that "In the USA it (performance-enhancing dmg abuse) is

worse than it used to be in the former East Germany—only they controUed it and in the

States the opposite is the case." Lewis blames the sports officials who insinuate that "You

can take these things, we won't betray you."'' One lAAF official conceded in response to

Lewis's remarks, "I know that they conduct controls in the USA, but not if they

manipulate the controls."'^ American athlete Charlie Francis testified that, when he

participated in the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany, he, at one point, went to the

''^Christopher Keil, "Gespanntes StiUschweigen," Siiddeutsche Zeitung. 5/6 July

1997, 60.
'"Christopher Keil, "Das ist jetzt nur ein TeU der Wahrheit," Sttddeutsche Zeitung.
19 Aug. 1997,15.
"Gerd Holzbach, "In USA schUmmer als in der Ex-DDR," Leichtathletik. 16 July
1997, 25.
'^"Carl Lewis: "Funktionare decken gedopte Athleten," Frankfurter AJlgemeine
Zeftung, 10 July, 1997,28.
18
dorm room in the Olympic village of New Zealanders Laurie D'Arcie and Robin Tait.

There Francis witnessed US discus thrower Jay Sylvester dropping by and saying, "Hey

Robin, have you got any extra Dianabol? Mine's out." At which point Tait handed over a

roU of the pUIs from which Sylvester immediately ingested two. Two days later Sylvester

won the sUver medal.'^

One East German track athlete who had been in one of the former GDR eUte

sports schools testified that, whUe she did experience rigorous discipline in the training

program and also received vitamins, she did not know for a feet if these "vitamins" were

actuaUy performance-enhancing dmgs, nor did she notice any extraordinary body

changes. She did recoUect that her coach was keen on when her menstrual cycle began

and ended. This may have indicated a monitoring of possible hormonal influences due to

illicit substances. The athlete also testified that, as a student at Potsdam University, she

took classes from one of the lead critics of the GDR sports system. West German

Professor Dr. Hans Joachim Teichler. This athlete stated that she and other former eUte

athletes of the GDR who were his students were aghast and angered at his teachings on

the GDR eUte athletic program, testifying that Professor Dr. Teichler's views were clear

"ex^gerations" and that they, as his students, dared not refiite him in class, but that they

would also not recommend Dr. Teichler's classes on GDR sports history to other

students.''*

'^Thomas Kistner, "Als Olympia aufliorte, ein Spiel zu sein," Suddeutsche

Zeitung, 19 Aug. 1997,29.

"*Interview with a female track athlete of the GDR eUte athletic program,
anonymity to be retained upon the athlete's request, Potsdam University, Potsdam, July
16, 1997.

19
 While Professor Wemer Franke insists in his Enquete Commission report that

much of the damning evidence was destroyed (no proof is given for this assertion) he

claims that the East German team was already receiving dmgs by the 1968 summer

Olympics specificaUy in tiie power sports. Franke believes that the competition was also

doped, though not so systematically." The problem with this comparison is that we do

not now know, nor probably ever wiU know, the extent of the drug usage of the GDR's

competitors, because, there too, no records exist. Franke adheres, in the meantime, to the

conviction that "universal" doping was appUed in aU realms by 1980. This does not mean,

however, that there were not numerous cases and discipUnes or even institutes where

doping played no factor at aU, or that only selective usage at certam levels was the rule.'*

In some cases, steroids or performance-enhancing dmgs, would not have produced any

appreciable results as the skUl level was so high, or the sport itself, was not conducive to

artificial improvement due to the emphasis on refined technique and motor skills."

Some documents clearly debunk the testimonies of athletes. Former Olympic

Champion swimmer Kristin Otto claims she did not know of the dmg distribution, and as

a sports commentator working for the television station ZDF, has found it necessary to

defend herself against accusations of knowingly taking "supportive means," the East

German euphemism for performance-enhancing drugs.'* Stasi files from the Central

"Franke, 921, 947.

' ^ i d , 932.

'^Interviews with Anett Potzsch-Rauschenbach, Olympic Gold medaUst for

women's figure skating 1980, June 26, 1997, in Chemnitz, and Waldemar Cierpinski, two
time Olympic Gold medaUst in the marathon 1976, 1980, June 7, 1997, in Halle.

'^"Sportstudio mit Sonderthema: Kristin Otto diskutiert im ZDF iiber Doping,"

20
Instittite of the Sport Medicine Service hi Kreischa, the GDR's former chief sports

medical institute, have revealed that she indeed did test positive." In light of Germany's

anti-doping program in the 1990's "Fairgeht vor" (i.e.,feimesstakes precedence), public

outrage was heightened at the recent nomination of Otto to the position of President of

the German Olympic Society. Even the President of the German Sports Federation

believed it to be an inopportune time for Otto to accept the nomination. Due to this

outcry. Otto refiised the position. The West German press was virtuaUy silent on her

declining the position even though tnin^ets were sounded over the initial brouhaha.^ A

former GDR national champ in the shot put, Hehna Knorscheidt, claims that she had not

consumed any kind of performance-enhancing drugs whatsoever.*' Yet, in Berendok's

work Doping.... documents revealing the contents of a lecture given by Dr. Lothar Hinz

in Leipzig on February 10, 1981 are reproduced, indicating that Ms. Knorscheidt in fact

took more Oral Turinabol than did the male shot put champion Ulf Timmermann.*^

Thefrequentlyheard (West German) charge that East German athletes were

universally subjected to dmgs is both misleading, and fallacious, for a number of reasons.

It appears misleading, for one, as it presents a prime opportunity for "revanche histoire"

Leipziger Volkszeitimg, 16 Oct. 1997,21.

"PhiUip Whitten, "From Secret PoUce Files: Proof of East German Dmg Use,"
Swimming World and Junior Svdmmer. 35, Dec.1994, 51.
*°"Offener Brief an die DOG: Widerstand gegen Wahl von Kristin Otto,"
Leipziger Volkszeitung. 15 Oct. 1997, 30.
^'interview with Hehna Knorscheidt, former eUte athlete in the shot put, SUver
medalist in 1983 in the World Championships, May 18, 1997, HaUe. Knorscheidt insists,
"We took vitamin C, and nothing else."

"Berendok, 171-2.
21
for the West Germans and thus nullifies the entire systematic and highly scientific sports

system from the talent selection principles down to the design of boxing robots and

discredits any other factor of the GDR eUte sports system for its athletic success record.

A refugee from the GDR and former coach from HaUe, Lothar PohUtz, commented in

1989 prior to the fall of the BerUn Wall in respect to the doping accusations that, "People

are way too naive in the West to understand vAist is going on." Yet he insisted that the

GDR athletic potential had tremendous advantages:

It [the system] is so extremely weU organized and has excellent coaches and
sports' science that it wUl never go down the scale on an international basis.*^

Second, charges of universal taking of performance-enhancing substances appear

to be inconsistent with testimonies of numerous athletes, many of whom were

unsuccessful and have nothing to conceal, defend, or lose in an open admission of steroid

taking. The charges are also inconsistent with testimonies of athletes who were

successfiil, but the degree of skUl level required in their particular sport was such that

steroids, for example, would not have been advantageous for increasing their

performance levels. This appears to be the case in such sports as figure skating and

gymnastics, in which the GDR enjoyed considerable success.*'* Third, the use of

performance-enhancing dmgs on a wide scale does not appear to be unique to the East

*^ Klaus Blume, "Ein System hinterlasst Spuren: Die DDR-ein Doping-Paradies,"

Stuttgarter Zeitung. 28 June 1989.

*^The GDR's most successful athlete in the 1972 Munich hosted summer Olympic
Games was not a track star, but the gymnast, Karen Janz. Janz won gold medals for her
performance on the asymetric bars and the vault-horse as weU as sUver medals for the
team event and the all-around individual competition. She won bronze on the beam.
Dieter Wales and Wolfgang Gitter, "MUestones in the 30 Years History of the GDR: The
Successfiil Seventies," SportsjntheGDR, 4, 10 Oct. 1979,9.

22
German experience. American Olympic field athlete Jay Sylvester conducted an

unofficial survey of track and field athletes at the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972, the

first big Olympic win for the GDR-particularly in the track and field events-and

discovered that 68% of the athletes conceded that they had indeed used some form of

anabolic steroids in preparation for the Games.*' The Ukelihood that East German

athletes did not admit to steroid usage in this particular survey is great, as athletes were

under fear of continual surveillance by the ever- present secret poUce (or secret police

coUaborators) and also because they were to maintain all training methods as secret in the

same manner that military secrets were kept.** This 68%, then, probably excludes the

GDR athletes who were not as likely to be forthcoming concerning their Ulicit training

activities, and represents a large scale intemational participation rate in these dmg

usages.*' A fourth consideration is that while Dr. Franke has found ample evidence for

wide-scale doping in swknming, this does not mean that there are isolated cases and/or

even entire groups who did not imbibe in the eUxir of strength.** Many athletes have

testified to the contrary of Franke's assertions, such as swimmers Roland Matthes and

*'Terry Todd, "AnaboUc Steroids: The Gremlins of Sport," Journal of Sport

History. 14, no. 1, (Spring 1987): 87.

**Interview with Professor Dr. Giinther Erbach, former State Secretary for Sports
and Physical Culture of the GDR, July 15,1997, Greifswald. The leading scientific sports
journal in the GDR, Theorie und Praxis des Leistungssports was avaUable only to those
in the service of the state in eUte sports. The Annual Index for 1970 of this issue
(Jahresinhahsverzeichnis 1970) stipulates that an identification pass/permit was necessary
to gain access to the journal. Photocopymg or otherwise relaying any of the material
found therein was prohibited.

*'lnterview with Erbach. Interview with Frank Hartmann, Olympic Athlete of the
GDR and both GDR and FRG Coach in WrestUng, July 4,1997, Schififerstadt.

**Franke, 943.
23
JOrg Hoffinann.

From 1997 to 2000, ZERV has zeroed in on evidence of coaches administering

steroids to unwitting minors or adult athletes who received the performance-enhancing

dmgs under duress. The evidence sought has typically been medical records and/or old

Stasi records. ZERV, though, has sought further corroboration beyond these records and

has encouraged former or current athletes to testify against their own coaches. Many of

these athletes believe ZERV's efforts are part of an endeavor to dismiss the entire GDR

sports system as unworthy of examination for other redeeming features and to attribute

GDR sports success to steroid abuse alone. This oversimplification and reductionism

does not mean that Ulegal means of performance-enhancement were the sole domain or

even the overweening domain of the East Germans.*' The evidence of performance-

enhancing drug usage should not, however, be discounted as insignificant as it is worthy

of attention in light of the advanced and scientific manner in which it was appUed as weU

as the relevance it had to the sports program as a whole. Four-time gold medalist

swimmer Roland Matthes commented in an interview with Germany's leading

newsmagazine, Der Spiegel:

Matthes- From the westem side a campaign is being waged against the former
GDR swimmers. The recommendation now is to consider those records as
illegitimate.
Spiegel-...because those records were achieved through doping.
Matthes-The reputation granted GDR swimmers as swimming pharmacies is
absurd...by such means one cannot achieve gold medals. Without talent, dmgs are
useless...No wonder that (GDR) stars such as NUs Rudolph havefledGermany in
frustration.
Spiegel- In the USA where he is now he is probably earning more than he would
in united Germany.
*'The conclusions which Wemer Franke comes to in his Enquete Commission
report.
24
 Matthes-He's just treated better there. That's why swimmersfromthe former GDR
have said, "stick it," I would have left the country too.'°

In Ught of this introduction into not only the problem of source credibiUty but also

the post Wall poUtical and social milieu surroimding what Canadian journalist Doug

GUbert once dubbed "The Miracle Machine," what appear to be the pertinent questions

surrounding the tme historical basis of the GDR sports system and its tremendous success

are manifold.^' What measures, for example, was the state wUling to take and did take to

secure the success of its athletes? Did this indeed merit the overweening attention of the

State Secret PoUce? Why was there such a premium placed on athletic success and did

this have a distinct significance to the state in mtemational affairs as well as serve as a

tool in domestic affairs? At what levels of the govemment were sport-related decisions

made? Is there a fair means to assess if the GDR athletes were more subject to and/or

were more wUling recipients of performance-enhancing dmgs than their mtemational

counterparts, and is there any legitimacy to the West German allegations of

flachendeckend, or universal, dmg usage?'^ What were the athletes' perceptions of this

system and their personal motivating factors? From the East German standpoint, what

coirponents of the system legitimately created their success story? Is the current and

highly controversial West German assessment of this system accurate or is it, too,

poUtically motivated? FinaUy, is this a system worthy of emulation or even capable of

being emulated in a western, capitaUst setting?

'°"Ihr konnt uns kreuzweise," Der Spiegel. 5 Nov. 1990,253.

"Doug GUbert, The Miracle Machine. (New York: Coward, McCaim and
Geoghegan, Inc. 1980).
'^Kistner, "Als Olympia aufhCrte, ein Spiel zu sein..."
25
 The Eastem Bloc tendency, and particularly the East German tendency, of

applying Marxist-Leninist philosophy to sports may be surprising if not seemingly

incongment to the whole concept of an athletic program, as seen from a westem

perspective. Yet this was deemed in the GDR as being entirely consistent with "socialist"

physical education theory. A belief stated by GDR State leader Walter Ulbricht was that

...only under Socialism can sport and physical education be 'of the people' and
illustrate tme socialist characteristics...a theory that has its foundations in Marxist
philosophy.'^

The GDR leaders sold this marriage of ideology and sport as being an "expression

of humanistic cultural poUtics." Sport was to be their personal heritage in a long historical

chain of organized sports in Germany serving some poUtical purpose.''* Athletic activity

was to be deemed a "fixed component of socialist national culture...as a Uving expression

of the humanistic cultural politics of the socialist state."" The eUte athletes were to

embody the "socialist" personaUty much in the same way that Christians are to embody

the spirit of the Christian faith. At the initiative of Walter Ulbricht the politicization of

sports became a social issue of the highest rank. West German sports joumaUst Willi

Knecht remarked that "...no other German politician has so emphatically supported the

'^Harmann J. Kramer, Korpererziehung und Sportunterricht in der DDR.

Schomdorf bei Stuttgart: Verlag Karl Hoffmann, 1969, 14 cited in G.A. Carr, "The
Application of Marxist Leninist Philosophy to Physical Education m the German
Democratic Republic," Canadian Journal of Sport and Physical Education. 3, (Dec.
1972): 68.

"*John M. Hoberman, Sport and Political Ideology. (Austin: University of Texas,

1984), 206.

"Deutscher Tum und Sportbund, Olvmpische Idee Verwirklicht. (BerUn:

Abteilung Sportverkehr, 1968), 6.

26
supported thefiirtherdevelopment of sports."'* Former Professor Heinz Meuer of the

Institute for Marxism-Leninism at the German CoUege for Physical Culture commented

that a main component of the sports college was ideological education emphasizing the

teachings of Marx and Lenin. Officially, athletic success was attributed to this mfusion of

ideology into the education of East German sportsmen and women.

The state-sponsored athletic programs of the GDR served unquestionably to

enhance the image of the state. In contrast, GDR authorities piUoried the sports programs

of the Federal RepubUc of Germany as representing "anti-humanistic, imperiaUstic war

mongering attitudes of the Bonn govemment." Sports imder the West Germans were

presented by the GDR regime as a tool to foster the Cold War." The GDR press was

oriented, on the other hand, strictly towards a glorified depiction of its own athletic

system. The GDR media met revelations of positive steroid resultsfromEast German

shotput record breaker Ilona Slupianek with accusations of "unjustifiable excuses" on

behalf of relative poor performance by the West Germans.'* One document of the GDR's

German Sports Committee noted specificaUy that "The Party regards physical culture as

the most important means of communist education of the workers.""

76
WiUi Knecht, Das MedaUlenkoUektiv. (Berlin: Holzapfel, 1978), 51.
"Die Aufgaben der Korperkultur und des Sports bei der Gestaltung des
entwickelten gesellschaftlichen Systems des SoziaUsmus in der Deutschen
Demokratischen Republik vom 20. September 1968, "Zwanzig Jahre DDR-20 Jahre
Korperkultur des Volkes," Theorie und Praxis der K6rperkultur. documentary ed.,
StaatUches Komitee fiir Korperkultur und Sport beim Ministerrat der Deutschen
Demokratischen RepubUk, 104 cited in Carr, "The Application of Marxist Leninist
Philosophy to Physical Education in the German Democratic RepubUc," 69.
78
Knecht, 58-9, 61.
'^Leitartikel der "Prawda," Jan. 30, 1949, Deutsche Sportsauschuss, DY30 IV
27
 Now, eleven years after the faU of the Berlin WaU and ten years into reunification,

the smear campaign of German against German has changed hands. It is no longer the

East press denouncing the West, it is the West demonizing the East. The results have

embittered many an athlete and others of the GDR medal-producing machine. The heat of

the West German press on swimmer Kristin Otto, the most decorated-ever Olympic

German athlete from either side, was particularly intense m the summer and fall of

1997 80 Q^^ ultimately refused the highest honor to be offered an athlete due to the

outcry against her proven consumption of steroids in the past. She stUl insists that she

never knowingly took any substances despite teammates' testimony to the contrary.*'

That the confroversy received a good deal of press and her refusal of the award received

little or no attention in most German newspapers is indicative of the spirit of controversy

surrounding GDR sports in the Federal Republic of Germany in the 1990's. Recovered

national pride may be at stake, in light of how soundly West German athletes were

defeated by the East Germans. Former GDR athletes who are currently actively

competing for the FRG are also paying a price for concedmg to having been recipients of

performance-enhancing drugs in the GDR. A World champion and bronze medalist in the

500 meter free-style at the Olympic Games in Barcelona, Jorg Hoffinann, admitted in a

television interview that he took Oral Turinabol, the dmg of choice in the former GDR,

for aU of three weeks in preparation for the Summer Olympics in 1988 in Seoul. When he

2/18/3. SAPMO at Zeitgeschichte fiir Sport, Potsdam University.

^''"Sportstudio mit Sonderthema: Kristin Otto diskutiert im ZDF Uber Doping,"

Leipziger Volkszeitung. 16 Oct. 1997,21.

*'Robert Hartmann, "Friihere KoUegin als Doping-Zeugin: Kristin Otto

attackiert," Siiddeutsche Zeittmg. 15 Sept. 1997,17.
28
discovered that he had been mgesting steroids, he refiised anything offered him from that

point on. This admission to a brief past experience with Ulegal substances has

complicated Hoflfinaim's present athletic career. Sponsorship is difficult to find for even

this World champion as his background is deemed tainted. Embittered by the political

cUmate created by the doping investigations of ZERV, Hoffinann believes that what

prevails is an atmosphere of "Ues, hysteria and mistmst...many untmths are coming

out."^^ West German Rainer Henkel, World champion and chief competitor of Hofifinann

has been accused by Roland Matthes of discrediting the successes of HofiBnann due to

insecurity regarding his own performance.*^

Thus the historical-poUtical conflict regarding the GDR sports system has not

ceased with the ending of that effective system. Even in 2000, debates stUl rage

throughout the country regarding what can be appropriated from the system and what

cannot. On April 8, 1997 in the Bundestag in Berlin, a public fomm was held in which

heated discussion ensued concerning the distribution of state funding for sports in

Germany. While the Green Party, Germany's classic left-wing environmental party,

sponsored the forum, questions were oriented as to why much of the sponsorship system

of the GDR has been assumed, and why elite sports takes precedence over "mass" or

popular sports.*'* Indeed, if the system was so innately cormpted and successfiil because it

was based on steroids alone, why is it that much of this system, in various forms, is being

*^Jens Weinreich, "J6rg Hofifinann gibt Doping zu-aber nur ein bisschen,'
Berliner Zeittmg. 14 Oct. 1997, 31.

""Ihr kOnnt uns kreuzweise," Der Spiegel. 253.

*'*Kistner, "Die vertrauten Verstosse..."

29
adopted by the West German govemment and what precisely is bemg incorporated? This

is a topic which has preoccupied the public and poUcy-makers and has generated even

more debate as to how, what, or whether anything at aUfromthe former GDR system

should be assimilated into the Federal RepubUc's sport sponsorship. The precise nature of

these issues and aforementioned questions are begging for investigation under more

objective circumstances than the poUtical environment offers in the late 1990's and into

the twenty first century in the Federal Republic of Germany.

30
 CHAPTER n

THE POLITICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF SPORTS IN

GERMANY: AN HISTORICAL TRADITION

Play is more than a mere physiological phenomenon or a psychological reflex. It

goes beyond the confines of purely physical or purely biological activity. It is a
significant fimction-that is to say, there is some sense to it. In play there is
something "at play" which transcends the immediate needs of Ufe and imparts
meaiung to the action. All play means something.' Johan Huizinga Homo
Ludens

Indeed, play has assumed a very potent meaning in the reahn of intemational

sport competitioiL This can be seen most vividly in the historical settuig of the Olympic

Games. So significant is this social phenomenon that it has engaged the minds of heads of

state, who more often than not perceive it as a valuable tool to advance their particular

poUtical goals. This was most certainly the case of the German Democratic Republic

during its peak years of steUar athletic uitematronal performances from 1968 to 1989.

The GDR govemment had earUer established the formation of massive national sports

clubs and organizations in an attempt to stem the tide of talented and ambitious youth

from fleeing the country to the more affluent Federal RepubUc of Germany. PrimarUy,

GDR sport organizations were designed in the mid 1950s "to prevent and fight the

'damaging' influences of the West on youth. "^ Thus, the "cormpting" youth culture of the

more prosperous West would hopefuUy prove to be less enticing and less inclined to lure

the more talented young people away—youth who voted for the West with their feet.

'johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture. (Boston:
Beacon Press. 1950), 1. No translator.

^Hermann Weber, Die DDR 1945-1990. (Munich: R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 1993),

50.
31
Baiting the youth of East Germany with extensive sport organizations was seen as the key

to stemming this exodus. By 1956 some one miUion plus youth belonged to state-

sponsored organizations. These organizations ultimately served as a basis for the

promotion of an elite athletic sports system.^

In 1957, the huge umbrella organization of all the numerous sports clubs,

associations, societies, school groups, and elite athletic groups was formed, taking the

name Deutsche Tum- und Sportsbund, or, the German Gymnastics and Sports Federation

(henceforth referred to as DTSB).'* This organization supplanted the German Sports

Committee, or DSA. Some athletk organizations had been created preceding the

formation of the DTSB, such as the Gesellschaftfur Sport und Technik (GST, or Society

for Sport and Technique), which was estabUshed in 1952. At the GST's first

congressional meeting, held in September of 1956, its stated principal flmction was "pre-

military fitness training," to heighten the level of the GDR's defense capability. Other

goals (to be addressed later) would also be assigned to this organization.'

To confirm the significance of sport not only for the youth but for the population

as a whole of this small communist-run country, the right to sports activities, leisure,

recreational opportunities, and access to sports facUities was guaranteed as an individual

and corporate right in the GDR's constitution. Sport was mentioned no fewer than four

^Ibid.,51.

''Prof Dr. Giinther Wonneberger, ed., Korperkultur und Sport in der DDR.
(Berlin: Sportverlag, 1982), 28-9.

'Weber, 51.

32
times in the constitution, as seen in articles 18, 26 and 34.* In article 34, sport as an

individual right was presented on a par with rights of freedom of speech, reUgion, and

assembly. This article specifically stipulated: "Every citizen has a right to physical

education and sport."' The nation's working class party, the Sozialistische Einheitspartei

Deutschlands, or the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (henceforth referred to as SED)

also made provisions in its leading documents for the promotion of physical culture. The

SED designated itself the leading force in the formation of national legislative and

judicial poUcies.*

The overtones of the social and political value of organized sports were expressed

by Manfred Ewald, who served as both President of the German Gymnastics and Sports

Federation and President of the National Olympic Committee of the GDR. Ewald noted

in his "socialist" sport manifesto:

Sport as a civU right is a vivid expression of the high esteem which physical
culture and sport enjoy in socialist society, promoted in particular by the working-
class party and the socialist state.^

Ewald's real motive, however, was his commitment to estabUshing a hierarchical

pyramid of sport training organizations with elite athletes at the pinnacle (known in

German as hochleistungs Sportlern, UteraUy, high performance athletes). The intent was

*Martin Kramer, "DTSB-A Socialist Sports Organization," Sports in the GDR. 6,

(1978): 3.
'jean-Marie Brohm, "The Sports Mode of Production: East Germany," Sport: A
Prison of Measured Time. Essays bv .Tean-Marie Brohm. (London: Ink Links, 1978), 80.

^Kramer, 3.
'Manfred Ewald, "Sport in the SociaUst GDR," The Oarsman. Sept./Oct. 1976,
27.
33
to develop a system designed to scout out and cultivate a showcase athlete who would

validate the Marxist-Leninist dogma of poUtical and social superiority over capitaUsm.

Ewald claimed as much quite overtly in reference to the Montreal Olympic Games:

Those athletes whom we send to Montreal v^l not perform miracles, but they are
determined to demonstrate that in our socialist state man can develop his physical
and inteUectual abilities to the fuUest; this they want to show through their
behavior and performance.'"

Fostering a Marxist-Leninist agenda via a monoUthic state sports system was

never a thinly veUed state secret. East German academicians, poUticians, and educators

were quite forthright in their intentions and rendered their services to the state to promote

this cause. The GDR's most prominent sports journal, Theorie und Praxis der

Korperkultur. pubUshed a speech in which Ewald told sports organization delegates what

GDR leaders aspired to produce among the East German citizenry via a massive national

sports system. The plan was to inculcate greater initiative as well as to inspire higher

levels of motivation among workers in order to effect a more complete "socialist" state."

Sports activities, Ewald averred, teach aU manner of skills to participants: teamwork,

cooperation, motor skiUs, quick reflexes, greater work capacity or endurance, and

efficiency, all in addition to creating a healthier, more energized, and more motivated

people. Sport was seen as producing the ideal "socialist personaUty" by being

instmmental in creating not only a sense of joie de vivre and good health among the

citizens, but also as fostering strong character attributes, such as increased wUl power and

'"ibid., 43.

"Manfred Ewald, "Korperkultur und Sport sind Sache unseres ganzen Volkes,"
Theorie und Praxis der Korperkultur. 23, no. 8, (1974): 685.

34
improved work habits.'^ SED Chairman Erich Honecker clearly elucidated these very

sentiments in a speech given on August 21,1980, in honor of the Olympic team wlien he

stated that

The whole of the Party's work is directed towards doing everything in the interests
of the working class, for the weU being of the whole population. The noble aim
being pursued in building an advanced socialist society is served by carrying out
the Party's central policy, i.e., to raise the cultural and living standards of the
people on the basis of a high rate of growth in production, and in increasing
efficiency...Sports...encourages the people...to serve the cause of socialism and
peace.'''

"Socialism," in short, was to be glorified not orUy by the superlative athletes

produced by the system, but because the web of national sport organizations served the

state by inciting a sense of contentment and self control in a land where choice of destiny

was limited. As Rudi HeUmann, head of the Sports Department ki the SED Central

Committee, commented: "The advantages of socialism are evident both in mass sport and

in competitive sport."'^

In the intemational arena, the aforementioned value of exploiting the peak athletes

as "socialist" frophies was a clear role of the GDR sports system. Dr. Giinter

Holzweissig, one of the Federal Republic's premier sport writers specializing in GDR

sports history, remarked in a lecture in Bonn that sport was used as a weapon constmed

as class warfare against the West, and particularly against the Federal RepubUc of

•^Ibid.

'^Speech of Erich Honecker as noted by Rudi Helhnann in "Physical Culture and

Sport-An Essential Issue in Socialist Unity Party PoUcy," Sports in the GDR. 2, (1981):
4.

"*Ibid., 6.

35
Germany and the U.S."

The pervasiveness of sport in aU instittitions under the auspices of this super-state

sport monoUth rendered employee participation not only recommended, but as GDR sport

critic Jean-Marie Brohm asserted, acttiaUy compulsory.'* The end effect, Brohm

observes, was that the East German sports system became the premier model for other

Eastem Bloc countries with its threefold purpose of (1) inculcating "...a socialist-class

consciousness...through the poUticization of sport," (2) infiising into the popular psyche

Marxist-Leninist "moral and ideological principles," and (3) developing the "...mental

and physical qualities needed to train a workforce of'socialist' workers."" The goal was

to create a massive internal "network" sport system that neatly exemplified the Marxist

view that sport strongly complements the "organization of the modes of production." At

least in eUte sports this goal appeared to be fulfilled most adeptly in the GDR.'*

Both show-casing eUte athletes as the end result of a communist system and using

sport to provide pre-military training to improve the GDR's defense capabUity were

clearly defined regune goals. In the early 1970's the East German Mmister of Education

noted in a speech that

"Dr. Gunter Holzweissig, "Die Funktion des Sports fiir das Herrschaftssystem der
DDR: Stnikturen, Zielsetzungen, politischer Stellenwert," Thesen zum Vortrag anlasslich
der offentUchen Anahrung des BTSportauschusses und der Enquete-Kommission
"Aufarbeitung von Geschichte und Folgen der SED-Diktatur in Deutschland." 21 June
1993, Bonn.

'*Brohm, 80-1.

"Ibid., 81.

'*Allen Guttmann, From Ritual to Record: The Nature of Modem Sports. (New
York: Columbia University Press, 1978), 57.

36
 It is no accident that Friedrich Engels placed great weight on the premUitary
education of youth flirough gymnastic exercises. We have up to now
underestimated the importance of premUitary education... We must overcome the
pedagogic pacifism in physical education classes. These classes must become a
part of the pre-military education of our youtL"

Allen Guttmann concluded that Communist athletes were far more Ukely than

athletes of westem countries to claim pride in competmg for their respective countries,

revealing perhaps the miUtaristic and nationalistic connotations associated with sport in

the GDR.^"

Much of the emphasis of ideological training among athletes was militaristic and

poUtical in nature, reflecting Marxist-Leninist and Soviet influence. Contributors to the

GDR's leading academic sports journal, Theorie und Praxis der Korperkultur. wrote m

this style. In one article, GDR sports theorist WUli Schroder observed that

The Leninist principle which inspired the evolution of mankind's culture in

accordance with the socialist revolution should Ukewise be effective for the
working people in developing a socialist physical culture."^'

The stated purpose for developing a sports system at either the mass sports or eUte

level was to glorify "socialism" and promote greater aUegiance to this system by the

citizenry.^^ This must have been no easy feat, for even as late as the mid-1960s to the

early 1970s, a great percentage of the population openly eschewed supporting the GDR

govemment. Because of this, the internal control mechanism of the State Security system

'^Dietrich Martin, Schulsport in Deutschland. Schomdorfi Karl Hofinann, 1972,

88 cited in Guttmann, Ritual to Record. 72.

^"Guttmann, 72.

^'WiUi Schroder, "Zum Problem der Traditionen in der sozialistischen

Korperkultur," Theorie und Praxis der Korperkultur. 24, no. 6, (1975): 540.

^^Ibid.,541.
37
(known commonly as the infamous "Stasi," Le., the acronym for Staatssicherheit

Ministerium) was expanded during this period to exert greater power and control over the

private Uves of civilians.^^ Athletes, as we wUl later see, were not exemptedfromthis

omnipresent state surveUlance.

To strengthen loyalty to the fatherland by the youth as weU as coalesce a love of

"socialism" and "brotherly"friendshiptowards the Soviet Union was the task of

educators. This was no less the perceived task of the sports educators. Culture, poUtics,

propaganda, and sports were aU bound together in one aU-purpose, ideological bundle.

GDR Theorie und Praxis der Korperkultur author Schroderfiirtherelucidated:

It depends on the education of athletes on socialist patriotism, and

internationalism to deepen understanding of those great things already
accomplished...to fortify the conviction that sociaUsm and commumsm is the
perspective developing among all of humanity.^"*

One of America's leading sports historians of the former Soviet Bloc, Dr. John

Hobermann of the University of Texas at Austin, believes that sport provided the perfect

medium for Eastem Bloc countries to express "Marxist-Leninist ideas about culture and

its poUtical function..." for Uke this particular poUtical ideology, sport is, as a form of

culture, "...devoid of irony, intolerant of ambiguity, easy to judge and...fransparently

pedagogical."^'

"Weber, 81.
^'*Schr6der, 542. Schroder also noted on page 546 that "The introduction and
stabUization of new traditions in the reahn of physical culture is a resuh of favorable
conditions because the Party, State and direction of the people's education as well as the
sociaUst mass organizations are aU supported by the athlete's poUticaVideological
education."
^'John Hobermann, The Olympic Crisis. Sport. PoUtics and the Moral Order.
(New York: Aristide D. Caratzas PubUsher, 1986), 113.
38
 Throughout the early decades of the Cold War, East Germans had taken a keen

interest in showcasing athletes as a form of poUtical justification for their socialist

system. Eflforts of GDR officials to gain recognition from the Intemational Olympic

Committee for the GDR's statehood were not even acknowledged imtU 1959, even though

the East Germans had agitated for separate teams and National Olympic Committees in

the early 1950's. Making concessions to the GDR had become as much a conundmm for

the IOC as the Cold War itself Incensed at a previous IOC poUcy drawn up in Lausanne,

Switzerland regarding the IOC's refusal to aUow the GDR its own National Olympic

Committee, GDR officials boycotted a later IOC meeting held in Copenhagen. This

served oiUy to exacerbate the ire of the IOC towards the East Germans. The then-

presiding President of the IOC, Avery Brundage, was also incensed. This perceived slight

to Brundage and the IOC resulted in an entrenched stance in respect to the East Germans'

request for their own committee. As a consequence, when the GDR was not granted

permission to form its own National Olympic Committee, separate from that of the FRG,

no East German athletes participated in the Helsinki games as an act of protest. The first

joint participation of East and West Germanys occurred in the 1956 Olympics under the

West German flag, emblem, and national anthem FinaUy, after much negotiation

between the two Germanys and the IOC, a compromise was devised whereby the athletes

of the two Germanys agreed to march under one neutral flag, emblem, and national

anthem (from Beethoven's ninth symphony) in the 1960 Olympics." Author Richard

^*Ibid., 35-6.
"The neuttal flag consisted of the same flag which the FRG already used, with
the Olympic rings. Richard Espy, The PoUtics of the Olympic Games. (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1981), 42, 67.
39
Espy pointed out that the Cold War issues during the 1956 Olympiad were so contentious

as to consume most of the IOC's discussions and correspondence. The matter of East

Germany was at the heart of these discussions.^*

StiU, the East German govemment maintained a dialogue with the IOC, urging the

committee to bestow upon it therightof an autonomous NOC and team. This right was

conferred eventuaUy in 1968, but both Germanys stUl had to use the neuttal flag

(Olympic rings emblazoned on the FRGflag),Beethoven's ninth symphony, and the

Olympic rings emblem. This would not be changed untU the Munich summer Olympic

Games m 1972. While poUtics have never been divorcedfromthe intemational arena of

sports, this has proved to be most tme of the Olympic Games, and particularly tme of

Germany, both divided and as a single national entity. Germany's involvement in a

poUtically motivated sports movement appears to be sfronger and more enduring than that

of any other European country.

The historical basis of German involvement in sports dates back centuries. Some

would argue that organized sports in Germany date to the tenth century, as records exist

of thirty-six national jousting tournamentsfrom939 to 1487.^' Further evidence seems to

confirm that there were, as early as the 1350s, local jousting tournament societies in

Germany. ^*^ Sports in Germany in the Middle Ages also served a militaristic and poUtical

purpose. Indeed, the very purpose for the jousting matches to begin with was to provide a

28
Ibid., 28-9.
^'Joachim K. Riihl, "German Tournament Regulations of the Fifteenth Century,"
Journal of Sports History. 17, no. 2, (Summer 1990): 165.

^°Ibid., 166.
40
recreational outlet for military men who enjoyed testing their use of arms.^' The necessity

of defending a medieval fortress or city also led to a plan to create war-preparedness

among the residents. Thus, sports became a means to an end in priming the residents for

an impending assault on their village, town, or fortress. Oftentimes, any form of ball

sports was forbidden as this was seen as disttacting the youth from their military

education. ^^

DTSB President Manfred Ewald appealed to his fellow East Germans' sense of

this tradition. He did so by referring not only to the German historical premise of

organized sports, but particularly to the historical basis of Tumvereine, or gymnastics

clubs. The gymnastics clubs most frequently emphasized were those organized by

workers in the latter part of the nineteenth century, as this mdicated most emphatically

the socialist character of the founer Arbeitersportbewegung, or workers' sport

movement.^^ East German sport historians preferred to see the roots of modem German

sports organizations reaching back not to the remote 1300s, but rather to the time of the

French Revolution, to the son of a farmer who became a geography teacher and

eventuaUy the first physical education teacher in the German lands. Johann GutsMuths, a

teacher in the viUage of Schnepfenthal, wrote, in 1793, the first text on physical

education for youth, entitled Gvmnastik fiir Jusend (Exercises for Youth).^'* GutsMuths

^'Ibid., 164.

^^Hehnut Wagner, Sport und Arbeitersport. (Cologne: Pahl-Rugenstein, 1973),

33.

^^Ewald, 684.

^Vagner, 40.

41
also openly criticized the bourgeoisie's practice of subordinating the youth of lower

classes to health-damaging labor conditions. To educate one's child in a manner that

would strengthen his health as well as improve his overaU educational standing was seen,

in keeping with the principles of the French Revolution, as an act of rebeUion against the

bourgeoisie. This education would thus level the playing ground both professionally and

health-vme of the strongly entrenched social classes of the late eighteenth century."

Not only GDR sociaUst sports historians elevated GutsMuths to heroic

dimensions, but Third Reich Sportsfuhrer Carl Diem had gushed that GutsMuths was a

"tme German man."^* The message of GutsMuths that appealed to adherents of both

poUtical convictions was clear, as seen in GutsMuths' pointed statement:

Gymnastic exercises are a necessary preschool for the development of (Le. those
involved in) Fatherland defense., .everyone should be a defender of the
Fatherland.""

The torch of this youth exercise movement was passed on to an unlikely source:

the son of a pastor from the village of Lanz who was caught up in the day's revolutionary

fever. Johann Friedrich Jahn recognized that, as a coUege drop-out at the age of thirty in

the late 1700s, his social status was that of a "nothing," a student without portfoUo and a

complete societal failure.^* Jahn had habitually switched from one university to another,

^'Prof Dr. Wolfgang Eichel, et al.. Die Korperkultur in Deutschland von 1789 bis
1917. (BerUn: Sportverlag, 1973), 19.

^*Carl Diem, Olvmpische Flamme: Das Buch vom Sport: Zweiter Band: Zeit und
Welt. (Berlin: Deutscher Archiv Verlag, 1942), 681.

"ibid., 682.

^^Horst Lfberhorst, Zuruck zu Jahn? Gab es kein besseres VorwSrts?. (Bochum:

Universitatsverlag, 1969), 15.

42
belonged to a fi^temity, squandered the money his father had sent him for his education,

and was finaUy cut off financially from this generous fimding. At this point, Jahn was

forced to become a private tutor to students in their homes. This led him to finding a

position as a teacher's assistant-a position which did not require a finished degree.^'

In 1808, the first Tumverein, entitled Tugendbund (Federation of Virtue), was

estabUshed in Konigsberg. Its stated purpose was to use physical exercise as a means of

freeing the Fatherland."*" Jahn himself estabUshed a Turnerschaft (gymnastics club) in

Hasenheide near Berlin m 1811. The story of a proUferating German Tumerschqften

actuaUy begins here. The explicit goal of these exercise groups was to promote a German

sense of nationhood, as well as to instigate an uprising against the French.'*'

The predominant concem in the creation of the original Tumvereine was poUtical

in origin: German nationhood was at stake, as the defense capability of the young men

proved to be wanting.'*^ National self-determination, therefore, was contmgent upon the

physical health and weU being of Germany's young men. Thus, the exercises used to train

the youth at the Hasenheide gymnastics club in 1811 could all be easily translated into

skUls appropriate for warfere: running, throvraig, jumping, and cUmbing. The test of fire

for this physical improvement program was in the Prussian Free Corps that would pursue

the fleeing Napoleonic troops.

^^Ibid., 17.

'*" Wagner, 41.

'*'tfberhorst, 29.

"^Eichel, 54.

'*^Amd Kriiger, Sport und PoUtik: Von Tumvater Jahn zum Staatsamateur.
43
 It was these same troops of fraternity students and gymnastic club members who

retumed after the war to agitate in the university towns for national unity. Jahn's image

thus evolved to be that of a rabble-rouser and a suspect citizen in the eyes of the

authorities. This was particularly the perception of Austrian Chancellor Klemens von

Mettemich, who deemed Jahn a threat to the estabUshed order.'*'* The complaints of

Mettemich pertinent to the aUeged "dangerous" activities of the Burschenschaften, or

fraternities involved in such independence movements, seemed to be an exaggeration.

Nonetheless, the Chancellor took autocratic measures.'*' As a result, Jahn was charged in

an atmosphere of demagogic prosecution for having "highly tteasonous connections" and

was thus imprisoned from 1819 to 1825.^** Such persecution was typical behavior

emptoyed by Austria's mlers and indicative of Austrian suspicions of German

independence movements.'*' It is also indicative of the clout Austria employed within the

German Federation.

Thus, the same sport organization that had originaUy found favor with the

German nobUity for heckling French troops now found itself in disfavor among the

numerous kingdoms and duchies in Germany. For some twenty-three years after this

Jahn-inspired "Prussian threat" arose, not only were the sports organizations harmed, but

(Hannover: Fackeltrager, 1975), 14-15.

'*^Ibid., 14.

'*'Edmund Neuendorfif, Geschichte der neueren deutschen Leibesiibung vom

Beginn des 18. Jahrhunderts bis 2xir Gegenwart: Band II. Jahn und Seine Zeit. (Dresden:
WiUiehn Lunpert Verlag, 1932), 351.

'**Kruger, 14-15.

"'Neuendorfif; 350.
44
the very utterance of the word "Tumen" itself was forbidden.'** The Hasenheide

gymnastic club was also closed, appearing to end Jahn's influence.'*' This was not,

however, the end of the Turnen movement. Instead of employing the word "Turnen,"

former members simply used a less poUtically-loaded term such as "Gymnastik," meaning

gymnastics, or exercises.'" During the banned years (1820 to 1842) of the Jahn-style

gymnastic clubs only a very few of the original organizations were maintained. " StUl,

throughout German duchies and kingdoms, Tumvereine under various titles and auspices

proliferated.'^

UntU 1848, Tumen membership consisted largely of"kleine BUrgern." That is,

smaU shopkeepers, teachers, hand workers, etc. constituted a substantial percentage of the

gymnastic club membership roles. Eighteen forty saw a surreptitious return of the vogue

of Jahnesque Tumvereine and finally, by 1848, the poUtical fervor associated with the

earUer Tumvereine was back. Many clubs had titles alluding to the old nationalistic spirit

inspired by Napoleanic wars, e.g. Deutscher Tumerbund and Allgemeinen deutschen

Tumerbund. As in the early days, poUtical tumult gave the sports club their impetus. The

most radical of them all was the Demokratische Tumerbund which dedicated itself to

...spiritual and physical education as weU as the realization of the brotherhood of

"•Vagner, 43.

"^Uberhorst, 47.
50
Wagner, 43; Neuendorff, 350.

"Edmund Neuendorff, Geschichte der neureren deutschen Leibesiibimgen vom

Beginn des 18. Jahrhunderts bis zur Gegenwart: Band III. Die Zeit von 1820 bis 1860.
(Dresden: WiUielm Limpert Verlag, 1932), 7.

'^Ibid.

45
 aU Germans in a free and united fatherland, which finds its form as a people's free
state as a democratic republic.'^

In both Saxony and the Rhineland, it was the Turners who led the way in the

revolutionary movement for democracy. The revolutionaries of Germany who yearned

for national unity became, in many cases, persona non gratis and oftentimes were either

forced to immigrate or did so voluntarily to America where the Tumers established

numerous Tumvereine. These Turners ultimately played a significant role for the union in

the American Civil War. Yet on their own home turf, the fizz of the original

revolutionary elan was flat by the 1850s.''*

PoUtical events served as conspicuous raUying caUs for the Tumem. With the

victory of France over the Habsburg monarchy in the spring of 1859, and in particular,

the nuUification of Napoleon Ill's ever present threat to German terrain, especially his

ostensible designs on the Rhineland territory, the momentum of a poUtically and

especially nationaUstically oriented mood of the Tumem gained dramatically. From this

point in time, 1860 to 1862, the Turnvereinen experienced their greatest growth in the

entire nineteenth century. The fires of anti-feudalism along with patriotism were feimed

to their greatest heights. This constituted the primary motivating factor in the growing

ranks of the Tumvereine. When ChanceUor Otto von Bismarck's foreign poUcy m 1865

led Pmssia ever closer to war with Austria, the effect on the Tumvereine was to go even

fiirther "left" politically than ever before. This went so far that in 1866 at the German

'^Wagner, 44.

"*Kriiger, Sport und PoUtik. 20.

"Eichel, 207.
46
Turner festival held in Niimberg, left wing democratic radicals agitated for a collection to

be taken to purchase several thousand weapons. The implication was that the Tumer

would be involved eventuaUy in an inevitable revolution leading to the unification of

Germany and greater democracy.'*

After 1868, the wave of industriaUzation that hit Germany produced a new

societal stmcture and a new breed of worker. This segment of society contributed greatly

to the growth of numbers in the Tumvereine. ^^ Nonetheless, the Tumem were still

characterized as rigidly Prussian and militarUy disciplined. The association of gymnastic

clubs with poUtical leagues, in particular, was clear. Indeed, the tradition of GutsMuths of

a physically-trained citizen adept at defending the fatherland was the message carried on

in the creeds of the new industrial age Tumvereine. The Tumvereine promoted the

writings of Jahn in which the military element and defense capability as chief goals of the

Tumem were unmistakably pronounced.'*

Wrought from the miseries endured by working men and women in the

developing conditions of early industrialization, a new workers' sports movement

fostered the growth of nationvdde cycling and gymnastic organizations. The goal of such

organizations was to provide not only a balance to the mundane forms of employment

and dreary lifestyle imposed on the worker by the factory owners, but also to provide

...a humaiustic alternative to the excesses of'bourgeois' athletic competition...[and

to]...substitute for capitaUst values in the process and thereby help to lay the

'*Ibid., 243-4.

"Wagner, Sport und Arbeitersport. 45.

'*Ibid.
47
 grouofei^k for a uniquely working-class culture."

The new sociaUst overtones in the Tumvereine reflected a diminished emphasis

on war-preparedness and exercise designed to render citizens into good soldiers. Rather,

they emphasized less competitive and more egaUtarian exercises such as swimming,

Wking, gymnastics, and cyclmg.*" From the leading patriotic Tumer group, Deutsche

Tumerschaft, a working man's organization of Tumer developed, known as the Arbeiter-

Tumerbund, or Workers' Exercise Federation.*'

These worker organizations eventuaUy posed a threat to Chancellor Otto von

Bismarck's autocratic constitutional monarchy, as they appeared to smack of the very

SociaUst Party he was trying to quench. Thus, during the period 1878-1890 when

Socialist Party activities were outlawed, workers' socialist Turnen organizations were

also forbiddeiL Other seemingly non-poUtical Tumvereine were not.*^ Not only were

Tumvereine then converted into covert meeting opportunities for the sociaUsts, but also

singing groups, pubs, hiking clubs, and even kiutting circles served as covert bases for

proselytizing new members into the fold of the Social Democratic Party. The Tumvereine

also served as a network for maintaining the sociaUsts' stronghold among workers as a

political, albeit nonlegal, force.

With Bismarck's death, the rescmding of the anti-socialist laws in 1890, workers'

"Robert F. Wheeler, "Organized Sport and Organized Labour: The Workers'

Sports Movement." Journal of Contemporary History. 13, no. 1, (Jaa 1978): 196.

*>id.

*'Wagner, 53.

*^Edward Crankshaw, Bismarck. (New York: The Viking Press, 1981), 35.

48
sports clubs proUferated. Not surprisingly, the oppressive methods of Bismarck, despite

his generous andfersightedsocial legislation, had served only to advance the cause of the

Social Democrats.*^ The workers' sports movement Ukewise gained in popularity. It was

chiefly, however, the Social Democrats who assumed the responsibility of fostering the

popularity of Turnen in the post-Bismarck period.*^

Also significant in terms of accelerating the workers' sport movement in

Germany was the Paris Intemational Athletic Congress held in June of 1894 under the

inspiration of Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin. This Congress led to the

estabUshment of the modem Olympic Games. Coubertm's goal was to "...encourage a

better understanding among nations through the Unking of sport, education, art and

culture."*' Also at this time the first Intemational Olympic Committee was created.**

That the situation between Germany and France in this era was not amenable to

amiable sports relations was evident for numerous reasons. The French were stUl licking

their wounds in respect to their defeat at the hands of the Pmssian army in 1870-71, and

Coubertin, a loyal French nationaUst, had apparently made numerous remarks of an

offensive nature in respect to Germany. Many of these remarks were printed in German

Tumen newsletters. When the Germans were sent a very late mvitation to the Paris

*^Ibid., 359.
*'*Hans Joachim Teichler and Gerhard Hauk, lUustrierte Geschichte des
Arbeitersports. (Bonn: Verlag J.H.W.DietzNachf, 1987), 17.
*'Susan Wels, The Olympic Spirit: 100 Years of the Olympic Games. (San
Francisco: Collins Publishers, 1995), 6.
**Diem, 690. See also: John Lucas, The Modem Olympic Games. (South
Brunswick and New York: A.S. Bames and Company, 1980), 35.
49
Congress, many of the Tumvereine protested, as this was deemed a deUberate sUght by

Coubertin. EventuaUy, Germany sent an unofficial delegation with Dr. WUUbald

Gebhardt, a BerUn chemist, serving as the head. Even though German participation in the

Olympics was strongly opposed by the Tumvereine, Gebhardt championed the cause as

he shared Coubertin's view of "sport cosmopolitanism" and saw the benefits of

intemational sports conq>etition as a poUtical salve. The Tumvereine opposed

participation as an overt gesture of concUiation to the French, a gesture perceived by the

Tumer as diminishing German values.*' Thus, despite the lack of official representation

by the Germans at the Paris Congress, German athletes were nevertheless invited by the

Greeks to participate at the first modem Olympic Games held in Athens in 1896. When

the Germans declined to send any members in response to this invitation, this being

largely due to the influence of the Tumvereine, much bittemess was incurred not only

among the Greek hosts, but also among German athletes.** The Tumvereine justified

their intransigence by noting the earUer slight by CoubertiiL

The leader of the Deutsche Tumerschaft denounced German Olympic

participation for even more nationalistic and racist reasons: he feared that close relations

among countries would lead to Germany's absorption of undesirable cultural and racial

traits. The DT leader stated frankly:

A German [sports] organization or a German who shames his nation by

participating in or supporting the [Olympic] Games, deserves the shame of being
e}q>elled from his [customary] circles and [by his] people.*'

*'Lucas,41.

**Prof Dr. Wolfgang Eichel, et aL, Die Korperkultur in Deutschland von 1789 Bis
1917, (BerUn: Sportverlag, 1973), 310.

*'lbid.,311.
50
 An additional slight endured by the Germans was their deliberate exclusion from

the first modem Intemational Olympic Committee.'" So opposed were the Tumem to

participating in the Olympics that Gebhardt resigned from the Tumverein Bundfur Sport,

Spiel und Tumen (Federation for Sport, Games, and Gymnastics) of which he not only

was vice president, but had also helped establish." Anathema to the Tumem was also the

notion of a sporting event denuded of poUtical association. This poUtical affiUation was

to be forbidden under the by-laws of the new Intemational Olympic Committee. Point 7

under these by-laws stipulated that "Competition is to be between individuals and not

nations."'^

The tum of the century witnessed a marked improvement in the material

conditions of the average worker, hence, also, the material conditions of the average

sports club member. StUl, the champions of the workers, the Social Democrats, gained in

strength and numbers as did the Tumvereine. The outbreak of the Russian Revolution of

1905 spurred the momentum of both the Social Democratic movement and the

Tumvereine, which increased their membership.'^ By 1912 the Social Democrats held

one third of the Reichstag seats. The tremendous increase in both numbers and clout of

the workers' poUtical movement was also evident in the workers' sports clubs. All mass

organizations representing socialist views increased dramatically in size, unions and party

'"Kriiger, 29.

"Eichel, 311.
'^Winfried Joch, PoUtische Leibeserziehung und ihre Theorie un
Nationalisozialistischen Deutschland. (Frankfiirt am Main: Peter Lang, 1976), 15.

'^Ibid., 35.
51
included. Thefinalgoal of aU these organizations was to improve the economic

conditions of the average worker. Thus, in spite of aU previous governmental efforts to

suppress the growing popularity of the Social Democrats and the ever-popular sports

clubs, the latter grew by leaps and bounds.''*

The outbreak of World War I took the Tumvereine by surprise. World War I itself

temporarily reconciled the various Tumvereine that had previously feuded incessantly

among themselves over differing poUtical views. The longer the war lasted, the more

military-oriented became the exercises and drills of the Tumem. The government

embraced the activities of the Tumvereine as an enhancement to its defense capabiUties."

MUitary officials were quick to note that those who were athletically trained were more

adept soldiers.'* As the authorities recognized the value of a physically fit youth for an

enhanced defense capability, the government downgraded the official ban on youth in

adult sports clubs to provide specificaUy for youth-only Tumvereine as adjuncts to the

adult clubs."

After the Great War, the workers' sports movement took up the cause of

supplanting "...the old nationalist-capitaUst culture" with what was deemed to be a more

humane system, socialism. At a sport congress in 1922, speaker Fritz Wildung, the leader

of the German Central Commission for Workers' Sport and Physical Care, informed the

''*Heinz Timmermann, Geschichte und Struktur der Arbeiterbewegung 1893-

1933. (Hamburg: Verlag Ingrid Czwalina, 1973), 27.

"Ibid., 36.
'*Andrzej Wohl, "Con^etitive Sport and Its Social Functions," Intemational
Review of Sport Sociology. 5, (1970): 118.
"Tmunermann, 35.
52
sports enthusiasts in the audience of the congress that:

The sport of the proletariat must be placed in the service of sociaUsm It should
become a powerfiil lever of the new culture, whose bearer wUl be the proletariat.
Sport is a chain-breaker for the youth of the proletariat, a Uberator from physical
and spiritual slavery.'*

While the workers' sport movement had started in Germany in the early part of

the nineteenth century, it was secondary in unportance at the tum of the century to the

predominance of more traditional exercise clubs. The latter were characterized by

poUtical conservatism. StiU, the banner of socialism among the workers' sports clubs

continued to be home even after the First World War, exerting a poUtical force up to the

time of the formal institution of the Third Reich's sports organizations.'^

During the inter-war years, a new poUtical mood was evident in the workers'

sports movement. As perhaps a conciliatory gesture to the French and the Belgians, many

German athletic organizations readily emphasized anti-militarism and abandoned the

word "socialism." This latter gesture was intended not only to placate the French, but also

to render the intemational workers' sport organization more inclusive. The new title was

"The Intemational Association for Sport and Physical Culture." The stated goal was to

improve the health and weU-being of the average working youth.*"

With the seizure of power by the National Socialist Party in 1933, these various

organizations were eventuaUy dissolved, as members became part of the greater scheme

'*Arbeiter-Tumzeitung (ATZ), 30, 16, Aug. 9, 1922, 170-171 cited in David

Steinberg, "The Workers' Sport Internationals 1920-28," Journal of Contemporary
History. 13, no. 2, (Apr. 1978): 233.

"Ibid., 234.

*"lbid., 234-5.

53
of a coercive Gleichschaltung. Gleichschaltung was the Nazi poUcy of coordinating

various heretofore independent institutions into similar institutions under the aegis of the

Nazi Party, German sport historian Hajo Bemett critiqued the sport system under the

Third Reich, believing it to have been a "doubtful technique of lordship." It comprised,

according to Bemett, an unrecognizable system without systematization; it was largely an

improvisation and dis-unification so typical of the Nazi misuse of power.*^

The sports movement m the Third Reich not only had strong poUtical, military,

and nationalist overtones, but Hitlerian dogma in the reahn of sports also had a

pronounced emphasis on Aryan racial superiority. This theory flourished under the Third

Reich when Rassenkunde, or racial science, became an accepted discipline at the

university level.*^ Thus, the vindication of the superiority of the Aryan race was to be

revealed in the Third Reich's athletic prowess. The sports system existed to exploit this

ostensibly inherent racial superiority as weU as to maintain public health and instiU a

proper work ethic.

The policy oi Gleichschaltung, or coordination, under the Nazis meant that aU the

adult sports clubs were absorbed into the Nazi program of Kraft durch Freude, or

"Strength through Joy." Programs for adults and their respective family members were

established in keeping with notions of Aryan purity. Non-Jewish children's extra-

*'Kruger, 51.

*^Hajo Bemett, Untersuchungen zur Zeitgeschichte des Sports. (Schomdorf:

Verlag Karl Hofinann, 1973), 59-60.

*^Leon PoUakov, The Aryan Myth: A History of Racist and Nationalistic Ideas in
Europe. (New York: Basic Books, Inc. PubUshers, 1971), 314-16.

54
curricular activities took place in the Hitler Jugend, or Hitler Youth.*^ Jews and

"Mischlinge" (i.e., mixed-race individuals) were forbidden to join sfwrt associations and

clubs. All Jewish sport clubs were Ukewise disbanded.*' The Kraft durch Freude

programs were designed to pacify a pubUc that may have been disconcerted with other

more autocratic measures the Fuhrer took. Or, they may have been established to curry

greater loyalty of the German people. Nevertheless, under this new state program many

Aryan Germans enjoyed not only family vacations for the first time in years, but also

many new sports facilities were opened to the pubUc.** Among these facilities were new

sports stadiums (such as the one m Berlin designed specifically for the Olympic Games),

swimming pools, and enhanced spas. Also, numerous new sports organizations were

formed to foster greater aUegiance to the Nazi Party.

The Nazi sports system in Germany was actuaUy pattemed after the highly

successful Dopolavoro sports program in Italy.*' StiU, the anti-Semitic element of the

sports clubs and the notion of Aryan exclusiveness and racial superiority were uniquely

German. Many German sports clubs had already had a long tradition of excluding Jews

*'*John Hoberman, "PoUtical Ideology and the Record Performance," Arena

Newsletter. Institute for Sport and Social Analysis, February 1977.

*'Richard D. MandeU, The Nazi Olympics. (Chicago: University of lUinois Press,

1987), 76-7.

**Ibid., 49.

*'Amd Kruger, "The Influence of the State Sport of Fascist Italy on Nazi
Germany 1928-1936," cited in J.A. Mengen and R.B. SmaU, eds.. Sport. Culture. Society
in Intemational. Historical and Sociological Perspectives. Proceedings of the VII
Commonwealth and Intemational Conference on Sport, Physical Education, Dance,
Recreation and Heahh Conference, '86 Glasgow, 18-23 July, (New York: E. & F.N. Spon
1986), 145.

55
from membership, but this was the first time that such exclusion became national poUcy.

The Deutscher Tumerbund, for example, largely drew its membersfromsouthern

Germany and Austria where anti-Semitism appeared to be the greatest, judgingfromthe

popularity of the National Socialist Party in this region and the large numbers who

subscribed to sports clubs excluding Jews.**

Under Hitler, the 1936 Olympic Games, held respectively in BerUn in the summer

and Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the winter, were intended to be a showcase for the athletic

prowess of the Aryan race. German-Jevdsh athletes of Olyn^ic caUber were excluded

from the German teams. Because Americans and other foreigners took exception to this

exclusion, Jews were aUowed to engage themselves in qualification for the German

teams, but, even if they did quaUfy, they were not invited to participate in the Games

themselves. A imique exception was made in the case of Helene Mayer, a fencer and a

half-Jew who had already represented Germany in two previous Olympiads and whose

looks would have rendered her the exemplary poster chUd of Aryanism. Another full-

Jewish woman, Gretl Bergmann, a high jumper of Olympic standards, was not so lucky.

She was denied the chance to compete in the Games even though her performance at the

Olympic trials bested that of the eventual gold medal wiimer. The National Olympic

Committee of Germany sent Bergmann a letter indicating that she had been excluded

from con^etition due to the mediocrity of her performance in the trials. This claun was

sheer nonsense as she had junqied 10 centimeters higher than had her nearest competitor.

Her Olympic trial best jump of 1.64 meters was higher than that of the Hungarian

woman, Ibolya Csak, who ultimately won the Olympic gold medal. Csak's jump in the

**Ibid., 146.
56
BerUn Olympics marked only 1.60 meters.*' EventuaUy, Bergmann settled in the United

States. Bergmann was invited by the Federal Republic of Germany to be a guest of honor

at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. WhUe the former high jumper recognized this to be

a gesture to make good on the Germans' anti-Semitic past, she stUl carmot forgive the

Germans for her lost opportunity at the 1936 Olympics.'"

Over time, intemational dismay grew at the increasing miUtarism, nationaUsm,

and anti-Semitism under Hitler. Nonetheless, the award of the 1936 Games to Germany

had long been made. Even in the very year of the Games, Germany violated her

intemational agreements by remilitarizing the Rhineland." Hitler was not immediately

aware of the poUtical ramifications that serving as host to the Olympic Games would

entaU. From the perspective of other countries participating in the Games, the unplication

was one of the guest nations granting moral sanction to the host nation's foreign and

domestic policies. Thus, participation in the Games became a highly contentious issue

abroad. It proved to be particularly contentious in the United States as the Nuremberg

Laws of 1935 had stripped German Jews of their rights of citizenship; thus many

American Jews contended that participation in these Games would imply American

endorsement of Germany's discriminatory, anti-Semitic policies.'^ By 1934, the anti-

*'Dufif Hart-Davis, Hitler's Games: the 1936 Olympics. (New York: Harper and
Row, 1986), 196-7.

'"NBC News interview, 21 June 1996.

"William Powers, "The SUence Heard Round the World," The Washington Post.
19 July 1996, B1,B4.

'^Wendy Gray and Robert Knight Bamey, "Devotion to Whom? German-

American Loyalty on the Issue of Participation in the 1936 Olympic Games," Journal of
Sport History. 17, no. 2, (Summer 1990): 214.
57
Olympic feelings were so high in the U.S. that 20,000 people gathered in Madison Square

Garden where twenty-two individuals testified agamst Hitler's "...crimes against

civiUzation." Among those testifying was former governor of New York Alfred E. Smith

as weU as the then-Mayor of New York, FioreUo La Guardia.'^

German Olympic historian Winfried Joch has pointed out that, whUe the statutes

of the IOC specifically and repeatedly stipulate that the use of the Games to promote any

particular national cause was (and is still) forbidden, the poUtical influence of the

respective host is inevitable. Thus, the Nazis used a "more or less latent poUticisation that

was constantly and explicitly pursued."''* This was clearly evident from the Germans'

euphoria at the entry of Hitler into the stadium, to the rendering of the Nazi salute by

audiences and athletes, and to the systematic exclusion of Jews from German sports

clubs."

As late as 1935, the anti-German host movement in the United States had gained

momentum to support a transfer of the host-role to another nation. Growth of the

movement took place despite the fact that many of the more egregious excesses of the

Nazis were stUl unknown. By the time of the Games in 1936, many concentration camps

were in operation, including the Dachau camp not fer from the site of the Garmisch-

Partenkirchen winter Olympic Games' site. In Sachsenhausen, another camp was under

constmction just 18 miles from BerUn, the site of the summer Olympic Games of 1936.'*

'^Hart-Davis, 64.

"*Joch, 16-17.

"Ibid., 17.

'*Powers,Bl,B4.
58
 The President of the American National Olympic Committee, Avery Bmndage,

pushed for American participation despite a weU-organized Jewish effort to boycott the

Games. Brundage got his way despite opposition from both Jewish and non-Jewish

quarters in the United States." The hosting of the Games had been awarded to Germany

in 1932 for the second time. The first award was to have been for 1916, which Games

were cancelled due to World War I. When Hitler ascended to power, he actually had to be

convinced of the significance of the Games and what political capital could be accmed

from them as a consequence of playing host.'* Despite the feet that sufficient evidence of

flagrant discrunination was at hand not long after the second awardmg of the Games,

Germany retained the coveted honor of host. At this time the National Socialist press did

not shy from blatantly expressed racist and anti-Semitic sentiments:

Negroes are out of place in the Olympic Games...It is a shame and a degradation
of the Olympic spirit without comparison and the Greeks would most certainly
tum in their graves if they only knew what modem man has done with their
national games...The next Olympic Games wUl take place in Berlin. HopefiiUy the
responsible administrators wiU know what their duty is. The Blacks must be
excluded. We expect it."

Yet as a concession to intemational pressure for greater signs of civility, during

the Games themselves, the Nazi regime ordered the removal of anti-Semitic and racist

signs that would have been deemed offensive to guest nations.'"" Despite the successes of

"Amd Kriiger, Die Olvmpischen Spiele 1936 und die Weltmeinung: Ihre
aussenpoUtische Bedeutung unter besondere Beriicksichtigung der U.S.A..
Sportwissenschaftliche Arbeiten, Bd. 7, (BerUn: Bartels & Wemitz KG, 1972), 109.

'*Hart-Dayis, 43-5.

"Volkischer Beobachter. Aug. 19, 1932, in Kruger, Die Olvmpischen Spiele

1936. 33.

'""MandeU, 93-4; Hart-Davis, 139.

59
such American Olympic athletes as Jesse Owens, a four time gold medalist who

effectively dispelled Hitler's theory of racial superiority, and to the surprise of the

Germans themselves, Germany led the way in the medal count. Germany did this even at

the price of excluding some of the aforementioned sure-win Jewish athletes such as Gretl

Bergmann. The cUmb from seventh place at the previous Olympic Games in Los

Angeles to first place in their own sponsored Games came despite Germans' own pooh-

poohing the necessity for high medal counts, which was deemed as a demeaning

"bourgeois sport ideology."'"^

AU the Germans had hoped for was a magnanimous display to heighten their

status and rebut intemational criticism. To do this, they enlisted the help of famed fihn

producer Leni Riefenstahl, noted for her film Triumph des Willens. or "Triumph of the

Will." To celebrate the ideal Olympic imagery Riefenstahl was to head the Olympic FUm

Company in 1936. Propaganda Minister Joseph Gobbels intended that the resulting film

would further promote the Aryan ideal of the superb athlete. The Olympia film was

divided into two respective parts: Festival of Nations and Festival of Beauty. That

Riefenstahl did not distinguish beauty of form or abUity of Aryans versus non-Aryans

aroused the anger of the Nazi propaganda minister. StUl, evident in these fihns was a

symbolism hearkening to a self-glorifying German renewal of ancient Greek traditions,

such as the bearing of the torch from Greece to Berlin and the igniting of the Olympic

flame. While the torch-bearing procedure was not a part of Greek traditions, the use of

'"'Wels, 50.

'"^Kruger, "The Influence of the State Sport of Fascist Italy on Nazi Germany,
1928-1936," 146-7.

60
torches for ceremonial purposes was.'"^ This reinstitutbn of ancient Olympic tt-aditions

has been perceived as a thinly disguised effort to connect the Nazi regune with the glories

of ancient Greece.

Unlike the memories of ancient Greece, and despite the number-one ranking of

German athletes in the 1936 Olympics, it is not a glorious past of the brave and noble

ideal Aryan athlete that is left usfromthis era of tyranny and destmction. It is rather one

of unprecedented systematic cmehy, exclusiveness, and shame. The sports system based

on this regime crumbled along with the Nazi grip on Germany and the rest of Europe.

Amidst the mbble and ashes, politics under the forcefiU hand of the Allies became, yet

again, a molding force for the shape of sports to come in post-war Germany.

'"^MandeU, 130-8.
61
 CHAPTER m

ARISING FROM THE RUINS...

GERMANY, UNITED FATHERLAND!*

The history of the intense athletic competition between the two Germanys started

shortly after World War II and has been well recorded. Now that the documents of the

GDR State sports system have been made accessible at the SAPMO archive in BerUn,

this history has become even more translucent. This East-West rivalry proved to be the

defining force m shaping the sports system of the GDR as the power stmggle of the

super-powers intensified, segregating Germany's eastem Soviet-occupied zone from the

westem French-American-British occupied zone. The sporting relations between East and

West Germany were often a reflection of the poUtical realities of the Cold War. G. A.

Carr observes that the stmggle regarding sports between the two "zones" from 1945 tiU

1949, then two states from 1949 untU 1990, largely concemed gaining formal recognition

of the German Democratic Republic by the Intemational Olympic Committee (as weU as

the intemational community). This endeavor was continuaUy blocked either by West

German policies, such as with the exclusionary principles of the FRG's National Olympic

Committee, or the IOC itself, which felt compromised by measures taken by the East

Germans. The greatest evidence for this was the GDR's buUdmg of the Berlin Wall on

August 13,1961.^ The insistence of the IOC on a pan-Germanic team up untU and

'The first stanza of the GDR's national anthem, which was played for winning
GDR athletes at aU world class competitive events, ironically read: "Auferstanden aus
Ruinen, uns der Zukunft zugewandt...Deutschland, einig Vaterland." Arising from the
mins, looking to the futiire...Germany, united Fatherland!

^G. A. Carr, "The Involvement of PoUtics in the Sporting Relationships of East

62
including 1964 was a way of sweeping the divided Germany problem under the rug and

did nothing to aUeviate the Cold War tensions facing the Germans.^ The 1968 Mexico

City summer Olympic Games represented the first instance of separate team participation

for the two German states. Highly symbolic gestures reflected an enforced poUtical

compromise. The use of Beethoven's ninth symphony and the German flag with Olympic

rings on the red, black, and yellow stripes were used by both nations (minus the GDR's

hammer and sickle emblem), instead of each nation's respective national anthem and flag.

These measures were taken at the behest of the IOC. FuU recognition of national

sovereignty was not yet to be forthcoming even if the teams were to represent their ovra

Germany, East or West, as there was no consensus in the global community on the issue.'*

The overwhehning success of the GDR at the 1972 Olympic Games held in Munich was

a double victory for the East German team. It was not only victorious over the West

Germans, but, for the first time, the latter were forced to recognize the sovereignty of the

GDR on its own turf, by playing the GDR's national anthem each and every time an East

German athlete won a gold medal.'

In the immediate post-World War II years and several years before East Germany

even became a state, the flmdamentals of this sport superpower began to be established.

The components of a potential East/West German rivalry were also in the works. While

and West Germany, 1945-1972," Journal of Sport History. 7, no. 1, (Spring 1980): 40-51.

^Espy, 77.

'*Ibid., 108.

'Martin H. Geyer, "Der Kampf um Nationale Reprasentation: Deutsch-deutsche

Sportbeziehungen und die "HaUstein-Doktrin,"' Vierteljahreshefte fiir Zeitgeschichte. 44,
no. 1, (1996): 86.
63
Germany was in shambles, the fight for one's daily existence proved to be the most

exhausting task. This was accompUshed on minimal food intake. In the American and

French occupation zones only 940 calories per person were made available to the citizens

in the first post war winter of 1945-46.* The sports facilities were also in shambles. Major

cities, especiaUy Berlin, Dresden, Cologne, and Hamburg, had endured severe damage

during bombing raids.' "Sports," per se, began initiaUy v^ith a cleaning up of the mbble,

and thereafter was done largely under improvised circumstances.* The main concem of

the AUies in governing sports-related matters was to denazify, demilitarize, and

democratize any emerging sports clubs, activities, or organizations.' Even a concem for

the type of sport and music was evident as certain types of either were believed to inspire

militaristic sentiments.'" The decisive document of the AUied Control Authority, Control

CouncU No. 23, decreed the decentraUzed, non-miUtaristic, and AlUed-controUed nature

of future sports in occupied Germany." Even as early as 1946 questions pertaining to

ideology and the development of sports were key issues for the Socialist Unity Party in

*Jiirgen Engert, Die Wirren Jahren: Deutschland 1945-1948. (Berlin: Argon

Verlag, 1996), 100.

'See Wonneberger, 19 in Carr, "The Birth of the German Democratic RepubUc

and the Organization of East German Sport," Canadian Journal of History of Sport and
Physical Education. 7, no. 1, (1974): 1.

*Ulrich Pabst, Sport-Medium der Politik?. (BerUn: Verlag Bartels & Wemitz KG,
1980), 49.
'Tara Magdalinski, "Historical Interpretation and the Continuity of Sports
Administrators from Nazi to West Germany," Sport History Review. 27, no. 1, (1996): 1.

'"Carr, 4-6.

"Ibid., 4-5.
64
the Soviet occupation zone. One discussion concerning the SED was how to formulate

the new poUtical ideology of the given sports club. The "...new organization of sports

[was] not to [be] a one sided matter of the former worker-athlete organization."'^

The Cuhural Commission of the SED in the Soviet-occupied zone decided on a

form of strong central controlfromthe very inception of sports organization. The fear

was that sports lovers would be splintered into various poUtical or reUgious factions and

lured awayfromsocialist principles.

Sport should no longer be separated into citizens, worker-athletic, or reUgious

clubs and organizations. All athletes [of any poUtical and/or reUgious convictions]
must be embraced in a people's sport movement...Sport wUl soon become the
coUective gathering point for aU youth...again, reactionary forces wUl try to use
sports to win youth over to their side, to distract themfrompositive thinking and
from social thinking. '^

Conceiving of sports as non or apolitical was deemed a perspective to be

overcome. The athlete must never use sports as a form of escapefromexisting poUtical-

economic realities. "Corresponding to our directives, the athlete must recognize that sport

is not for self serving purposes, but it must be permeated with communal thinking..."''*

Impressed upon aU athletes, either of the weekend jogger genre or the serious competitive

athlete type, was that the correct phUosophical outlook would embrace the notion that

'^The "worker athlete" is a reference to the anti-aristocracy athletic organizations

which sprang up in the Nineteenth Century in opposition to ChanceUor Otto von
Bismarck's anti-Socialist laws. EpUogue to a discussion on the topic of 'Sport and
Physical Culture' at the meeting of the Central Culture Committee of the SED on Aug. 8,
1946, DY30IV 2/18/2 SAPMO at Zeitgeschichte fiir Sport, Potsdam University, 1.

'^Ibid., 2.
"*Ibid., 3.
65
sports as a nonpoUtical social ftinction is a deceptive theory." The West Germans were

suspicious of the association of sports with poUtics after years of simUar experiences

under the Nazi regime. They were also weU aware of the mandatory poUtical allegiances

associated with aU athletic organizations in the eastem zone. Historian Ulrich Pabst

succinctly noted that "the Federal Republic wanted sport without politics, the GDR

wanted no sports without poUtics." East Germans rendered sports fully in the service of

politics at this very early stage.'* The imperative of the day in the Russian zone of BerUn

was to create a "central position for sports in the central administration...under the

Russians, sport must become a cultural factor of the highest ranking."" In 1947, during

the early stages of party consoUdation, when aU major parties of the Soviet occupation

zone were either absorbed or dissolved by the Soviets into the Socialist Unity Party, the

perceived goal was to "...win over the millions of poUtically indifferent athletes to the

sociaUst idea."'* The Deutsche Sportausschuss (DSA), or German Sports Committee, was

founded in 1948 as an umbreUa organization for the youth and union organizations Free

German Youth (FDJ) and Free German Union Federation (FDGB). The DSA enforced a

poUtical-ideological orientation of sports.

"Hans Simon and Gunther Wonneberger, "Zur Entwicklung des DDR-

Leistungssports in den ersten beiden Jahrzehnten nach Konstituiemng des Deutschen
Sportausschusses," Theorie und Praxis Leistungssport. 26, no. 10, (1988): 143.

'*Pabst, 110.

"Versammlung der Zentralkomitee, Aug. 8,1946, DY30 FV 2/18/2,3.

'*Bericht uber die bis jetzt geleisteten Arbeiten des Referats "Sport" sowie der
Kommission "Sport und Korperkultur" der AbteUung Kultur und Erziehung, Feb. 10,
1947, DY30IV 2/18/3, SAPMO at Zeitgeschichte fiir Sport, Potsdam University, 2.

"Pabst, 80-1.
66
 This strongly-centralized element of sport organization control was to

characterize GDR sportsrightup to thefellof the Berlin WaU on November 9, 1989.

That the Central Committee of the SED appUed its hand to detaUed decisions of sport

organization and that even minute decisions such as the contents of an athlete's suitcase

upon departure for the Olympic Games were matters of state is indicative of this highly

centtaUzed organization.^" Any sports club or organization that did notfeUunder the

permitted umbrella of this hierarchy established in the initial organization grounding

phase was to be disbanded.^' Decisive for the initial planning stages for sports

organizational development was a meetmg of the Central Committee of the SED on

March 17, 1951. The meeting resolved that, because many of the leaders of the Free

German Youth (FDJ) and the Free German Union Federation (FDGB) were not

completely loyal to the party Une, these leaders were to be ousted and replaced with

committed commurusts. Furthermore, the DSA (Deutsche Sportausschuss, i.e., German

Sport Committee [East]) also experienced a purging process to guarantee the fiirther

progress of the system in keeping with the Weltanschauung (world view) of the Party. ^^

Also significant in the history of GDR sports was yet another poUtical gathering:

a Party conference of the SEDfromJuly 9-12,1952, in which the constmction of

sociaUsm in the GDR was conceived more in-depth than previously. Sport was also a

concem of Party chair Walter Ulbricht as the first State Committee for Sport and Physical

^"Schumann's dissertation elaborates on the machinations of the chain of

command within this highly centraUzed hierarchy. Decisions from the highest levels
influenced aU the various tiers in the sport organization's hierarchy, 47.

^'Bericht uber die bis jetzt...DY30 W 2/18/3, 3.

^^Pabst, 130.
67
Culture (SKKS) was created. The individual assigned to lead this new state organization

was the then-chairman of the DSA, Manfred Ewald. The new DSA chair was Rudi

Reichert.^^

In the sports history Uterature of the former GDR, this "physical culture and

sports" system is always characterized as a sociaUst sports organization.^'* This theme is

reiterated throughout such important works as K6roerkuhur und Sport in der DDR, which

adjures the reader that, "the social determination of physical culture must draw its

character from the fundamental position of dialectical materialism"^' The literature of

the GDR emphasizes the anti-fascist nature of the new sports agenda under the Soviets'

Marxist-Leninist influence. Considerable effort was put into the "poUtical-ideological"

education of the athletes. To see sports as "non-poUtical" was deemed irresponsible in the

effort to purge fescist beUefs and supplant them with "democratic" ones.^* After the

Communist Party had forced the Social Democrats into a Soviet-style party and thus also

into the worker-sportsmen clubs, three pUlars of aforementioned sport club memberships

were estabUshed: youth sports, company (or factory) sports, and "free societies" (freie

"Ibid., 132.

^"See, for example, Fred Luschas, "Zur Entwicklung von Korperkultur und Sport
in der Phase der antifaschistisch-demokratischen Umwalzung in Mecklenburg (Mai 1945
bis August 1948), Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der WiUielm-Pieck-Universitat Rostock.
31, no. 9, (1982): 53. See also, Fred Luschas, "Zu den Anfangen des
aussemnterrichtUchen Sports," WissenschaftUche Zeitschrift der Wilhelm-Pieck-
Universitat Rostock. 34, no. 9, (1985): 66. The sources on this are vast. Peter WUfred
SutcUffe's aforementioned dissertation. The Stmcture and PoUtical Significance of Sport
in the German Democratic RepubUc... is devoted to this topic alone.
25
Giinther Wonneberger, Korperkultur und Sport in der DDR, 15.

^*Ibid, 25.

68
Vereine).^'

Sports in the Westem and Eastem zones often became a reflection of other

poUtical and economic realities. The initial stages of establishing these realities mirrored

the poUtical-economic stmctures of the occupying powers. The Soviets, for example,

confiscated over three miUion hectares of land from either rich landholders or from

former leading Nazis and distributed them to eastem refugees and peasants. They also

increasingly nationalized private industry until, by 1948, the share of private industry

conprised only 39%. Historian Volker Berghahn comments on this transition:

The system of economic and poUtical organization which the SED mtroduced in
the Soviet Zone of Occupation after 1946 was more or less an exact repUca of the
Stalinist regime in Russia.^*

In Westem Germany, on the other hand, socialist ideas were challenged by

Finance Minister Ludwig Erhard's currency reform in 1948, which granted the West

Germans a separate and new currency. This signaled the onset of the free market system,

which was aided and abetted by the monies of the Marshall Plan. The exact opposite of

the Soviet zone took shape, with the existing property stmcture remaining as before and

an American-style con^)etitive market coming into play.^' While the smaU businessman

was to have free reign in the market system in the Westem sectors, in the East factories

and firms were to adhere to two-year plans. This was also the case of the sport lover who

^'Giinther Wonneberger, "Die Sportbewegung der SBZ/DDR nach sowjetischem

Modell?" Paper presented at the workshop: Geschichte des DDR-Sports KQln.
Bundesinstitut fiir Sportwissenschaft. 18 Apr. 1997,3.

^*Volker Berghahn, Modem Germany: Society. Economics and PoUtics in the

Twentieth Century. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), 193-4,196-7.

^'Ibid, 197.
69
had a membership in afectorysport club. The workers were caUed to aid in fulfilling the

two-year plans, described as the "...biggest, most peaceful reconstmction plan[s]." The

first plan was depicted as

...the only real way to a better future and [one that] enables us simultaneously to
acquire the so badly needed sports equipment.^"

The importance the SED leadership placed on sports can be seen in the plans and

financial aUocation granted for the estabUshment of a sports coUege in Leipzig at a time

when both raw goods and moiues were dear. These plans werefinalizedon AprU 8,1949,

six months before East Germany even declared statehood on October 7, 1949. Not only

had 262,000 marks already been spent on this Deutsche Sportschule. but an additional

824,385 marks were destined for the reconstmction of war-damaged facilities

appropriated for this college.^'

The relationship of West to East German sports became increasingly embittered

as the lines were drawn and divisions were deepened. Mistrast and a polemical friend/foe

picture were created. The politicalframeworkof numerous events led to one of the worst

of aU possible sports relationsfromthe late 1940's to the early 1950's. Both West and

East sectors underwent their own respective (and separate) currency reforms in June of

1948 with the West leading the way at the behest of Finance Minister Ludwig Erhard on

June 18, followed five days later by a caU for the same by the Soviet authorities.^^ This

^"Wettbewerb zur Ermittlung der besten Sportgemeinschaften der volkseigenen

Betriebe, Anlage Nr. 4, Protokol Nr. 15, Apr. 8, 1949, DY30 IV 2/2/15, SAPMO at
Zeitgeschichte fiir Sport, Potsdam University, 17.

^'Ibid, 18.
^^William Harvey Maehl, Germany in Westem CiviUzation. (Tuscaloosa:
University of Alabama Press, 1979), 694-5.
70
economic segregation ultimately led the way for poUtical autonomy as well. With the

westem Allied control zones' establishment of a constitution, or Grundgesetz. i.e., Basic

Law, based bosely on a revised version of the constitution of the Weimar Republic, the

road was paved for the Federal RepubUc of Germany's statehood, declared on May 23,

1949. This was the catalyst for the eastem sector's own call to statehood. The eastem

sector had already approved a draft constitution on March 19 and then declared its own

statehood on October 7,1949.^^ This consoUdation was sharpened by the German

public's fever pitch anxiety as the Berlin blockade of July 1948 to September 1949,

brought on by the Soviets' opposition to the economic reforms in the West, led to a large

scale food andfiielairlift by the Americans.^ With the onset of the Korean War and the

American need for German-made armaments, the Federal Republic underwent a rapid

transitionfromoccupied country to future aUy. On September 19, 1949, the Westem

Powers proclaimed that an attack on the Federal Republic or Berlin would be considered

equal to an attack on themselves.^'

This proclamation, of course, would ultimately serve to strengthen the aUegiance

of the ruling SED members to the Soviets. Evidence for this can be seen in the measures

taken by Party members to emulate a Soviet-style sports system in December 1949 at the

unpetus of Walter Ulbricht, then a member of the Prasidium of the (East) German

People's CouncU. Later, in 1953, Ulbricht became the General Secretary of the Central

"Eric Solstein, ed., Germany: A Country Study. (Washington DC Federal

Research Division: Library of Congress, 1996), 90.

^'*Maehl, 694-5.

"ibid., 699.
71
Committee.^* In 1952, upon the creation of the State Comnuttee for Physical Culture and

Sport, the explicit goals of a state-sponsored sports system were stated. A decree of the

Central Committee determined that this new state committee would continue with the

path of strong central control as the GDR govemment took it upon itself to ensure that in

the GDR

healthy, happy, strong and strong wUled people develop. People who love their
home [and are] loyal to the govemment and [are] unwavering friends of the
greater Soviet people, [who are] filled with an irreconcilable hatred for aU those
who are enemies of peace.^'

While it is not explicitly stated who the "enemies of peace" are, it becomes quite

clear in later documents that this phrase refers in general to aU nonsocialist countries and

specifically to West Germany and the Uiuted States.^* The estabUshment of this new

Committee for Sports strengthened the role of the government in sports. This was done

by granting to the committee direct powers to oversee organization of athletic events and

education of all those who deal directly and/or indirectly with sports and/or athletes,

including any plans surrounding training of children and students involved in sports. The

committee also was granted broad controUing powers over the administration of scientific

research concerning physical education and sports. One specific clause authorized direct

decision-making in overseeing and controlUng facuky. Numerous other powers were

^*Kiihnst, 43. also Bemd-Ramer Barth, et aL, Wer war Wer in der DDR. (BerUn:
Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag: 1996), 750.

^'Zentral Kommittee, Anlage Nr. 6 zum Protokol Nr. 112, May 13, 1952, DY30
JIV 2/2 211 SAPMO at Zeitgeschichte fur Sport, Potsdam University, 2.

^*Konzeption fiir das Auftreten der Schwimmsportdelegation der DDR in Kuba,

Anlage Nr. 13 zum ProtokoU Nr. 56/62, Sept. 28, 1962, DY30 JIV 2/3 839 SAPMO at
Zeitgeschichte fur Sport, Potsdam University, 1-2.

72
granted for control of research in all other reahns of sport and physical culture, along

with control offinancialresources, confrol of sports medicine, control over the creation

of sports clubs, control of the press and any media form pertaining to sports, as weU as

confrol of intemational sporting relations. Finally, confrol over individual athletes was

granted to ensure that every individual could

...be mobilized as an active participant in the social Ufe of our country for the
fiilfilhnent of [his/her] responsibilities which the govemment of the German
Democratic Republic requires.^'

The conclusion of the document indicates that, whUe the new Sports Committee's

role was to have society's best interests at heart through direct high-level involvement in

aU facets of athletic Ufe, the aUegiance owed the govemment was not to be a by-product,

but the direct result. Conformity with the poUtical ideology and adherence to a strong

centraUzed control in sports was to remain a consistent theme throughout the GDR's

existence. Periodically the degree of allegiance to this ideology and centralized control

would undergo review. All Olympic Games were preceded and succeeded with "poUtical-

ideology" reports that would review the state of athletic adherence to sociaUst ideology.'*"

Additional political-ideology evaluations are to be found randomly throughout the GDR

sport documents of SAPMO. One document that called for measures to increase athletic

performance laments that "...the ideological education of the coaches and the eUte

athletes is not systematic nor sufficiently goal oriented."

^'Ibid., 5.
'*"Many Olympic poUtical evaluation reports can be found in the Olympic Games
files in the BerUn SAPMOfilesunder DY12 365.
'Anlage Nr. 13, "Massnahmen zur schnelleren Erh6hung der sportUchen
41

Leistungen in der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik," Protokol Nr. 10/58, der Sitzung
73
 The goal was set to prove East German athletic superiority over the West

Germans in what was deemed "the most important athletic disciplines." Despite their

much smaller population, the East Germans stUl exerted athletic superiority over the

West Germans in nine discipUnes and equal status in five more. These included such

areas as swimming, weight-Uftmg, and speed skating, sports in which one can achieve the

greatest advantage through Ulegal performance-enhancing dmgs. Even so, the East

German advantage m such sports can be seen years before steroid abuse became a factor

in either West or East Germany. This indicates that other fectors must have played a role

in this success.'*^

In 1954 a report of the DSA (Deutsche Sportausschusses, or, German Sports

Committee,) revealed how precise the penetrating powers of the State Committee for

Sports were to be. The report bemoans the fact that the Committee

...has understood in only a few cases, how to explain to people in an intrusive

fashion how to confrol and direct the sports organizations and execute the
directives (of the sports committee).'*^

This report also reveals that the performance of East German elite athletes was

rapidly improving, in sharp contrast to the performance of the West German elite

athletes. This success was attributed to a selective support system embracmg those

athletic disciplines that showed tremendous promise. This approach would characterize

des Politbiiros des ZentraUcomitees, Feb. 25, 1950, DY30 JTV 2/2 582, SAPMO at
Zeitgeschichte fiir Sport, Potsdam University, 1.

'*^Ibid., 2.

'*^Bericht der Kommission zur tjberprufung der Arbeit der Demokratischen

Sportbewegung, Abt. Leitende Organe der Partei und der Massenorganizationen. BerUn.
Mar. 12, 1954, DY30 IV 2/18/3, SAPMO at Zeitgeschichte fiir Sport, Potsdam
University, 6.
74
the GDR's support system for athletic programs for the remainder of the GDR's history 44

This same report indicates that the athletes' poUtical commitment was believed to

be lacking. The report's authors noted that there was an "...indifferent, sometimes even

negative attitude to our poUtics."'*' A further assessment reveals that the authors were

disturbed to note that the athletes' political education had been either neglected or had

been scanty. As a result,

...the enemy endeavors, through these people who have strong connections to
West Germany, to exert influence on our companies/factories [sports clubs] and
particularly on our junior athletes (in soccer) to flee the country.'**

Who "these people" are is never specifically clarified, but the message is clear

that the athletes of the various factory clubs were poUtically disgruntled and were

tempted to leave. The authors also bemoaned the feet that elite athletes had attitudes

which were not in keeping with the committee's ideological lines. The athletes' love for

sports for sport's sake was typical of athletes everywhere. The majority had expressed

personal ambition as a motivating factor for their athletic performance and also, in some

cases, material or financial rewards or prizes. They did not, however, associate any

poUtical significance with high achievement.'*' The report cited the athletes also for

perceiving their Soviet counterparts with hostUity and a lack of gratitude for "the

generous assistance the Soviet Union made available [m the form of) coaches.

'*^Bericht der Kommissioa..Mar. 12,1954, DY30IV 2/18/3, 9.

^'Ibid, 5.

'**Ibid., 6.

'*'lbid., 9.
75
translations, and the exchai^e of information on [athletic] experience."'**

Even the coaches came under fire in this report for being less than enthusiastic

about the assumption of Soviet fraining methods and for instead resorting to their own

time-tested fraining knowledge and abilities.'" The report's candor on comments from

conversations held with athletes, youth, and sport officials reveals that the poUtical work

of Party ofificials had been largely unsuccessful, judged by the frequent rejection of SED

poUcies as weU as comments that did not reflect the political ideals the Party would wish

for. PoUtical indoctrination sunply had not taken hold of East German sportsmen and

women, as many of their recorded comments clearly reflect:

-One person is politically engaged, the other does sports, in sports there is more
freedom.
-In the GDR there are professional sports because the eUte athletes only work four
to six hours.
-If we play sports with the Americans, why is that so bad? We play against the

Soviets as weU.'"

The reporters lament the feet that the athletes were not accepting the Party slogan

of sports as a preparation for "readiness to work and to defend the power of the worker

and farmer.""

Topics of concem to the DSA and the Central Committee, such as poUtically

insensitive behavior, comments, or attitudes appear as recurring themes throughout the

report. The issue of athletes loving sport for sport's sake, for example, is seen as an

'**Ibid., 10.
^'Ibid.
'"Ibid., 12.
"Ibid.
76
ideological problem that must, somehow, be corrected via poUtical education. In 1958,

the pubUcation Der Speer noted as sub-captions to one article that "EUte Sports is Our

Main Task," and "EUte Sports is not Pure Athletics." The reader is to understand that

what is desirable are "...not just athletic bureaucrats, but socialist educators."'^

The 1954 report set the stage for the future battles to maintain a correct

ideological stance, particularly among the athletes. The adversary was the West German

who continually spread his "enemy ideology" and simultaneously tried to "steal"

concepts~via West German agents-from the GDR sports movement.'^ Important also in

this document is that the athletes have the correct political view of West Germany (the

title "Federal RepubUc of Germany" is never used in this time period). These West

German agents are equated with the provocateurs of the anti-Soviet June 17,1953,

uprising and are now said to be employing "new means to encourage class warfare."''*

GDR athletes who fravel to the West for competition must be sufficiently enlightened as

to the "essence of the West German state's imperialism and militarism."" A goal set for

the athlete in the 1954 plan was that, "Above all, v^th the athlete [there must be] love and

faithfiihiess to the State of the Worker and the Farmer and our Party." The plan also

wanted to ensure that the athlete had a

...concrete knowledge of the downfeU of West German sports and the degradation
sports and mankind endures under the [system of] profit, greed, [and] professional

'^"Schluss mit der Unterschatzung des Leistungssports," Der Speer. 4 July 1958,
2.

'^Bericht der Kommission...Mar. 12,1954, DY30IV 2/18/3, SAPMO, 15.

"*Ibid., 14.

"Ibid., 16.
77
 sports and tiie abuse the West German athlete endures for [the sake of] war
preparedness.'*

The irony of this disdaining of professional sports can be perceived in the

premiums offered to athletes for winning events. Herbert Friedel, World champion ski

jumper in 1951, was awarded a winner's premium of 2,000 marks by a cash-starved post-

war state." Famous two-tune Olympic gold medaUst Ruth Fuchs, also a member of

Parliament in the 1990s to 2000, testified m an interview to having received cash rewards

on numerous occasions. The winning athletes mysteriously and secretively received sums

of money from unknown sources. To try to prevent disclaimers of East German athletes'

amateur status from emerging, the donors of this money remained forever anonymous.'*

In the aforementioned 1954 report, the new State Committee is also reprimanded

because it had not yet adequately comprehended the necessity of "exploiting the sports

press as a main tool for the propaganda and agitation of the democratic sports

movement."" That the events of June 17, 1953, had not been sufficiently evaluated was

said to be due to a deficiency in the efforts of the leaders of the Sports Committee.*" Even

in the realm of sports the press was to be used to "evaluate problems systematically and

'*"Plan fiir die Untersuchung der Demokratischen Sportbewegung," Abt. Leitende

Organization der Partei und Massenorganizationen, Berlin, Feb. 4, 1954, DY30 IV
2/18/3 SAPMO at Zeitgeschichte fiir Sport, Potsdam University, 2.

"Letter to Herbert Friedel from Waher Ulbricht, Mar. 5, 1951, BerUn NY 41821,
SAPMO.

'*Ruth Fuchs and Klaus UUbrich, Lorbeerkranz und Trauerflor: Aufstieg und
'Untergang' des Sport wunders DDR. Berlin: Dietz Verlag, 1990, 81-3.

"Plan fiir die Untersuchung der Demokratischen Sportbewegiing,"...Feb. 4, 1954,

DY30IV2/18/3,18.

*"lbid., 19.
78
thoroughly...in aU questions the education of people takes priority. The central solution is

'work sociaUsticaUy-leam and live it!'"*' The GDR regime was very keen on using sports

to vindicate its poUtical and economic system:

Peak athletic performance of the German Democratic Republic demonstrates also

the superiority of our order over the capitaUstic system in West Germany. High
athletic achievements enhance our image and the authority of our RepubUc. That
is why, in the future, all efforts should be undertaken to increase athletic
performance quicker and more systematicaUy.*^

At this stage (1959), the GDR was also coming to terms with the isolationist

techniques of the West Germans embodied in the poUtical stipulations of the HaUstein

Doctrine. Historian Martin Geyer comments that the pecuUarity of the relationship of

West to East Germany was such that, whUe virtuaUy aU contacts were broken at some

time or another in nearly all realms during the course of the Cold War, this never proved

to be the case in sports.*^ This continuity of relations tended to poUticize the arena of

sports between the two nations all the more. One aforementioned document of the GDR

Work Group Sports asserted:

The poUtics of the Bonn govemment have dead-ended. West Germany has
isolated itself in foreign poUtics. The poUtics of the Cold War is supposed to be
increasingly sfrengthened in West German sports. The goal of the Bonn
govemment is to smuggle the Cold War into the IOC.*'*

*'Niederschrift uber eine Beratung mit Gen. Honecker mit der Arbeitsgmppe
Sport, dem Sekretariat des DTSB, dem Partei-Sekretar des DTSB und dem Vorsitzenden
des StaatUchen Komitees fur Korperkultur und Sport. BerUn, Oct. 19, 1959, DY30 IV
2/18/2, SAPMO at Zeitgeschichte fUr Sport at Potsdam University, 2.

*^Anlage Nr. 13, Protokol 10, Massnahmen zur schneUeren Erhohung der
sportUchen Leistungen in der Deutschen Demokratischen RepublDc," DY30 JIV 2/2 582,
SAPMO, 2.

*^Geyer, 57.

*^Niederschrift uber eine Berattmg..., Oct. 19,1959, DY30IV 2/18/2, 2.

79
 The HaUstein Docttine was formulated by the West German Foreign Office

between the months of September and December of 1955 and named for Foreign

Minister Walter HaUstein. It stipulated not only that recognition of the GDR would be

considered an act hostUe to the FRG, but it also entailed that any nation granting the

GDR formal recognition would suffer the consequence of a breaking of diplomatic ties

with the Federal Republic.*' In the intemational arena of sports, this presented aU manner

of complications. The FRG attempted, for example, to reverse the IOC's decision of

granting recognition to the GDR's National Olympic Committee.** For its part, the GDR

Work Group Sports sought to develop arguments in favor of a more neutral Olympic flag.

Instead of the IOC-suggested orange, red, and black stripes with the Olympic rmgs, a

white flag with the Olympic rings and Beethoven's Ode to Joy Hymn were proffered.*'

The GDR also authorized the DTSB (Deutsche Tum und Sport Bund, or German

Gymnastics and Sports Federation) to seek out intemational federations with which the

East Germans could have athletic events and use their own flag and national anthem. The

intent was to further the prospect of recognition of GDR statehood.** This stmggle for

formal recognition via the use of national symbols was waged at various levels. For

example, when the GDR tried to send more officials and journalists than it had originally

planned to the 1960 Olympic Games in Squaw Valley, the United States did not grant

*'Geyer, 70.

**Ibid., 68.

*'Niederschrift iiber erne Beratung...," Oct. 19, 1959, DY30 IV 2/18/2, SAPMO,
3.

**Ibid., 2.
80
additional visas.*' This reflisal to extend more visas applied even to a ski jumper. East

Germans interpreted this as reluctance on behalf of the U.S. to acknowledge the superior

talent of some of their athletes.

Waher Ulbricht continued his campaign for higher performance on behalf of the

athletes as a means of achieving wider recognition of the GDR m the intemational

community. Indeed, higher athletic achievement continued in this small country. By

the end of 1955, the smaller of the two Germanys had won 28 of the total 40 German-

accmed track and field medals. In addition, the GDR won 11 World championships, two

European championships and 80 more awards m aU athletic disciplines combined at

world class competition." A dramatic climb in performance is particularly noteworthy in

the years from the 1956 Melboume Olympic Games to the 1960 Rome Games, where the

GDR tripled its number of gold medals in the summer Olympics and more than doubled

its numbers of silver and bronze medals. Although the GDR had only approximately one-

third the population of the FRG, the GDR had nearly as many silver medals and more

bronze medals than the FRG.'^ While the FRG doubled its number of gold medals in

these two Olympic Games from 5 to 10, the GDR tripled its numbers of gold from one to

three.'^

*'Espy, 67.

'"ProtokoU iiber die Beratung mit den Olympiakadem, Mar. 2, 1959, BerUn,
DY12 4165/562, SAPMO, 6.

"Pabst, 133.

'^Kriiger, Sport und Politik. 110.

'^H. Weder, Ubersichten zur Theorie und Geschichte der Karperkultur. (Leipzig:
Deutsche Hochschule fiir Korperkultur, 1988), 90.
81
 High-level govemment involvement correspondingly increased along with the

escalating athletic performance levels. One 1959 consultation between DTSB leader Rudi

Reichert and the Olympic cadre reveals a concem among the highest poUtical ranks

regarding matters pertaiiung to the detaUs of the athletes' training, diet, and

developmental processes. The coach, Reichert insisted, must be at oncefrainerand sports

physician. "The athlete must be thoroughly and scientifically examined. The

developmental process can thus be best determined."''* The belief was propagated that

every athlete could not oidy improve, but could also master, day after day, greater

degrees of difficulty m his/her performance levels. The motive to excel was the

conqjetition next door, for the West Germans "train in order to defeat us in every

respect." The role model for this development was deemed to be the Soviet Union,

whereby similar aimual quotas and plans were established just as they were in the realm

offectoryand farm production."

The decade of the 1950s in the GDR was characterized by major stmctural growth

respecting sports. The umbrella organization, Deutsche Tum und Sportbund (DTSB) or

German Gymnastics and Sports Federation, was established in 1957 as an overarching

administration that would oversee aU the different sport branches and clubs. The DTSB

would supplant the DSA. The DSA, in turn, would become a sub-branch of the DTSB

and would be responsible for aU intemational sport relations, including those with West

Germany. The exception to this would be those matters pertaming to the Olympics,

'^ProtokoU of Mar. 2, 1959, SAPMO, DY12 4165/562, 6.

"ibid. See also Kruger, 111.

82
which would be under the auspices of the GDR's NOC.'* One year prior to this, the

German CoUege of Physical Culture in Leipzig was granted therightto award doctoral

degrees in the reahn of physical education. Earlier in the decade, in 1952, the official

sports journal, Theorie und Praxis der Koroerkultur (Theory and Practice of Physical

Cultured came into being, pattemed after a similar Soviet pubUcation." The aU-unportant

aforementioned German Sports Committee (DSA) had been estabUshed in 1951.'* The

sports clubs created in these early years, such as those associated with the factories, also

served to enhance opportunities for eUte athletes, as the clubs presented a concentration

of experienced coaches as well as fecUities."

Decisions made at this early stage proved to be bedrock ones that determined later

success. Comments of the president of the DTSB, Rudi Reichert, indicated that the

preponderance of GDR effort would be on track andfielddisciplines. No other genre of

sports was deemed so comprehensive in terms of variety and breadth of skill level.*" This

prescient estimation was realized in some of the more stunning success records of the

GDR, startmg in 1968 at the summer Olympic Games in Mexico Cityrighton up to the

last year of East Germany's Olympic competition in 1988. Member of the Cenfral

Committee Paul Vemer ascertained m 1959 that an even tighter confrol over eUte

athletics would be necessary:

'*Telephone conversation with Professor Dr. Gunther Wonneberger, May 9, 2000.

"Kriiger, 112.

'*Simon et al., 143.

"Ibid., 145.
*"ProtokoU of Mar. 2, 1959, DY12 4165/562, SAPMO, 5.
83
 The questions of cooperation between the State [Sport] Committee and the DTSB
regarding elite sports must be regulated as delineated in the directives of the
PoUtbiiro, whereby both administrations not only confirm the performance plans
as State plans, as weU as frain the coaches and establish standards, etc. but [the
State Committee] must have the right to oversee and control eUte sports.*'

State confrol over not only the sports system but the athletes themselves, took

place at a microcosmic level as well. The State Sports Committee placed great emphasis

on the athletes' poUtical education. The committee deemed this to be one of the

responsibUities of the coach. One Ust of these responsibilities noted that

Particular attention is to be granted to the poUtical-moral education of aU athletes.

The goal of this task must be to educate aU athletes to become genuine socialist
patriots who are ready and capable of representing the German Democratic
RepubUc in intemational competition in a worthy manner and to defend our
sociaUst accomplishments against aU imperialist attacks.*^

The fact that West Germany, even at this early stage, was superior to the GDR in

aU respects save sports heightened the need for athletic excellence.*^ In a 1959

assessment of questions pertaining to GDR athletes' soccer skills, the Sport Work Group

brain-stormed the reasons for the players' shortfaUs. Most disturbing to the overseers was

that the GDR's best could neither equal nor defeat the best West German soccer team.*'*

*'Niederschrift iiber eine Aussprache beim Genossen Paul Vemer zu einigen des
Leistungssports, BerUn, Sept. 13, 1959, DY30 IV 2/18/2, SAPMO at Zeitgeschichte fiir
Sport, Potsdam University, 3.

*^Anweisung Nr. 5 des StaatUchen Komitees iiber die BUdung von

Schwerpunkten zur Hebung des Leistungsniveaus, Oct. 1,1952, cited in Bemett, 85.

*^Dayid B. Kanin, A PoUtical History of the Olympic Games. (Boulder, Colorado:

Westview Press, 1981), 72.

*'*Aktennotiz einer Aussprache der Gen. Neumann, Gen. Honecker mit Gen.
Schobel, Kamm Rydz, Weissig, Stoph, Langer, Godicke und Kriigel, Arbeitsgmppe
Sport, Nov. 10, 1959, DY30 IV 2/18/2, SAPMO at Zeitgeschichte fiir Sport, Potsdam
University, 3.

84
Thus, the main goal to be accon^lished at the 1960 Olympic Games was to demonstrate

to the world the superiority of GDR physical culture.*' This aspiration was considered

feasible only if the GDR was aUowed to represent itself with an independent team As the

national image was at stake, the training of the athletes was to be decided in detaU at the

highest levels of the state sport hierarchy. It was determined that

the achievement of a high level of elite sports in the German Democratic Republic
is an important task of state poUtics which can substantially fortify [i.e. grant
sfrength to] both the politics of our Party of the workers' class and the
intemational reputation of our RepubUc.**

The performance of athletes and coaches was planned in detaU with a strict

system of accountability established via the state Sports Committee. These plans were

fransmitted to the DTSB forfiirtherelaboration. In addition, any deficiencies in

performance of the athletes were attributed not only to the dearth of expertise of the

coaches, but also to the "insufficient poUtical quality" of the coach. The beUef was

evident that loyalty to sociaUsm and the Socialist Unity Party actually resulted in superior

fraining and more successfiil athletes.*' As early as the late 1950s, a system of coaching

with expertise rooted in education at the DHfiC was established. This included an array of

correspondence courses and programs that enabled both athlete and coach to operate

always on the basis of the utmost advanced stages of sports science. Gifted child athletes

were to be sent to special sports schools where education could be adapted to their

training programs, thus maximizing the number of hours the young athletes could spend

*'ProtokoU Nr. 10/58, DY30 J/IV 2/2582, SAPMO, 3.

**Ibid.

*'lbid., 6.
85
fraining. Adult athletes who were employed were granted special arrangements by their

factories and firms to aUow for fraining time.**

These initial stages (1945 to 1960) of the GDR sport system created both the

stmcture and the momentum for athletic success which proceeded to take off in the 1960s

and escalated upwards throughout the 1970s and 1980s. The decidedly and unabashedly

poUtical character of the GDR sports system can be attributed to Waher Ulbricht, the

GDR's de facto leader who, m 1953, was designated First Secretary of the SED.*' The

political aura granted this athletic system is atfributed to Germany's long history of

commingling sports and poUtical interests datmg back to 1798 with the founders of

German physical culture, GutsMuths and Jahn.*" That these two pioneers in German

sports culture were able to intertwine their poUtical ideals with sports and implement

their revolutionary ideals for social and poUtical change is the key concept that the former

East German Secretary for Sports, Giinther Erbach, declared as East Germany's own

tradition and heritage."

The caU to develop eUte athletics entailed more than a sense of maintaining

historical continuity and rivalry with the West Germans. It also had broad-based foreign

**ProtokoU Nr. 10/58, DY30 JTV 2/2582, SAPMO, 8.

*'john Ardagh, Germany and the Germans: An Anatomy of Society Today. (New
York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1987), 323. Peter Kiihnst, Die politische
InstmmentaUsierung des Sports in der SBZ und DDR 1945-1957. (Cologne: Verlag
Wissenschaft und PolitUc, 1982), 49.

'"Kriiger, Sport und PoUtik. 13-14.

"interview with Erbach. See also: Entwurf Begrundung und Vorschlage zur
Verbesserung der TStigkeit und der Struktur der demokratischen Sportbewegung, 1956,
DY 30IV 2/12/3 SAPMO at Zeitgeschichte fiir Sport, Potsdam University, 2.

86
and domestic purposes. The charge to be "diplomats in sweat suits" internationally, as

well as to serve nationally in helping cuUivate the "socialist personaUty," were the

additional tasks of being an eUte athlete for the German Democratic RepubUc.'^ This

assignment rose m significance in the decades to come.

'^Holzweissig, Diplomaten iyn Trainunesanzug. 12. Ewald, "Korperkultur und

Sport sind Sache unseres ganzen Volkes," 684, 686.
87
 CHAPTER rV

THE 1960s: CREATING BARRIERS

AND ATHLETIC STRUCTURES

The main themes of GDR sports m the 1950s wererivafrywith West Germany,

desire for intemational recognition, and efforts to vaUdate the superiority of the

"socialist" system. These themes were continued in the 1960s. The author of a 1956

report on the (political) educational emphasis espoused by GDR sports leaders reveals

that

Our athletic successes have made an impression not only in West Germany, but
have also strengthened the intemational view of the GDR. In a matter ofjust a
few years, the athletic prowess of the GDR has become an intemational sports
phenomenon.'

This recognition of both athletic excellence and statehood separatefromthe FRG

became a matter of supreme importance in the 1960s to the GDR.^ Sports also became

the siren caU to the East German youth in an endeavor to lure them to stay in the

"sociaUst" Germany. The hemorrhaging of the prized youthfromthe time of statehood in

1949, to even after the erection of the BerUn WaU on August 13,1961, bled the young

nation of labor-power and skUls. These westward moving numbers surpassed 2,700,000

by 1962, despite the concrete barrier, the minefields, and other obstacles.^ Thus, shortly

'Entschliessung des StaatUchen Komitees fiir KOrperkultur und Sport iiber die
Aufgaben zur raschen Aufwartsentvdcklung von Korperkultur und Sport." 1954, DY30
rV 2/18/3, SAPMO at Zeitgeschichte fiir Sport, Potsdam University, 161.
^Hans Simon, "Haupttendenzen im DDR-Sport und der Kampf um seine
Internationale Anerkennung zwischen 1961 und 1970/1," Theorie und Praxis der
KSrperioilttir. 37, no. 6, (1988): 362.
^Gerald Carr, "The Use of Sport in the German Democratic Republic for the
88
before barbed wire was erected through the streets of BerUn segregating German from

German, State Secretary Walter Ulbricht and the leader of Work Group Sports, Rudi

HeUmann, conferred as to how to strengthen sunultaneously the poUtical aUegiances and

enhance the athletic performance of their sportsmen and women. A key focus was to be

an emphasis on political-ideological education in the sports clubs in order to inculcate

convictions in keepmg with those of the GDR leaders' political philosophy.'* Special

emphasis was to be placed on the poUtical indoctrination of the members of the "Berlm

sports clubs and the border areas" as the temptation among these athletes was greatest,

given their close proximity to their West German brethren and access to the FRG itself

Above all, one must ensure that

...no athlete of these sports clubs may become a Republic refiigee (i.e. a defector
from the GDR,)...the DTSB must orient its activities so that the eUte athletic
program [of the GDR] may be proven superior to West Germany this year, if
possible.'

The bridge between sports and politics was to be fortified. The state presence was

to become more palpable as strict controls of the sports clubs' assigned tasks were to be

periodically assessed. Evaluations of high profile sports were to be prepared, particularly

in regards to East German performance vis-a-vis the West Germans. A strong focus was

then to be placed on such sports as shotput and track events, areas in which the West

Promotion of National Consciousness and Intemational Prestige," Joumal of Sport

History. 1. no. 2. (1974): 125.

"Rudi Helhnann to Erich Honecker letter with Appendix, Aug. 9, 1961,

"Information iiber zwei Aussprachen mit Genossen Waher Ulbricht und die wichtigsten
Arbeiten in der Zeit vom 10.7. bis 5.8. 1961, " DY30IV 2/18/2, SAPMO at
Zeitgeschichte fiir Sport Potsdam University, 1.

'Ibid.

89
Germans exceUed.* This discussion between Ulbricht and Helhnann revealed a sense of

desperation. The leaders hoped to dissolve the aUure of West Germany that preoccupied

their youth, and particularly their sports-minded youth. Ulbricht issued the orders to play

up the politics of the FRG's Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, as being divisive of German

sports. Adenauer's politics were also to be depicted as demonsfrative of the spirit of

"revanche and mUitarism."'

That the athletes were disgruntled with the imprisoning measures of August 13,

1961, taken by the GDR govemment was quite apparent. Building up to this were wars of

words between the East and West Germans' leading sports organizations, the Deutsche

Turn und Sports Bund (East) and the Deutsche Sportsbund (West). The DTSB accused

the West German regime of deepening the cleft between the two nations by breaking

cultural and sports engagements. This indicated, the DTSB commented, "howferthe

militaristic, anti-national forces have come in this anti-justice West German state."*

Meetings of sports organization leaders occurred in the succeeding weeks and

months after the erection of the Berlin Wall to conduct damage control.' The topics of

conversation at such meetings were embossed with confusion, conflict, and even

*Ibid., 2.
'Ibid., 3.
^"Erklamng des PrSsidiums des Nationarats der nationalen Front des
demokratischen Deutschland, " Anlage Nr. 2, ProtokoU Nr. 49/60, PoUtbUros des
Zenfralkomitees, Oct. 18, 1960, DY30 JTV 2/2730, SAPMO at ZeitgeschichtefiirSport,
Potsdam University, 1.
'Letter from the Dept. Leader of the SED Bezirksleitung Gross-Berlm Dept.
Organization and Leadership, to Comrade Helhnann, Central Committee of the SUP
Work Group Sports, DY30 FV 2/18/8, SAPMO at Zeitgeschichte fiir Sport, Potsdam
University, 146-56
90
desperation. Leaders often did not know how to deal with the probing questions of the

youth. One leader commented that "...many young people often question the new

situation in Germany and caimot understand these measures which were taken to protect

peace."'" Throughout the various sports clubs and organizations in the GDR, sharp and

angry words were exchanged." The leaders concluded that one particular organization,

the Gesellschaft fiir Sport und Technik (Society for Sport and Technology) had the

premier role of countering this dearth of poUtical conviction with patriotic education so

that the youth might become "...class conscious and glowing patriots."'^ Therefore, "...a

thorough improvement of the poUtical-ideological work and the guaranteeing of the

efforts of combmmg patriotic [beliefs] with education" must proceed.'^ In one of his final

pohits, the author noted that, above all, the mfluence of the Party must be guaranteed in

every board meeting.''*

Even four years later, the mfluence of this "poUtical education" did not seem to

have had the desired effects. One report of the Work Group Sports reveals disappomting

progress m respect to the sports students' attitudes towards the Party and its poUtical

'"Anlage zum Rundschreiben ZK, Anlage Nr. 11 zum ProtokoU Nr. 62/61, Dec.
6,1961, Betr. Direktive zur Vorbereitung und Durchfiihrung der Wahlen zu den
Vorstanden der Gmndorganisationen der Kreis- und Bezirksvorstande der GeseUschaft
fiir Sport und TechnUc. DY30 JIV 2/3779, SAPMO at Zeitgeschichte fur Sport, Potsdam
University, 3.

"Hans Sunon, "Chromk des DDR-Sports, TeU IV: 1961-1965," Beitrage zur
Sportgeschichte. 4 (1998), 7.

'^Anlage zum Rundschreiben ZK, Anlage Nr. 11 zum ProtokoU Nr. 62/61, Dec. 6,
1961, SAPMO, 3.

"Ibid., 5.

'Ibid., 7.

91
stance. This appears to have been the case especiaUy at the German CoUege for Physical

Culture, or DHfK A visit by Walter Ulbricht was met with a cool reception by the

student body, whose behavior was perceived as being "unparty-like."" The author of this

report attributed this decidedly "unsocialistic" conduct to a dearth of "poUtical-

ideological work." The perceived threat was that, uhimately, this could groundsweU into

a widespread phenomenon that would inhibit the execution of any of the Party's

directives in the reahn of physical culture. The author of this report was particularly

troubled as the students seemed unresponsive to extensive efforts by the Sports

Committee's leaders to inculcate firm convictions in keeping with "socialist" values.

Even more troubling, the faculty was deemed too oriented towards its own professional

expertise on sports science and was less politically motivated, or, even worse, was

politically motivated largely for personal gain.

The teaching of subject matter is over emphasized. A movement towards

academic titles has developed...The efforts of a few leaders to achieve professor
titles has even become "poUtically" motivated.'*

The author was also disgruntled in that he perceived the academicians of the

German Sports CoUege in Leipzig to be competing with the West German Cologne

Sports College for prestige and status."

Treatment of the buUding of the Wall m GDR sports Uterature was dealt with

delicately, if not defensively. In at least one case it was deemed as "a thom in the flesh"

"Arbeitsgmppe Sport, "Information iiber einige poUtische-ideologische

Erscheinungen an der DHfK msbesondere im Lehrkorper und der zentralen
Parteileitung," Berlin Feb. 17, 1966, ZK der SED Sport IV A2/18/3-4, SAPMO, 2.

'^Ibid.

'Ibid., 2-3.
92
but necessary to prevent the escalation of the Cold War into all-out warfare.'* Whatever

students beUeved in private, they toed the Party Une in formal academic writing,

maintainmg the official perspective of the West German regime as the aggressor. Thomas

Grassier wrote in his dissertation that the actions taken by the East German government

on August 13,1961, were justified as these "militaristic measures were both pressing and

necessary due to the sfrengthened efforts towards an escalating imperialism of the FRG."

Furthermore, this doctoral candidate assessed that the effort to unify Germany under

West German terms posed the threat of immediate preparations of aggression

accompanied by subversive actions of an imperiaUstic secret service along with massive

luring of highly skiUed labor from the GDR."

The Federal Republic was typically depicted as pressuring the GDR mto taking

such measures, beginning with the aforementioned FRG's 1955 mitiation of the HaUstein

Doctrine. This doctrine mandated that the FRG break diplomatic relations with any

country that recognized the GDR.^" This was also the ultimate damper on sports

engagements for the GDR. Sports leader Rudi Helhnann noted in a report to Honecker in

November of 1961 that West Germany was using its considerable influence in

intemational sports organizations to oppose the GDR in every respect. The denial of visas

to GDR athletes as weU as the banning of the GDR flag and national anthem abroad m

"•Simon, 362.

'Gliomas Grassier, Die Entwicklung des DTSB als sozialistische

Sportorganisation m der Zeit von 1961 bis 1970. (Ph.D. diss., Leipzig: Deutschen
Hochschule fiir KSrperkuhur, 1987), 11.

^°Hans Sunon, "Beitrage des DDR-Sports zum intemationalen Ansehen der DDR
zwischen 1959 und 1970," WissenschaftUche Zeitschrift d. DHfK. 31, no. 1, (1990): 26-
7.
93
the athletic arena were described as "enemy actions." "All manner of discrimination

against the GDR is endeavored." "Because of this, thefightto aUow the participation of

East German athletes in mtemational sporting events must be considered as one of our

most iiiqx)rtant tasks."^'

The East Germans later objected even to negotiating with West Germans on FRG

terrain as this could subject them to "provocations and discriminatory treatment."^^ In an

earUer letter to HeUmann, State Secretary Alfred Neumann suggested that socialist

countries unify in protest against provocative tactics of the West Germans. In this case,

the West German govemment proposed movmg the host city for the World CouncU for

Sport and Physical Education from a city in Switzerland to West Berlin.^^ Thus, the

GDR President of the National Track Organization, Georg \\^eczisk, protested to the

lAAF President that West German behavior had nothing to do with sports but was merely

political. Therefore, GDR athletes and sports organizations should be granted full

recognition, just as other nations have been.^'* Recognition in sports for the GDR would

be a step towards poUtical recognition and thus constitute a sUck circumventmg of the

^'ReportfromHelhnann to Honecker. "Uber die Behandlung der Vorschlage der

Delegation der DDR auf der Jahreskonferenz der leitenden Sportorgane aUer
sozialistischen Lander 1961," Nov. 10,1961, ZK der SED IV A2/18/2, SAPMO, 1.
^^Abteilung AussenpoUtik und Internationale Verbmdungen, "Stellungnahme der
Abt. AussenpoUtik und Internationale Verbindungen zur Vorlage des StaatUchen
KomiteesfifrKorperkulttir und Sport," Sept. 13,1962, BerUn, ZK der SED Sport FV
A2/18/3-4, SAPMO, 1.
^Alfred Neumann letter to Rudi HeUmann, undated, ZK der SED Sport IV
A2/18/3-4, SAPMO, 1.
^*Georg Wieczisk letter to lAAF President, Feb. 24,1962, BerUn, ZK der SED
Sport IV A2/18/3-4, SAPMO, 1.
94
FRG's Hallstem Doctrine of political isolation.

The war of clout in mtemational sports organizations took on an added

competitive edge. GDR sports leaders sought to gain acceptance for their respective

sports in intemational organizations, from punchball to handball to judo to boxing and

basketball.'^' In their appeals to the Intemational Olympic Committee, they urged the

sociaUst countries to wage sharp protests over any denial of visas to East German

athletes.^* That unity among socialist countries was not always achieved is revealing of

both rivafry and rifts that occurred among them. GDR sports relations with the Czechs,

for example, were not always rosy. One Czech newspaper, Ceskoslovenskv Sport,

reported in 1968, the year of the Russian invasion, how East German athletes were

spending more than their IOC-allotted six-weeks time at a training center in Russia.

(Ostensibly tune beyond that would jeopardize the amateur standing of the athlete). In

addition, the quaUty of training disturbed the Czech athletes, as they believed the East

Germans had a decisive advantage in support personnel, quality of food, and fraining

methods. These combined conditions caused the Czechs with their mere "layman's

knowledge" to question how they could compete fairly against GDR athletes with mere

"layman's knowledge." The official GDR in-house position on these accusations was that

^'ProtokoU iiber die Sitzung der Arbeitsgmppe Internationale Kommission. Oct. 2,

1962. ZK der SED Sport IV 2/18/30, SAPMO, 1-4. Noted was the necessity of
estabUshing the proper orientation with the various representatives of the capitaUstic
countries so that they might not perceive the GDR automatically as opponents. Formal
contact with the "non-imperialistic" states would enable the GDR to achieve its own
goals. See also ProtokoU uber die Kommissionssitzung der Arbeitsgmppe Internationale.
Oct. 16,1962, ZK der SED Sport IV 2/18/30, SAPMO, 3-4.

^^ProtokoU uber die Sitzung der Arbeitsgmppe der Intemationalen Kommission.

July 19,1962, ZK der SED Sport IV 2/18/30, SAPMO, 1.

95
this publication constituted "renewed provocations against us."^' In another bitter side

note, HeUmann sent an angry m-house message to Honecker reveaUng a sense of

betrayal that the Czechs had sent their leadmg ice hockey team to a match in the Federal

RepubUc. Apparently the Czechs had informed the GDR sports leaders that they were

sendmg only a second-string team, and the GDR feh deceived.^*

Other SAPMO documents indicate that there were rifts between the East Germans

and the Russians as well. Rudi Helhnann wrote to Erich Honecker that the Russians were

unwilling to accept some of the GDR sports directors' suggestions for compromises vis-

a-vis sporting relations with the FRG. Apparently, the socialist countries were to extend

support to each other in an act of soUdarity against the westem countries, but they were to

do this on Russian terms.^'

One DTSB document reveals that the sociaUst countries needed to be acutely

aware of the formation of cliques in world sports. These cUques formed along three

distinct lines: 1) the representatives of socialist countries (10%), 2) the representatives of

young rising nation-states (15-20%), and 3) the "imperialistic" great powers along with

their "vassals." (75%).^" Disconcerting to the DTSB leadership was that most of the

"SED HausmitteUung an Gen. Honecker from HeUmann. May 23, 1968, ZK der
SED Sport, DY30IV A2/18/6, SAPMO, 1.

^"SED HausmitteUung an Gen. Ulbricht from Helhnann, Oct. 28, 1963, ZK der
SED Sport, IV A2/18/3-4, SAPMO, 1.

^'SED HausmitteUung an Gea Honecker from HeUmann, May 10,1966, ZK der

SED Sport, FV A2/18/3-4, SAPMO, 1.

^°DTSB report. Jan. 22,1968, BerUn, "Zu emigen Problemen der Zusammenarbeit
zwischen den Sportleitungen der sozialistischen LSnder," ZK der SED, Sport TV A2/18/6,
SAPMO, 1.

96
world's athletic organizations, including the Intemational Olympic Committee, belonged

to the camp known as the "imperialistic great powers" (i.e., westem capitalist

democracies). This meant that the election of officials of these sports organizations

resulted in a leadership stemming largely from the "enemy states." Even so-caUed

"neutral" states, such as Switzerland, Sweden, and Ausfria fell into the "imperialistic"

category as they were flmdamentaUy m agreement with this group.^' Another

disconcerting development to the GDR sport leaders was that the President of the Belgian

National Olympic Committee proposed the formation of a (westem) European Union of

Sports m order to outweigh fiirther the influence of the Socialist Bloc countries. The

West European states were to combine forces, rising with aU their material and techiucal

advantages, to counter the efforts of the socialist countries.

GDR sports officials were convinced that, v^thin the intemational sports

federations and the IOC, "reactionary forces" were doing their utmost to suppress any

influence of the socialist coimtries.^^ DTSB leaders commented that their endeavors to

generate a show of socialist soUdarity were to no avaU. These sports leaders did not,

however, give up hope at fiirther exerting their influence by consoUdating their strength

with that of other socialist countries. They proposed that, under the leadership of their

Soviet comrades, they should prepare certain "principles for the development of world

sports." Also on the DTSB agenda was the creation of a councU for consultation among

the socialist countries regardmg sports. Third, the DTSB suggested that the combmed

^'Ibid., 2.

^%id.

^'Ibid., 5.
97
efforts of the socialist countries could help each improve its coUective athletic

performance and thus "secure...the superiority of the socialist situation."^'*

High on the agenda was maintaining the use of state symbols at ceremonies in

intemational sportmg events. The DTSB was very keen on having the use of state

symbols mamtamed at sports competitions held m NATO countries." DTSB leaders were

in fact worried that the use of symbolism and ceremonies would eventuaUy disappear

altogether. This could end, then, the very visible representation of state competition via

athletic events and nuUify efforts to promote "sociaUst" superiority. One clearly

enunciated fear of the DTSB ofificials was the prospect of sociaUst countries not

participating in certain mtemational events due to a block withdrawal of aU socialist

countries. The resultmg highly visible display of West German and American athletes

vanning numerous gold medals would reflect poorly on their own abUities. "We must

always test whether the measures we take do not also support the position of our

opponents."^* The GDR should strive, therefore, to participate in as many international

federation-arranged events as possible, with the GDR msignia clearly visible, to mark its

place in the world.^'

While the soUdarity of socialist nations opposmg the majority "imperialist great

powers," such as the U.S.A. and West Germany, was found to be wanting by the GDR,

East Germany was successful in cooperatmg with individual socialist countries on other

'*Ibid., 6.

^^bid., 9.

^*Ibid., 11.

"Ibid., 12.
98
matters pertaining to sports. Swim teams were sent to Cuba for conq)etition and traming;

oftentimes a trip to Cuba was used as a reward for a medal-wiiming athlete.^* The

cooperation between the GDR and Cuba was deemed exemplary m many respects. The

GDR's DTSB leaders beUeved that they could assist the Cuban swunmers with both

practical and theoretical instmction. In turn, the coUaborative efforts of Cuba with the

GDR could be used for propaganda purposes. The deepening "friendship" that resulted

from this arrangement was also to be documented for the media with a particular

emphasis "...on the GDR's solidarity with Cuba against American imperiaUsm."^'

Another effort of the GDR m the 1960s to cooperate with socialist countries to

advance its athletic and poUtical position also produced satisfactory results. In 1965 Rudi

HeUmann sent an in-house report to Waher Ulbricht indicatmg that the Bulgarian sports

directors were mterested in a cooperativefrainingprogram with the GDR hi preparation

for the 1968 summer Olympic Games in Mexico City. Critical to this preparation would

be, above aU, not just an exchange of sports scientists, coaches, etc., but also the training

of the athletes m a high altitude region sunilar to those high ahitude and climate

conditbns found m Mexico City. Facilities for trainmg were to be buih which,

eventually, could be used by the GDR beyond the 1968 Olympics. This would become a

designated sports research center, studymg, among other things, the effects of high

altitude and cUmate on physical performance. It would be manned by aU manner of sports

^*Zusammenfassung iiber em Gesprach mit Genossen Walter Ulbricht am 25. Dec.

1970 m Oberhof; Jan. 5, 1971, BerUn, DY30IV A2/18/11, SAPMO, 5.
^'DTSB, Anlage Nr. 13 zum ProtokoU Nr. 56/62, Sept. 28,1962, "Konzeption fiir
das Auffreten der Schwunmsportdelegation der DDR in Kuba," DY30 JIV 2/3 839,
SAPMO, 1-2.
99
scientists, sports physicians, climate experts, etc. Should other sociaUst countries be

interested in eventuaUy jommg in, that option would be available to them'*" In respect to

the Bulgarianfrainmgcenter, another letter was issued to Erich Honecker by DTSB

President Reichert, who pressed for thefinancmgof the Bulgarian facilities. The

Bulgarians needed thefimdmgand the East Germans needed the opportunity to traui at

high altitudes. Thus, both countries could accommodate each other's goals.'*'

The Bulgarian training center in Behneken won the attention of the highest levels

of state. State Secretary Walter Ulbricht personaUy wrote to "Comrade" Leonid Brezhnev

to ask if the East Germans mightfrainnot only with the Bulgarians, but also with the

Russians in the mountains close to the capital of Armenia, Yerevan.'*^ StiU, GDR trust of

the other sociaUst countries was not necessarily forthcoming. Rudi Helhnann warned

Comrade Honecker of the necessity of mamtauimg secrecy regardmg the trainmg aspects

of GDR athletes, even while at the Bulgarian traming center, ostensibly in the midst of

other socialist 'friends.' "Under aU circumstances, this should not come out in the

public.'"*^

Apparently the memory of the Czechoslovakian experience was stUlfreshon his

*°SED HausmitteUung,fromRudi Helhnann to Walter Ulbricht, Abt.

Arbeitsgmppe Sport, Sept. 7, 1965, ZK der SED Sport, IV A2/18/1, SAPMO, letter, 1-5
appendix.
*'DTSB President Rudi Reichert letter to ZK der SED Erich Honecker, Aug. 5,
1965, Berlin, ZK der SED Sport, IV A2/18/3-4, SAPMO, 1-2.
*^State Secretary Walter Ulbricht to State Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, letter-draft,
undated, ZK der SED Sport, TV A2/18/3-4, SAPMO, 1-2
"^SED HausmitteUung, Rudi Helhnann letter to Erich Honecker, Apr. 5,1968, ZK
der SED Sport, DY30 FV A2/18/6, SAPMO, 1.
100
mmd. The IOC had issued strict warnings that athletes were not to dedicate more than six

weeks free from their normal employment for fraining. It appears as if the GDR

govemment was wiUing to aUow the athletes, as much time to train as they and their

respective coaches deemed necessary. As for the hype regarduig socialist friendship and

unity, the East Germans were, in fact, ulthnately disappouited m the Bulgarians. Former

DTSB President Manfred Ewald noted in his lengthy, self-justifying mterview with

Reuihold Andert that the GDR invested considerable funds m the Bulgarian high althude

fraining center. The GDR mvested substantial time and effort into coaching the Bulgarian

rowing teanx Despite aU this, Bulgaria abmptly withdrew the GDR's user privileges of

the center. Thus, in order to gain the same high altitude advantage, the East Germans

were forced to use their scarce resources to travel to Mexico for similar training

conditions.'*^

StiU, the perceived uhimate enemy was not any of the fellow socialist countries,

but the democratic West, with enemy number one being the GDR's correspondmg sports

organizations of the FRG. A growing mood of fear and paranoia became evident hi the

1960s among the GDR sports organization leaders. Rudi Helhnann called to Erich

Honecker's attention m a "strict confidentiality" in-house message that several East

German DTSB members who were allowed to fravel to West Germany had been caught

staymg too long m the FRG.'*' HeUmann was convinced that many of these high level

sports officials were working somehow for the West Germans, with a mission unknown

^Andert, 192.

**SED Hausmitteilung, Rudi Helhnann to Erich Honecker, Dec. 8,1967, ZK der

SED Sport, IV A2/18/3-4, SAPMO, 2.

101
to HeUmann and other sports leaders. Some of the officials who had been m the West

were "caught" on foreign territory, engaged ostensibly in activities that would threaten

the GDR, and were subsequently arrested.'** Those who were suspected of bemg even

potentially "involved" in "West work" were to be removed from the Ust of mdividuals

aUowed to travel to West Germany for sports engagements or anything CISC'*'

The begmnmg of the 1960s, even before the Wall m BerUn was built, marked a

time of bitter relations between sports organizations in East and West Germany. This

constituted such a concem to the GDR that it merited a special meetmg of the PoUtburo

on October 18,1960, less than a year before the famous barrier was to be erected.'** The

GDR issued a proclamation in the press on behalf of the DTSB, accusing the DSB, i.e.,

the West German Deutsche Sportsbund, of using

certain revengefiil, militaristic circles to break up contact between both German

states in all reahns: cultural, economic as well as other areas and thus deepen the
gulf between [these states] all the more...Under the direction of the (West
German) Mmister of War, Sfrauss, the unreformed miUtants [an off-handed slight
accusmg them of bemg former Nazis] would root out any thoughts of friendship
and understandmg. They want to shatter national thoughts of the Germans so that
someday they will shoot at each other. They strive towards conplete
militarization m the life of West Germany with the goal of atomic nuclear
armament and preparation for an aggressive war.

The article contends that Chancellor Konrad Adenauer was to blame for breakuig

"^SED Hausmitteilung, Rudi HeUmann to Erich Honecker, Sept. 13,1967, ZK der

SED Sport IV A2/18/3-4, SAPMO, 1-3.

^Ibid., 3.

"^ProtokoU Nr. 49/60 der Sitzung des Politbiiros des Zentral Komitees, Oct. 18,
1960, ZK der SED, DY30 JIV 2/2 730, SAPMO at Zeitgeschichte fifr Sport, Potsdam
University, 1.

*'lbid.,AnlageNr.2, 7.

102
up aU sports engagements between the states as well as preventmg a combmed East-West

German teamfromparticipating in the Olympic Games.'" Similarly, heated anti-West

German rhetoric contmued in an additional proclamationfromthe DTSB itself m which

the DSB was criticized for decreemg what national insignia the GDR athletes could wear

on their uniforms to mtemational sportmg events as members of the united German

teams." This war of symbols took on special significance in the 1960s between the

Germanys. Separate symbols were mtended to demarcate the GDRfromthe FRG and to

contribute to a clear statement of GDR statehood.

For the GDR, as highly important as symbols were, the most potent symbol of all

was afroupeof athletes who demonsfrated a knack for winning medals. Thus, in this

October 18, 1960, meetmg of the PoUtburo's Central Committee, the issue was how to

elevate the GDR's ranking as one of the world's leadmg countries m sports.'^ The key to

success would be the "socialist common effort," especially in science and applied

research. A seven-year plan was thus approved to give stmcture to this effort. The Central

Committee also considered the level of athletic development in other nations. The focus

was prhnarUy on westem democracies such as West Germany, the USA, Switzerland,

Sweden, and Italy, among others. A sharp eye was kept on the successes of the USA and

the methods employed there as weU as the special emphasis granted to specific athletic

disciplines. Rudi HeUmann wrote Erich Honecker that Americans were able to sponsor

^Ibid., 8.
"Ibid., Anlage Nr. 3,1.

'Ibid., Anlage Nr. 4,1.

103
their athletes lavishly based on donations alone (up to $3.5 million).'^ The chief concem

was that the East Germans were outsttipped m terms of financial outlay and also in terms

of actual development, not only of eUte athletics but also of the broader-based "mass"

sports as well. This awareness broached tiie reahn of sports medicme above all."* Science

was to become an mtruisic part of every component of Olympic sports in the GDR.

Included withm this broad decree were all the discipUnes of sports medicme, physiology,

sports psychology, physics, biochemistry, physiological chemistry, and other modem

natural sciences."

In terms of keepmg up with the Americans, it also made sense to HeUmann to

operate on the basis of selective Olympic discipline sponsorship. This idea came to his

attention via an article he had read m a West German publication, Leichtathletik (Track

and Field). Olympic discipline sponsorship was an approach newly employed m the

United States and worthy of emulation. Financially, it made sense. It also made sense to

heighten the chances for winning medals in the areas where one shows the greatest

potential.'* In fact, the GDR routinely collected aU manner of mformation in the way of

sports magazmes, newspapers, and other media sources on precisely what athletic

"SED HausmitteUung, Rudi Helhnann to Erich Honecker, Sept. 13, 1967, ZK der
SED, DY30 FV A2/18/5, SAPMO, 1. Sports medicme had actually merited attention at
the onset of the 1960s. This can be seen clearly in a 1960 draft on "Schliissfolgerungen
fifr den Sport m der DDR." Plans were conceived for "the quick development of sports
medicine." ZK der SED DY30IV 2/18/8.2305,1960, SAPMO at Zeitgeschichte fifr
Sport, Potsdam University, 13.

^"ProtokoU Nr. 49/60, Oct. 18,1960, SAPMO, 2.

"Ibid., 4.

"SED HausmitteUung, HeUmann to Honecker, Sept. 13,1967, Anlage, 1.

104
disciplmes the various capitalist countries were sponsoring. Helhnann requested that

Honecker decide if this mformation merited the Central Committee's attention." Also,

indicative of this mcreasingly centraUzed confrol over sports was the attention granted to

the matter of eUte sports m the mmutest detaUs; this was done at the highest levels of

govemment. The State Committee for Physical Culture and Sports itself, not the coaches,

decided on thefrauiingschedules of each uidividual athletic disciplme. These plans, or

schedules, were such a serious matter, that they were granted the second highest

"security" rankmg ui the GDR's interoffice documentation poUcy.'*

Oftentimes this centralization of control spavmed conflict. Communication

problems were evident between and among the various sports branches. Hefty disputes

occurred between high level officials. The (unnamed) University Chancellor (German:

Rektor) of Leipzig's German CoUege of Physical Culture held a dialogue with the Party

Secretary on March 23, 1965, recorded by some unidentified source. The report, which

reads Uke a secret poUce report, recounts bitter feuds which occurred between the District

(sports) Directors and the leaders of the Leipzig sports college. Numerous colleagues m

various sport branches were cited either for poor work behavior or sharp disagreements

regarding work methods." Several personal disputes occurred within the Work Group

"SED HausmitteUung, Rudi Helhnann to Erich Honecker, Dec. 8,1967, ZK der

SED Sport, DY30IV A2/18/5, SAPMO, 1-2.
'*The security rankmg was known as "streng vertrauUche Dienstsache," i.e.,
[very] strictly confidential [m-house, professional] material. Vorlage an das staatUche
KomiteefifrKorperkultur und Sport, DY30 2/18/5, SAPMO, 1,5-91-fif
''Author unknown, "Niederschrift iiber eine Aussprache mit dem Parteisekretar
und dem Rektor der DHfK am 23.3.1965," Mar. 29,1965, ZK der SED Sport, IV
A2/18/3-4, SAPMO, 1-8.
105
Sports and between members of this branch and the DHfK as well.*" Other feuds

occurred over this strict cenfral control, particularly over the sfrong grip the State

Committee for Sports held over the DTSB. The arguments become so incessant that

HeUmaim was compelled to write Honecker a "streng vertrauUch" (strictly confidential)

memo mdicating that the situation between the administrations of the State Committee

for Sports and the DTSB had become unbearable. It had reached such a state that the

work of the differing divisions was adversely affected.*' An ar^ry consensus prevailed

among the leaders m the DTSB, promptuig the writing of yet another report to resolve the

dispute regardmg the delegation of responsibilities. The DTSB leaders were embittered

over the State Committee for Sports assuming primary responsibiUty for mtemational

sports relations vnth all non-sociaUst countries.*^ At Hellmann's suggestion, this latter

govemment branch exerted an even stronger control over the DHfK, foUowing a period

of lengthy disputes between these two organizations that extended for months. A certain

Professor HobUtz was evenfiredfromhis position as "Prorektor" (assistant Chancellor)

of the DHfK, shut out of the college's Party leadership, and subjected to a Party

mvestigation due to his "poUtical behavior." Another Professor, Dr. Sieger, endured a

sunilar pUght. A purge of "four tofiveother comrades" occurred withm a few days. The

*°Aktennotiz iiber erne Aussprache mit dem Gen. Zunpel (Parteisekretar der
DHfK) am 8.2.1966 m der Arbeitsgmppe Sport, Feb. 15,1966, ZK der SED Sport IV
A2/18/3-4, SAPMO, 1-2. Also: Kurt Edel letter to Rudi Helhnann, May 21, 1968, ZK der
SED Sport, DY30 A2/18/6, SAPMO, 1-2
*'Rudi Helhnann memo to Erich Honecker, June 17,1965, ZK der SED Sport FV
A2/18/3-4, SAPMO, 1.
*^Rudi Helhnann letter to Erich Honecker, June 18,1965, ZK der SED Sport, IV
A2/18/3-4, SAPMO, 1.
106
official reason given for this purge was to strengthen the Party leadership. *^

Toemg the party line was not orUy difficuh m the fece of mtemal conflict, it was

also difficuh mthe fece of mtemational afifafrs. With the August 1968 Russian invasion

of Czechoslovakia (with the GDR participating m the invasion), GDR sports leaders were

perplexed as to how to come to terms not only with the event itself, but also how to relate

to their sports coUeagues m a dissenting socialist country. DTSB Vice President Giinther

Heinze telephoned his Czech counterparts. Dr. Bosak and Comrade Hradec, and was told

that they were not avaUable for comment. The (Czech) Director of the Department of

Intemational Relations, Dr. KroutU, was not only very reserved towards his East German

coUeague, but inquired unmediately as to the whole pomt of the phone call to begin with.

Furthermore, when asked if the Czech Republic sports leaders planned on maintammg

their sports engagements in the GDR, not orUy did Dr. KroutU claim he had no idea as to

how their athletic program would proceed, he also foresaw no possibUity of the

Czechoslovakians participating in any athletic events m the GDR ui the near future. Dr.

KroutU also remamed completely noncommital in respect to Czechoslovakia sponsorhig

any athletic events. When Hemze offered assistance m traming Czech athletes for the

Olympic Games ui Mexico City and even extended an mvitation to Dr. KroutU's charges

to use GDR sports facUhies, KroutU rejected these mvitations.*' Hemze then offered

"Rudi Helhnann letter to Erich Honecker, Feb. 25, 1966, ZK der SED Sport, IV
A2/18/3-4, SAPMO, 1-2.

"Akten notiz uber em Telefongesprach mit dem Leiter der AbteUung

Internationale Verbindungen des CSTV der CSSR am 3.9.1968, 11.55. Uhr," by DTSB
Vice President Giinther Hemze, Berlm Sept. 3, 1968, ZK der SED Sport DY30 A2/18/6,
SAPMO, 1-2.

"Ibid., 2.
107
other forms of material and technical assistance only to be met by fiirther firm rejections

by KroutU. It is not clear if Hemze's mtentions in contacting KroutU were to bring a

straying brother socialist country back mto the fold, or if there was some genuine

sympathy for the pUght of the bmtaUy oppressed Czechs. Perhaps a half-hearted apology

lay behmd Hemze's offers. Given the cold but polite and repeated rejections KroutU used

to fend off the pafronizmg dotmg of Hemze, it appears as if a mix of the two might have

been the case. GDR compUcit behavior with the Russians, of course, prohibited open

dialogue as well

A Uttle over a week later, KroutU issued a terse statement to IOC President Avery

Brundage, who, ui turn, had a franslated version of the Czech's statement sent to the

GDR. The Czechs claimed that the Russians' invasion of Czechoslovakia violated the

Olympic ideals and posed a serious threat to their participation m the Olympic Games

that summer. They requested that Brundage fransmit the message to officials of five

countries (the names are left out of the text by Brundage), and that these officials call

upon their governments to plead for an end to such violence.** It is highly improbable in

light of the GDR's own past difficulties with Russian oppression, such as hi the case of

the famous June 17, 1953, uprising, that these officials or governments would have had

the audacity to fiitfill the Czechs' wish even had they been so inclhied. They, of course,

were not.

The backlash of this invasion was feh for some time to come m sporting relations

m the Eastem Bloc. In late November 1968, DTSB President Manfred Ewald wrote to the

^Avery Brundage letter to Dr. Heinz Schobel, [President of the GDR's National
Olympic Committee], Sept. 11,1968, ZK der SED Sport DY30IV A2/18/6, SAPMO, 1.

108
Director of the Sport Department of the Central Committee, Rudi HeUmann, that not only

did the Czech leader of the cycling organization mform hun at the Mexico City Games

that Czechoslovakia woiUd not be participating m the Peace Tour {"-Friedensfahrt,"' i.e.,

the Eastem Bloc's equivalent of the Tour de France), but that Prague would also not be

the usual startmg pomt for the cyclmg race.*' According to Ewald, the Czechs should see

it as their duty to retain Prague as the starting gate and Czechoslovakian terrain as part of

the fraditional first one-third leg of the Prague-Warsaw-BerUn road race. Ewald wanted

to mamtam the vaUdity and prestige of the race by mvitmg some five capitaUst countries.

This proved to be problematic as he could not thmk of any capitalist country that would

not reject an invitation and thus further bUght the image of socialist sports and socialist

soUdarity.** Repeated appeals to Czech sports ofificials to reconsider their stance sunply

met with the simple and terse response, "We are no longer interested."*' Other attempts

to contact the Czechs went unanswered. The GDR organizers of the race were perplexed

as to how to proceed and suggested instead that the starting city be Warsaw with the

missing leg in Czechoslovakia being extended, instead, into southern Poland.

The East German sports leaders were sensitive to the fact that this whole mcident

was good anti-socialist fiiel, particularly to be reUshed by the West German regune. It

''Manfred Ewald letter to Rudi HeUmann, BerUn Nov. 21, 1968, ZK der SED,
DY30IV A2/18/6, SAPMO, 1-2.

^Ibid., 2.

* ^ a u s Huhn, sports journalist, "Bericht iiber die Beratung zur Vorbereitung der
XXII Friedensfahrt am 21. Nov. 1968 m Warschau," Nov. 22, 1968, BerUn, ZK der SED
Sport, DY30IV A2/18/6, SAPMO, 1.

™Ibid., 2.

109
also Uluminates the con^lexity for the West Germans of coming to terms with their own

eastem brethren payuig allegiance to a Russian-mandated and bmtaUy forceful system

Statements issued by the (West) German Sports Federation, which were subsequently

reported to the GDR leaders, are very expUcit on this:

Whh the mvasion of the CSSR, tiie other side has lost the right, even m sports, to
be regarded as partners...The whole complexity for us lies therem that m the other
part of our fetherland, this concerns our own countrymen. We have tried this
whole year—even in the Olympic arena~to demonstrate community and to
maintain (this community) even in the fiiture."

Despite the embarrassment of the mvasion of Czechoslovakia and the Czechs'

consequent withdrawal from the Peace Tour, the GDR counted the year 1968 as a year of

victory for sociaUst sports. This was deemed particularly the case for the success of its

own developing elite sports system. It was also perceived as demonstrative of a victory

over the "neo-Nazi, vindictive forces of West Germany," which country was stUl trykig

to decree the use of common national symbols, that is, national anthem, msignia, and fiag

m athletic competitions.'^ Much to the chagrm of the GDR, IOC President Avery

Brundage encouraged this latter practice for many years. He wrote the National Olympic

Committee members of both the GDR and the FRG on June 2,1965, appealmg for a

common team for "humanitarian" reasons: "A common German Olympic team shows a

^'Auszug aus Information Nr. 1/19/1968, Reaktion und Verhahen der

westdeutschen Seite zur Lage hi der CSSR, besonders un Hinblick auf die XIX.
Olympischen Sommerspiele m Mexiko, Nachlass Walter Ulbricht, NY 4182-1179,
SAPMO, 165.

'^AbteUung Sport, Erste Einschatzung und Schlussfolgerungen von den X.

Olympischen Wmterspiele m Grenoble, Mar. 29,1968, Nachlass Waher Ulbricht, NY
4182-1179, SAPMO, 130.

110
warring world the humanitarian meaning of Olympia. This means sports history."'^

The GDR sports leaders, however, had their own ideas on how to make their mark

m sports history. The year Brundage beseeched the Germanys to mamtam a unified team

was a landmark year for the GDR m terms of separation from the FRG sports system. On

October 8,1965, at the IOC Madrid Conference the GDR finally won the right to be

recognized as a geographically but not politically separate country m future Olympic

Games. The use of state symbols and political recognition would be the resuh of later

mcremental victories for the GDR."* These hard-won victories with the IOC harshened

the tones of bittemess m the exchange of letters between East and West German sports

leaders. The President of the FRG NOC, WUli Daume, wrote to the GDR NOC President,

Heinz Schobel, with mixed messages. Daume at once berated Schobel for usmg all means

to defame him hi the East German press yet sunultaneously urged him to reconsider

having a common Olympic team. "...Cooperation m the Olympic realm would render

common impulses possible m other areas, with the goal, for example, of no limitations

whatsoever in aU of Germany in general sporting relations."" The Federal Republic

sports leaders found it difficuh to court the GDR sports leaders as oftentimes their own

fi^stration with Cold War reaUties dictated otherwise. DTSB President Manfred Ewald

was outraged when he was stopped at the Invalidenstrasse entry of the Berlin Wall and

prohibfted admittance on September 25,1965, to West Berlm. Ewald, en route to the

'^KarUieinz Gieseler, Sport als Mittel der PoUtik: Die Sportbeziehungen un

gespahenen Deutschland. (Mauiz: Hase & Kohler Verlag, 1965), 33.

'*Espy, 108. Holzweissig, 38.

''Willi Daume, President of tiie FRG NOC, letter to Hemz Schobel, President of
the GDR NOC, Aug. 27,1965, ZK der SED Sport, FV A2/18/3-4, SAPMO, 1-2.
Ill
Spanish embassy, endeavored to pick up his visa so that he might attend the IOC Madrid

conference.'* For the leader of eUte sports m the GDR, this constituted a slap m the face

of sports diplomacy.

The GDR was on a warpath to counter such insuhs as this and the perceived

"...cunnmg and unscmpulous methods [of the West German sports directors who] fight

agamst the athlete of the GDR participatmg at uitemational sports events."" Thus, a

premium was placed on winiung medals to secure the world view that socialism

embodies a superior system. To measure their success, the East German sports leaders

devised thefr own, unofficial, pomt system. This point system was not recognized

mtemationally (nor were national rankings endorsed by the IOC) but it helped GDR

sports ofificials determine their ranking among the world elite beyond merely the top

three rankings m Olympic medal awards. The gold medal whmer would receive six

points, the sUver medal whmerfive,the bronze four, fourth place three pohits,fifthplace

two and sbrth place one pohit. Thus, m taUying the success beyond medals and for

comparative purposes, the GDR would allocate to all countries these same points for

placmgfirstthrough sixth. Points, rather than medals, was the determinant. For the

Wmter Olympic Games of 1968 m Grenoble, then, the GDR achieved a combmed 50

pomts whereas the Federal Republic of Germany achieved only 37. Accordmg to this

tabulation method, the East Germans enjoyed a decisive advantage over the FRG smce

'^ReportfromDTSB President Manfred Ewald, Sept. 25,1965, BerUn, ZK der

SED Sport IV A2/18/3-4, SAPMO, 1-2. Also, Andert, 164.
"Abteilung Sport, Erste Emschatzung und Schlussfolgerungen von den X
Olympischen Wmterspielen m Grenoble, Nachlass Waher Ulbricht, NY 4182 1179,
SAPMO, 130.
112
the 1964 wmter Olympic Games, when tiie GDR had 40 pomts and the FRG only 35. A

clear growtii rate m GDR performance m tiie world of elite sports could thus be seen.'*

Also noteworthy is that 1968 marked the first year that the two Germanys were

represented by thefr own teams m both wmter and summer Games. While the GDR had

less than one-third the population of the FRG, tiie East Germans were able to number 253

conqjetitors, nearly as many as the much larger West Germany's 296 competitors."

The separation of East and West German athletes into thefr own respective teams

helped the cause of the GDR fremendously m usmg its athleticism as a propaganda tool.

This was proudly announced in the GDR's Olympic Games evaluation:

The ffrst-time appearance of an mdependent team from the GDR at the Olympic
Games was a success and an expression of the contmual development of GDR
sports. The existence of two German states was visibly underscored and Bonn's
politics of sole representation suffered defeat. The team demonstrated, due to the
trust bestowed on them, a good, poUtically-conscious appearance and [thefr] good
athletic performance justified and contributed to an enhanced image of the
GDR.*"

The mitial pages of this report set the stage for evaluations of fiiture Olympic

Games. The report evaluates not just the performance of the athletes and specific athletic

disciplines in which they need improving, but also considers the poUtical envfronment of

the Games as weU as the impact the GDR athletic team and the medals h accmed made

'%id., Anlage, 144.

''BUI Henry and Patricia Henry Yeomans, History of the Olympic Games. (The
Southem CaUfornia Committee for the Olympic Games, Los Angeles, CaUfomia:
Sherman Oaks, Alfred Publishmg Co., 1984), 330.

*"Erste Emschatzung und Schlussfolgerungen von den X Olympischen

Wmterspielen in Grenoble, 130.

113
on the mtemational community.*'

Another very unportant facet of the Olympic Game evaluations and a consistently

repeated theme found throughout aU the foUowmg GDR Olympic Game evaluations was

the assessment of the "poUtical-ideological" orientation of the athletes and coaches. The

repetitive nature of this theme highlights the fimdamental unportance of this topic. It

serves as an undergfrdmg motif not only of the Olympic Game evaluations, but also of

the analyses of the between-Game preparations. Political education was deemed the main

crherion hi preparation for the Olympic Games. As an example, the writer of the 1968

evaluation and assessment of the Grenoble Games reports that:

A comprehensive and muhifaceted pohtical ideological work has been achieved

on the basis of a poUtical education plan. This [also] proceeded systematically in
the sport clubs and in the primary courses of instmction among the sports
federations. To be particularly highlighted is that the dfrectors of the districts
appear before the elite athletes and, strengthened by greater numbers, explam the
poUtical connections [of thefr athletic endeavors to pohtics]. There appears to be
visible progress m the [political] consciousness among the athletes. In the
Olympic wmter [athletic] disciplmes the share of party members and candidates
has increased all the more.*^

Lamented was the fact that too few of both athletes and coaches concemed

themselves with ideological issues. Furthermore, the connection of athletic education to

poUtical education was deemed insufficient. The coaches' expertise in sports was

considered high, yet marred by a dearth of "poUtical qualification." The actual

performance of the athletes was believed to derive from thefr degree of hidoctrination

mto correct political ideology. The ice hockey team, for example, was considered a

failure because its members took a decidedly defensive strategy m thefr playmg tactics

*'Ibid., 130-3.

^nhid., 134-5.
114
agamst "the so-caUed big four." "This false ideological position is stUl evident today

despite elucidations [to the confrary.]"*^ The concludmg remarks of the entfre Olympic

Games evaluation reasserted the need to "accelerate the degree of pohtical maturity and

party education, particularly among the...young members...via Marxist-Leninist

schooling." Furthermore, the explicit goal of all this "ideological elucidation" was to

"...develop and fortify the [sport officials' and athletes'] class consciousness m order to

promote thefr capacity for greater performance. This will hi tum strengthen the GDR."*'*

From a to z, the planning for the Olympic Games, whether it regarded framing,

nutrition, sports medicine, or travel arrangements, was to be centrally approved and

controUed. The Olympic Games evaluations expressly state "The entfre preparation for

the Olympic Games must be strictly centraUy dfrected."*' To be sure, the responsibility

tofiilfiUthese narrow strictures was delegated to the sport clubs, coaches, and

organization leaders. Intensive contact with athletes, coaches, and other officials was to

be maintamed with Party members who held strong poUtical convictions. Thefr task was

"...to assess, evaluate and mfluence the athletes' and coaches' abilities, degree of

poUtical maturity, and character qualities" much m the maimer of a missionary's reUgious

proselytizmg.** Even the referees who were aUowed to work the events held m the

mtemational arena were to undergo particularly extensive political education. In fact.

"^Ibid., 135.

•^Ibid., 138-9,152.

"^Ibid., 140.

"^Ibid., 140-1.

"Wd., 141.
115
only those referees who demonstrated a clear-cut abilhy to take a stand for the GDR's

poUtical system were to be aUowed outside of GDR boundaries.** The goal, as noted

previously, was to achieve not so much the highest number of medals as h was to have as

many athletes place m the top sbc posttions as possible, to thus count GDR athletes,

according to the aforementioned point system, among the world elite.*'

Assessmg the success of the eUte athletes was not, however, for the GDR sports

officials, merely a matter of tabulatmg pomts. Success, also, must be demonstrative of

mtemal convictions. A contmual pomt of fiiistration appeared to be the athletes' apparent

lack of interest m the compulsory poUtical hidoctrination. The athletes' attitudes were

closely evaluated to discern if they were consistent with the Party image of the "socialist

personaUty." If athletes demonstrated a less-than-wiUhig attitude to participate m any

given event, or betrayed either a diminished "fighting spfrit," or even an ostensible dearth

of courage, then this was clearly due to an insufficient education process. The normal

vicissitudes of the human spfrit and mood in sporting activities were viewed as

correctable and controUable via poUtical education.'" In evaluatmg the 1968 wmter

Olympic Games, GDR officials were convinced that the athletes could be urged on to

greater degrees of athletic performance if only they could be won over ideologicaUy. The

plan was thus to put even greater pressure on proselytizing the most successfiil and thus

highly visible athletes which were not Party members to come hito the fold. This would

»*Ibid., 142.

'Ibid., 141.

^bid., 149.
116
fortify the Party view of the exemplary "sociaUst personality.""

Throughout the 1960s, key components of the GDR eUte sports were exammed

and suggestions were advanced to unprove the overaU structure of the system Work

Group Sports had afready drafted a plan m 1965 to restmcture and unprove the existmg

sports system. This plan was to be valid untU 1970. Conceived m the aforementioned

acrfrnonious atmosphere of bitter rivafry between the DTSB, the State Committee for

Sports, and the DHfK, mitial suggestions mostly produced bickering over which

government branch would exert what authority over which reahn.'^ So discordant were

these three sport branches with one another that Work Group Sports leader Rudi

HeUmann was forced to report to Honecker that, "No agreement could be reached in the

discussion regarding the system and the stmcturc.Hours of debates have brought [us] no

closer to a conclusion."'^ The report HeUmaim submitted to Honecker concemed

intemational tendencies developing in elite sports. An assessment of the escalating

degrees of athletic accomplishments in Olympic Games and other intemational events

reveals that oftentimes old world records were beaten frequently by athletes who placed

only second or thfrd in competition. The 100 meter gold medaUst swimmer in previous

Games would not even have ranked hi the top six in the 1964 Olympic Games!''* Most

significant to the drafter(s) of the report was that it was the caphahst, not the socialist

"Ibid., 150-1.

'^SED HausmitteUung an Erich Honecker von Rudi Helhnann, Feb. 25, 1965, ZK
der SED Sport FV A2/18/3-4, SAPMO, 1-3.

'^bid., 1.
'^SED HausmitteUung an Erich Honecker von Rudi HeUmann, Feb. 25, 1965, ZK
der SED Sport IV A2/18/3-4, SAPMO, Anlage, 2.
117
countiies that demonstrated the greatest progress. Chief among these was the "enemy"

states, the USA, West Germany, and France."

Consideration was given to what were deemed the key elements of a successful

athlete in various disciplines. The conclusion was that the most unportant aspect was

early chUdhood framing.

Party leaders must ensure that m the next period work with children m the realm
of physical culture and sport wiU become the principal aspect [of the system.]
This wUl be decisive for the entfre development of socialist physical cukure in the
GDR and is simultaneously the most important prerequisite for the fiirther
advancement of eUte sports.**
This premium placed on children's athletic development did mdeed become a key

component of the GDR eUte sports system. This was also believed to be the chief reason

for the USA's success in such sports as swhnming and gymnastics. Work Group Sports

observed that the American child swunmers framed on average twice as much as East

German swimmers. All the Party's new dfrectives must therefore be oriented towards

acceleratmg the advancements of sports among GDR youth, particularly among those

who showed athletic promise." This necessitated cultivatmg a system of talent selection,

training, and sponsorship among chUdren so that substantial gains might be made

ulthnately m the eUte reahn, particularly ui Olympic Game disciplhies.'* The argiunent

used m support of this was that the GDR would be vmdicated by victories over West

Germany. The country that has the best youth sports system wUl be the one desthied to

''Ibid.,,4.

'^Ibid.,,6.

''Ibid.,,7.

''Ibid-,,8.

118
wm the most Olympic medals. Critical to the success of youth sports would also be

youth poUtical education, as many of the chUdren would be travelmg outside the GDR

and would serve as representatives of the countty. The children could be molded and

motivated to greater athletic performance via poUtical-ideological hidoctrination. These

aspfrhig young Olympians were thus also called upon to elevate the hnage and reputation

of the GDR."

The end of the 1960s found the sports leaders of the GDR designmg a strategy for

the development of thefr elite athletic program for the commg decade. A prognosis of the

developing tendencies globally was confrasted with the GDR's own program.'"" "The

GDR must keep pace with the boom m world sports and [be a] determinant in this

development as weU.""" Plannmg for the decade of the 1970s requfred particular care as

the Federal Republic of Germany would be hosting the summer Olympic Games in 1972.

The GDR considered this the FRG's grand opportunity to strive towards enhanced

prestige. The GDR also perceived this as the FRG's prime moment to promote its poUtics

of exclusive rights to sole state representation. This would fiirther the "aggressive goals"

of "West German imperialism."'"^ It also sharpened the focus of the GDR vision to

become athletically dominant over the FRG.'"^ "Athletic success [serves] as both an

'Tbid., 9-10.

"*Grundlmien der Entwicklung des Leistungssports in der DDR bis 1980, Anlage
Nr. 1 zum ProtokoU Nr. 22, Mar. 19,1969, DY30 JIV 2/3 1509, SAPMO at
Zeitgeschichte fur Sport, Potsdam University, TeU 1, 1-27.

""Ibid., 1.

'"^id.

'°'Ibid., 2, 6.

119
expression of the capachy of our countrymen to achieve and of the growing strength of

the GDR."'"'* The usual poUtical rhetoric of makmg a sfrong unpression both

internationally and domestically of the superiority of socialism over capitaUsm via

athletic prowess contmued. Beyond this, consideration was granted to which sports

should enjoy the greatest sponsorship in keepmg wdth GDR strengths. Because other

leadmg sports nations enjoyed greater economic advantages, the GDR feh obUged to

build its entfre eUte system on talent selection and sponsorship of youth.'"' The selection

of athletic children created a talent pool assessed asfertoo small for weaning out

Olympic proteges. The specialized children's sports schools were to befiUed.An

exhaustive contribution of aU realms of socialist society was deemed necessary for the

GDR to come to terms with the rapid escalation of global athletic excellence.'"* The

kemel of athletic development was seen also not just m talent selection, but in broader-

based, wide-scale youth sports for "the majority of the chUdren." "Stronger elements of

framing" m general schools as well as professional schools were to be appUed. At the

vocationalfrainingschools, colleges, and imiversities more theoretical teachmg was to be

emphasized.'"' Sports science and methodology as well as talent selection was to be

improved for aU ages.'"*

So mtent was the GDR on hnprovmg hs hierarchy of athletic trammg and

"^Ibid.,,2.

""Ibid.,,8.

"^Ibid.,,9.

'"Ibid.,,10.

""•Ibid., 11.
120
programs that State Secretary Walter Ulbricht requisitioned a team to mvestigate the US

system of youth sports from elementary school through collegiate sports. Three

specialists. Dr. Hemz Schobel, President of the GDR NOC, Professor Dr. Schuster, and

translator G. Friedrich traveled throughout the US to discem how the American sports

system was stmctured and how the Olympic trammg programs operated.'"' The

significance of this undertakmg cannot be overstated. That Ulbricht should consider any

aspect of the American way of hfe as worthy of emulation could be perceived as heresy

in some GDR comers. The discovery this team of three ultimately found was that it

would be quite difficuh for a centraUy-controUed society to appropriate the system of a

pluraUstic society."" Isolated aspects, however, could be adopted. The Americans'

general level of education was thought to be weak; therefore the American school

children engaged in sports were not excessively taxed by after-class homework. They

therefore could devote more tune to training in thefr respective sport. Apart from

gymnastics, figure skating, swimming, divmg, and volleyball, Americans were also

viewed as weak in promoting sports activity for gfrls and women at all levels and in most

sports.'" The con^onent of American sports that really caught the East German

delegation's eye was coUegiate sports. The force of momentum hi the American system

was the constant preparation for competitive athletic events. This granted the American

youth an advantage by promotmg a sense of urgency to thefr framing that was deemed by

" ^ u d i HeUmann to Waher Ulbricht, SED HausmitteUung, June 24,1969,

Anlage, Nachlass Walter Ulbricht NY 4182-1179, SAPMO, 1-9.

""Ibid., Anlage, 1.

'"Ibid., 2.

121
the GDR delegates as both hitense and frequent. Team sports such as basketball and

(American style) footbaU start relatively early and thus enable coaches and sports

dfrectors to identify athletically-mcUned youth relatively early. "^ Other sports, such as

swimmmg, start even earUer, and enable the talented youth to be spotted at an earUer age.

The East German delegation was also hnpressed with the high quaUty of traming

conditions, sports equipment, and the predommant emphasis on team sports, or at least

training for individual sports m-groups. The report does not conclude whh an assessment

as to which of these components should be adopted and to what measure. Still, it

becomes clear that many of these ideas were hicorporated into the system as it unfolded

in the course of the 1970s. Both the GDR's frequency and mtensity of training hs

athletic charges became a predominant theme found hi the SAPMO sports documents hi

the 1970s and 1980s. The emphasis on youth in sports and talent selection also became

one of the key facets of the GDR sports system. Frequent participation m compethion to

heighten the athletes' sense of thefr own abiUties m comparison to thefr opponents'

became a common practice as weU. The GDR Olympic champion m the shotput, Udo

Beyer, commented that any athlete who frains and practices m isolation will become

"nothmg" [mthe world of sports.]"^

Concrete plans to unprove the system m the 1970s and attam the goal of

"belongmg to the ten best countries m the world at the wmter Olympic Games" mcluded

an even stricter central confrol of both the dfrectives and plannmg of the entfre sports

"^Ibid., 7-8.

"^Interview v^th Udo Beyer, Potsdam, Mar. 20, 1997.

122
system."^ The plans also included such measures as improving the educational training

of coaches and increasing both the quaUty and quanthy of equipment. The system itself

would be brought to hs fullest fruition with an aggressive talent scouthig system and

sponsorship progranx'" The best athletes were toframm optimal conditions. These

varyhig elements would become intertwmed to create a remarkably effective system and

launch the GDR m the 1970s hito hs most successfiil medal-whmmg decade ever.

"*Grundlmie der Entwicklung des Leistungssports m der DDR bis 1980," Anlage
Nr. 1 zum ProtokoU Nr. 22, Mar. 19,1969, DY30 JIV 2/3 1509, SAPMO at
ZeitgeschichtefifrSport, Potsdam Univershy, 6.

"'Ibid., 11.
"^Predommant sponsorship was to be granted to the foUowmg sports: (summer)
track andfield,rowmg, boxmg, judo, weightUftmg, handbaU, swhnmmg, canoemg,
wrestUng, shootmg, divmg, soccer, gymnastics, saUing, fencmg, cyclmg, voUeyball, and
equesttian. For the wmter, the sports to receive strong sponsorship were speed skatmg,
figure skatmg, biathlon, the luge and bobsled, ski jumpmg, and Nordic combmation. The
GDR received numerous medals m most of these sports m the 1970s. Ibid., 7. See also
Willi BCnecht, Wepe nach Olympia: Entwjrklungen des Sports hi Deutschland,
(Dortmund: Busche Verlag, 1980), 57-Appendix.
123
 CHAPTER V

THE 1970s:

THE GRAND DEBUT OF A SPORTS SUPERPOWER

The careful planiung of the 1960s brought forth tremendous resuhs m the

succeedmg decade as the GDR sportsmen and women reaped a rich harvest of medals in

both the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games. Not only did the GDR mcrease hs medal count,

but h more than met the sports-poUtical goal of handily defeatmg the chief opponents, the

West Germans, during the 1970s Olympic Games.' The goal the GDR aspfred to for

Munich was to place number three m the overaU national rankmgs. Even more unportant

for the GDR leaders was for thefr Olympic team to win more medals than the FRG.^ In

both winter Games 1972 and 1976, the GDR ranked even higher m the medal count than

did the United States, a country twelve tunes hs size m population.^ While accusations

were made that the aUeged state-sponsored "universal" use of Ulegal performance-

enhancing drugs commenced hi 1967, and thus greatly influenced this success in the

1970s, the demarcation pohit for this is unclear.'* What is clear is that the poUtical

prestige associated with the Olympic Games was so great that the GDR state leaders,

mcludmg the Central Committee, appUed thefr hand to aU levels of thefr widely admfred

'Ewald mformed Helhnaim that, "The goal for the Summer Olympic Games m
1972 is, above all...to place above West Germany." Manfred Ewald letter to Rudi
HeUmann, July 14,1971, ZK der SED, DY30IV A2/18/10, SAPMO, Anlage 1, 2.
'Rudi HeUmann letter to Erich Honecker, Mar. 19,1971, ZK der SED Sport,
DY30IV A2/18/10, SAPMO, Anlage, 4.
'Manfred Ewald letter to Rudi HeUmann, July 7, 1971, DTSB, ZK der SED Sport,
DY30IV A2/18/10, SAPMO, Anlage 1, 2.

124
system. This extent of adminisfrative control was surprisingly evident in aU realms.' The

image created of this system took on a Ufe of hs OWIL

The GDR not only created a system designed to surpass the capabiUties of the

FRG, especially in the highly significant 1972 Summer Olympic Games, but, hi the

process, may be said to have created the most successfiil sports system the world has ever

seen. A dfrect correlation was always drawn between the improvement of athletic

performance and both sociaUst patriotism and "socialist consciousness" of GDR citizens.

These social-psychological elements, along whh the growmg uitemational recogiution of

GDR statehood, were trurr^eted by the GDR press.* Indeed, the official reason granted

for the sponsorship of the eUte athletic program hi the GDR was to

...aUow ourselves to be guided m every respect by the basic principles of

sociaUsm, for develophig the capabiUties of people and thefr personalhies. This
humanist principle is afready oriented towards the goal of enabling, for aU
citizens, the joy and happhiess of experiencing excellence in all areas of
communal experience.'

The blossoming of combmed poUtical and athletic goals was most pronounced m

the 1970s, the resuh of twenty-five years of pamstakhig plannmg.

The plans to expand and unprove the system were always made whh an eye on

the sports programs developed by the Federal Republic. If Bonn was hitent on

"Franke, Materialien der Enquete Kommission, 919-20.

'Summary of a discussion whh Waher Ulbricht at DoUensee on Sept. 14, 1968,

SED Hausmitteilung Helhnann to Honecker, Sept. 9,1968, ZK der SED Sport, DY30
12/18/6, SAPMO, Anlage, 4.

*Hans Sunon, "Aspekte der Entwdcklung von Korperkultur und Sport m der DDR
von 1961 bis 1971," Theorie und Praxis der Koroerkultur. 23, no. 8, (1974): 752-55.

'Speech of Walter Ulbricht, Sept. 18, 1970, ZK der SED Sport, DY30IV
A2/18/10, SAPMO, 2.
125
estabUshmg a nation-wide comprehensive network for sports, then the gauntlet was cast

for the GDR- In strict confidentiaUty, an m-house letter was sent from Helhnann to

Honecker regardmg a FRG sports conference Helhnann was attendmg. HeUmann relayed

the detaUs of how, m the FRG, sport sponsorship at aU levels, from schools to the eUte

athletic program, was to proceed and even revealed what Bonn officials esthnated the

costs to be, as discussed at the Deutschen Sportkonferenz, or German Sport Conference.*

Sports leader Helhnann could freely attend such conferences hi Bonn actmg

within the boundaries of sports diplomacy, but GDR sports officials acknowledged that

the complexity of poUtical realities made this task an awkward one. The two world

systems of socialism and "imperialism" exerted thefr power on divided Germany, with

each sector under its respective sphere of influence, either that of the USSR or that of the

USA. As fer as these sports leaders were concemed, the Federal Republic was sitting on

the "hot seat" of this conflict and was thus poshioned as the GDR's chief adversary.' The

USA was clearly e}q>lohmg the FRG to fiirther hs "revengefiil, expansionistic and neo-

colonizmg goals."'"

In fact, the pageantry of the 1972 Summer Games was perceived to be a cleverly

*Auszug aus der Information Nr. 1/31/1970 des Bundesvorstandes des DTSB zur
"Konsthuierung der 'Deutschen Sportkonferenz' am 22 Okt. 1970 m Bonn; Helhnann
letter to Honecker from the FRG, Nov. 3, 1970, "Deutschen Sportkonferenz," ZK der
SED Sport, DY30IV A2/18/10, SAPMO, Anlage, 1-3.

'Summary report of a meetmg held Dec. 25,1970 at Oberhof with Walter

Ulbricht, Manfred Ewald, Rudi Helhnann, Giinther Hemze, Wemer Berg and spouses,
Jan. 5,1971, Berlm, DY30 TV A2/18/11, SAPMO, 2.

'"Langfristige Konzeption fifr die aussenpohtische Vorbereitung auf die XX

Olympischen Sommerspiele 1972 m Miinchen und Massnameplan fur den Zeitraum II.
Halbjahr 1969 und 1970, Olympic Games 1972, DY12:365, SAPMO, Anlage 3,1-2.

126
used propaganda tool by the FRG to veU hs tme character of vengefiihiess and militarism

and isolate tiie GDR even fiirther. Fuelmg anti-Communist senthnents m the global

community was seen to be the goal." EventiiesymboUc torch-bearmg from Athens to

Munich for the Olympic Games was con^licated by the fact thattiieUSSR was loath to

aUow Bulgaria to open hs borders and permit the torch to be home through Eastem Bloc

terram (even though the Bulgarians had afready agreed to do this). This gesture would

potentially foster the glorifyhig of the West by enablmg the FRG to put on a gUtzy show,

whereas the USSR and especially the GDR wanted to downplay any West German

showmanship.'^ That the Olympic Games were to be held m Munich would prove to be a

big test for the GDR's own poUtical leghimacy. The GDR leaders were intent on proving

thefr athletic prowess in the face of the FRG's greater successes m other reahns. With the

escalation in the GDR's athletic abiUties, the desfre for separate representation m the

Olympic Games also escalated. When the terms of the Federal RepubUc hosting the

gzmies were mandated by a vote at an IOC congress meeting in 1968, a major victory "was

won by the East Germans.'^ The FRG would be requfred to raise the GDRflagwhen

GDR athletes won the gold. Even worse, the Federal Republic miUtary band would have

to play the GDR's national anthem and salute the GDRflag.This fact caused no end of

"Sekretariatsmformation, 23/4/68, uber zu erwartende poUtische Provokationen

der westdeutschen Sportfiihrung wahrend der Vorbereitung auf die Olympischen
Sommerspiele von 1972, June 11,1968, DY12:365, SAPMO, 1.
'^Manfred Ewald, "Information uber erne Besprechung m der Abt. Propaganda
des ZK der KPdSU am 7.5.1971, 9:30 Uhr, BerUn, Nov. 5,1971, ZK der SED Sport,
DY30IV A2/18/10, SAPMO, 1-4.
''Carr, "The Involvement of PoUtics m the Sportmg Relationships of East and
West Germany, 1945-1972," 49-50.
127
deUght for the East Germans.''*

That the GDR wished to use its athletic successes as a magnifymg glass for the

superiorhy of socialism over the capitaUst system of the FRG was no secret. Prior to

1968, the affiliation of the GDR to the FRG when competmg as one team had obscured

the GDR's athletic accomplishments. This fiusfrated the GDR officials mtensely. One

ofificial complained that the West Germans had designs on the Games, as the FRG

mtended on usmg the Games to create a new caphahst hnage of Germany. The West

German hnage, as presented at this grandest of sports festivals, would be self-serving as h

would present the FRG as the new "revised" Germany, vis-a-vis the Germany of the Nazi

era. The GDR would essentially be shoved aside as insignificant. "They want to push

thefr concept as speakmg for aU of Germany m order to serve as a revision of the resuhs

of the Second World War."" Sole representation of the GDR had afready occurred m 55

intemational sports organizations and clubs. The GDR's battle against the prohibhions

estabUshed by the FRG by way of the Hallstem Doctrine and other measures was gaming

ground. The 1968 breakthrough for acceptance caused the GDR to become more

aggressive in demanding formal recogiution from the FRG for all hs sports

organizations.'*

'"National Rat: Sektor Information, "Kurzmformation iiber Stunmung und

Mehiungen der Burger zu aktueU-poUtischen Ereignisse," Aug. 31, 1972, BerUn, DY30
IV 2/2.106, SAPMO at Zehgeschichte fifr Sport, Potsdam University, 2.

'^Gerhard Lerch, "Die mtemationale Anerkennung des DDR-Sports," Deutsche

AussenpoUtUc 13, no. 8, (1968): 931-33.

'^ProtokoU Nr. 26/70 der Shzung des PoUtbifros des Zentralkomhees am 2. Juiu
1970, ZK der SED DY30 JIV 2/2 1286, SAPMO at Zehgeschichte fifr Sport, Potsdam
Univershy, AiUage Nr. 2, 1-7.

128
 Once the right to an mdependent team was granted, GDR sports leaders became

particularly keen that the West Germans would have no msight mto thefr elhe athletic

system. These sports leaders gathered for an mformal Christmas Day coffee klatsch at the

GDR's premier ski area, Oberhof and addressed how the GDR hnage would be

presented to the intemational community. Thefr successes up to this point were to be

traced back to the historical tradhion of Jahn, GutsMuths and the workers' sports

movement of the nmeteenth Century." The Federal Republic, on the other hand, was to

be revealed as breaking whh this German herhage and as playmg instead the role of

puppet for the American regune. The hnage to be porfrayed of the GDR's ehte sports was

to be that of a sports program emanatmg from a socialist regime, which hi turn, was to be

the best possible representation of serving the mterests of a German state.'* Athletes were

not merely athletes. "The socialist GDR athletes are to be German humanists who

represent thefr sociaUst German nation-state m a worthy manner.""

The GDR sports leaders recognized not only the poUtical prestige associated whh

hosting the Olympic Games, but they took note that even Comrade Walter Ulbricht was

fiustrated that the envfronment surrounding Munich, as weU as the chy of Munich hself,

constituted very enticing features for playhig up the reputation of the FRG.^" To counter-

balance this disadvantage and the inevhable gUtz and glamour of West German

showmanship, the sports leaders decided to employ the best sports joumaUsts of the GDR

'•'Summary report of a meethig held Dec. 25, 1970 at Oberhof, 3.

'^bid., 4.

'Ibid., 3.

'"Ibid., 3-4.
129
fr) downplay the FRG's considerable sophistication. There was also much apprehension

that thefr prized athletes, those very figures who embodied the "socialist personaUty,"

would develop a strong fency for the Federal Republic and take flight.^' The leaders

determined that a sfrategy must be deployed to prevent this. One idea was to produce a

35-mmute movie to show to athletes in the Olympic village, displaymg the beauties of

the GDR as a counterspeU to the atfraction of Bavarian natural beauty.^^ DTSB President

Manfred Ewald suggested that curtaUmg the aUure Muiuch might exert on the athletes

could be easily accomplished sunply by not grantmg the athletes any free tune to explore.

An exception to this would be an organized field trip to the Dachau concentration camp.

Athletes would not be aUowed to roam the chy or the hnmediate envfrons freely. State

Secretary Waher Ulbricht believed, on the other hand, that, with the correct preparation,

the athletes woiUd represent thefr socialist nation-state in a "conscious" manner and that

strict "sectarian" measures would not be necessary.^^

Ewald concurred that long term poUtical-ideological indoctrination would fortify

the athletes sufficiently to resist the temptations of the West.^'* In fact, considerable effort

was put mto the "poUtical-ideological education" of the Olympians of 1972. Lengthy

"The "Socialist PersonaUty" was believed to embrace such character attributes as

"courage, dexterity, bravery, decisiveness, mdustriousness, endurance, perseverance, and
conscious behavior m the hiterests of the community." These attributes were considered
to be most readUy developed by the disciplmmg hand of sport. See: Hans Sfrnon,
"Aspekte der Entwicklung von Korperkultur und Sport m der DDR von 1961 bis 1971,"
753.

''Summary report of a meetmg held Dec. 25, 1970 at Oberhof, 4.

"Ibid.

'"Ibid., 5.

130
reports were written keepmg frack of athletes' poUtical morale. The reports oftenthnes

were glum as the athletes' abilhies to adrohly handle poUtical questions were less than

steUar successes. The responses of the sportsmen and women to poUtical questions were

assessed as "labUe," "lackmg in conviction," and bereft of the dichotomous (and

desfrable) "friend-foe" mentaUty. The faUure to concur with the correct sociaUst views

was seen as the reason for deficiencies in athletic performance. In the swhn clubs,

insufficient adherence to socialist ideals was seen as the source of a dearth of disciplme

and an unwillingess to practice preventive sports medichie. Perhaps at this pomt the

"sports medicme" was producing effects that the relative patriotism of the swunmers

would not support. ^' Just as heretkal was the athletes' tendency to Usten frequently to

the West's music radio stations. One DTSB official reported to HeUmann that a female

ice skater had performed her number at a compethion hi Zurich with "poUtically

mtolerable music." This was attributed to an insufficient poUtical education.^* OveraU,

this SED hidoctrination plan was classified under the "strictest confidentiaUty" category.

It was the Party's insurance against any embarrasshig defections and must therefore be

presented in a more effective and interestmg manner.^'

Those athletes who won medals would be granted vacations in Cuba with thefr

spouses. It is not clear whether this prize was also intended as compensation for spouses

'^Bericht uber den Stand der poUtisch-ideologischen Erziehung der 0-Kader,

verbunden mit entsprechenden Schlussfolgerungen fur die Gestaltung der
Erziehungsarbeh bis zu den Olympischen Spielen 1972, Vorlage fur das Sekretariat des
DTSB, BerUn, Nov. 2, 1971, DY12:365, SAPMO, 2-5.

'^Letter to HeUman, author unknown, [DTSB ofificial], Feb. 10, 1971, DY30 ZK
der SED Sport, SAPMO, 1.

''Bericht uber den Stand...DY12:365, SAPMO, Anlage 2 , 1 , 3.

131
bemg prohibhed from attendmg the Munich games m order to prevent Republikflucht

(flight from tiie Republic, i,e., defections).^* Wary tiiat tiie temptation of Republikflucht

was ever present, sports authorities kept a sharp eye on tiiefr charges. Sports dfrector Rudi

HeUman sent one FRG newsclip to alert Honecker that the GDR's famed ice skater.

World Championship, European Champion and Olympic silver medaUst Gaby Seyfert,

was a potential FRG inductee.^' The article provocatively posed the question of Seyfert

that, as a performer for the westem audiences, she "...could cam millions...wUl she?

Better yet, can she?"^" Despite the lure of a lucrative confract m the West, Seyfert stayed

tme to her homeland and remahied in the GDR.

Concem for pubUc opmion in respect to the GDR's domestic and intemational

image proved to be one of the most important motivatmg factors drivmg the gears of the

system for the 1972 Olympic Games.^' Preparing the athletes and the GDR TV-watchhig-

chizens at home for the psychological impact of seeing the forbidden fiiiits of thefr

glamorous westem counterpart proved to be a dauntmg task. GDR leaders discovered that

considerable excitement was generated among thefr citizens at the prospect of Germans

'*GDR wrestler Frank Hartmann, who participated in the 1972 summer Olympic
Games, noted that none of his family members was aUowed to attend the Games.
Interview with Frank Hartmann, July 3,1997, Schifferstadt.

"European Champion: 1967, 1970; World Champion: 1969, 1970; Olympic silver
medalist: 1968. Barth, 688.

'""Jager jagen Gaby Seyfert," Kurier. Feb. 1, 1971,27 ched m Helhnann letter to
Honecker, ZK der SED Sport, DY30IV A2/18/11, SAPMO, Anlage, "Bitte um
Kenntnisnahme."

^'Nationafrat: Sektor Information, "Kurzmformation uber Stunmung und

Mehiungen der Burger zu aktuell-poUtischen Ereignissen," BerUn, Aug. 31,1972, DY30
rV 2/2.106 20, SAPMO at Zehgeschichte fifr Sport, Potsdam Univershy, 1.

132
competmg agamst Germans as co-equals, on German soU. Disconcerthig to the SED

heads was that GDR chLzens were rooting equally for East and West Germans. ^^ Even

more disconcerthig were the poUtically mcorrect questions presented by numerous

chLzens on several occasions:

Who gets to go to Munich?

What kind of tourists are from the GDR [who is allowed to attend the Games]?
Are only comrades from the SED [Socialist Uiuty Party] and sports officials
aUowed to travel?
How many [average GDR] chizens are aUowed to fravel to the Olympic Games?
Which chizens [of the GDR] may be allowed to travel?
Are they only athletes and sports officials [who are permitted to attend]?^^

A few years after the Olympics, the Dfrector of Marxism-Leninism at the German

College for Sports in Leipzig, Professor Heinz Meurer, even conceded to West German

joumaUsts that the most difficuh task had been correctly mdoctrinating (sports) students,

many of whom were Olympians or Junior athletes. SED efforts to hidoctrinate Marxist-

Leniiust values among the general populace also were said to be an uphUl battle.

Meticulous coaching efforts were not the sole domain of the trahiers and coaches. GDR

media professionals-press, radio, and TV-were to be carefully schooled on the

acceptable modus operandi for the presentation of the 1972 Games.^' JoumaUsts, for

example, were mstmcted to emphasize repeatedly "the social-poUtical roots of the

^'Ibid., 5.

^^Ibid., 3, 5.

'"Knecht, Das MedaUlenkoUektiv. 59.

^'Cenfral Committee hi-house letter from PoUtburo member Albert Norden to

Rudi Helhnann of Work Group Sports and K. Wildberger of the Division for Westem
Affafrs, Mar. 26,1971, ZK der SED Sport DY30IV A2/18/10, SAPMO, 1.

133
successes" of the GDR Olympic team^* Other areas of emphasis were to be the

achievements of athletes from sociaUst countries, underscoring the close unhy of these

states. The motivation of athletes from the West, on the other hand, was to be presented

as suspect and anthhetical to socialist values. One westem athlete was quoted as

lamenthig that "For my job, I need the Gold."^'

The GDR, in addition, sponsored conferences for media representatives from

other socialist countries. One such conference, held on April 13, 1971, consisted of a

bramstormmg session on how to counter the FRG's 'misrepresentation' of the Olympic

ideal. As a resuh, the materialist aspect of the West's tendency towards the

commercialization of sports was played up m the GDR. A doctoral candidate at the

Leipzig CoUege of Sports wrote his dissertation on "The Function of ImperiaUst Ideology

with the Manipulation and Motivation of the FRG's ImperiaUst EUte Athletes to Achieve

Peak Athletic Performance."^* A later work. Profit m Sport, which was pubUshed m the

GDR in the 1980s, contmued this theme of the West's abuse of sports through

commercialization.^' The GDR, on the other hand, proffered that, in contrast to the FRG,

'^Abt. Aghation, Bericht iiber die Arbeh von Press, Rundfiink und Femsehen
wahrend der Olympischen Sommerspiele 1972, Aktenzeichen: 80 0058 30, undated, ZK
der SED DY30 14362/1, SAPMO at Zehgeschichte fifr Sport, Potsdam Univershy, 1.

'TFnclear is whether this was to mean the gold medal or gold for fmancial
remuneration. Ibid., 2.

'*Volker Mauttausch, Zur Funktion der hnperialistischen Ideologic bei der

ManipuUemng und Motivierung hnperialistischer Spitzenathleten der BRD zur
VoUbrmgung sportlicher Hochstleistungen. (Ph.D. diss, Leipzig: Deutsche Hochschule
fur Korperkultur und Sport, 1978).

''Klaus Ulfrich, Profit hn Sport: Bemerkungen zu emer Kampagne gegen die

Zukunft Olvmpias. (BerUn: Dietz Verlag, 1981).

134
m the sociaUst countries the Olympic ideal m hs entfrety was reaUzed, and that these

noble ideals must be protected from westem abuse.'*" A key pomt of contention was the

presentation of Olympic history m West German publications and the role Germany was

depicted as playmg hi that history. Conference speakers selected statements out of

context from recently published works m the FRG to prove West Germans' deliberate

"falsification of history."'*'

Whh such misleading wrhmgs, the manipulation of the consciousness of the

FRG's population shall be undertaken m grand style. Thus, the falsification of
history is served with Ues, misrepresentations and sUence in respect to historical
facts."^

The worst of this is that the GDR saw the German Olympic Society as effectively

usmg the Summer Olympic Games to enchant the youth on behalf of westem poUtics and

ideology and thus fiirther estabUshing "West German imperialism."'*^ Waher Ulbricht

ordered that specific attention be granted to poUtical instmction at all educational levels,

m the schools and univershies.'*'*

Ulbricht was weU aware of the poUtical fallout resuhmg from the participation of

five socialist countries in the August 1968 mvasion of Czechoslovakia. Thus, the East

"•Internationale Pressekonferenz der GeseUschaft zur Forderung des olympischen

Gedankens m der Deutschen Demokratischen RepublUc, Thema: "Munchen und der
Missbrauch des olympischen Idee," BerUn, Apr. 1971, ZK der SED Sport, DY30 FV
A2/18/10, SAPMO, 1-19.

"'Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler, "Ansprache auf der mtemationalen Pressekonferenz

der GeseUschaft zur Forderung des olympischen Gedankens hi der DDR am 13. Apr.
1971, DY30IV A2/10.02, SAPMO, 1-12.

"Internationale Pressekonferenz, 19.

"'Ibid., 2.

"^HausmitteUung from HeUman to Honecker, Sept. 9,1968, Anlage, 4-6.

135
Germans would have to work hard to present afrontof East Bloc unity. Members of the

Central Committees of aU the sociaUst countries m this Bloc were to gather on December

15,1970, m Moscow to discuss the poUtical problems associated whh preparations for

the Games in Munich.'*' This necesshated ever closer coUaboration whh the Soviets m

preparation for the Games. The Soviet Union was set to distribute a brochure hidicathig

the chicaneries of West German sports, a brochure the East Germans assessed as bemg

too lame m hs crhique of the FRG.'** The East Germans had afready published 12,000

copies of thefr own brochure to expose the aUeged abuses of the Olympic spfrit by the

West Germans.'*' Of course, the East Germans remahied obligated to have extensive

contact vwth the Russians. In 1970 alone, the two countries had eight different exchanges

of sports-rekted speciaUsts, mtemal scientific research, and other high level sports

materials.'** While there was general agreement to coUaborate hi the exchange of

expertise on numerous summer sport disciplhies hi order to enhance the Eastem Bloc's

chances hi the Games, there was no general license to open the doors to aU GDR state

"^Bericht, betr., Uber em Treffen von Vertretem der ZK der Briiderparteien

soziaUstischer Lander am 15. Dez. 1970 m Moskau uber poUtischen Problemen der
Vorbereitung auf die OS m Miinchen 1972, ZK der SED, Sport, DY30 FV A2/18/10-12,
SAPMO, 1-10.
"*Abt Auslandsmformation, Information uber die sowjetische Broschifre
"Bogenschutze gegen den Athleten," Apr. 26,1972, DY30IV A2/10.02, SAPMO at
ZeitgeschichtefifrSport, Potsdam University, 1-4
"TConzeption zur Dokumentation iiber den Missbrauch der XX Olympischen
Sommerspiele 1972 m Munchen durch den westdeutschen Imperialismus,
Sekretariatsvorlage Nr.6/4/70, GeseUschaft zur FSrderung des Olympischen Gedankens
m der DDR, July 1,1970, DY12:365, SAPMO, 1-5.
""Absthnmung mit den Russen bzgl. Olympischen Problemen, ZK der SED, Abt.
Sport, DY30 A2/18/17, SAPMO, 8.
136
sports secrets!'*' HeUmann wrote to Honecker that, even as early as 1966, mqufries were

pouring m from aU over the world, seekmg msight mto the causes of GDR success that

year. Many foreigners specifically requested permission to vish the GDR's athletic

facilhies. Sports clubs, schools, and smuUar faciUties were to be strictly off limits to

foreign eyes. Only the sports college hi Leipzig could be opened to vishors.'" Whhin the

sports branches of the GDR, an afr of caution and secrecy prevailed. Letters were written

to beseech Honecker and Helhnann to prohibh even the Russians from viewmg the sports

schools."

Nevertheless, coUegiality m the East Bloc did occur. During this thne the GDR

shared the use of a high ahitude training fecilhy with the Bulgarians m the Behneken/RUa

mountams of Bulgaria, a faciUty the GDR helped to finance.'^ Fighthig the "poUtical

misuse of the Olympic idea" was to be a coUective effort of the socialist countries. A

select work-group was to be established in each East Bloc country that would confer prior

to and durmg the Games on the subject of westem propaganda. Particular focal pohits

would be such areas as the West's procUvity towards "chauvmism, revenge and anti-

Communism." East German protests would be organized against the pubUcation of a

"'ArbehsprotokoU v. Helhnann, Internationale Verbmdungen, Berlin, Nov. 12,

1969, ZK der SED, DY30IV A2/18/17, SAPMO, 1-8.

'"HeUmann letter to Honecker, Oct. 6,1966, ZK der SED Sport, DY30IV

A2/18/3, SAPMO, 1-2.

"SED HausmitteUung, HeUmann to Honecker, Nov. 20,1970, DTSB Vice

President Bemhard Orzechowski letter to Rudi HeUmann, Nov. 20,1970, ZK der SED,
Sport, DY30IV A2/18/10-12, SAPMO.

"Erich Honecker letter to Comrade Wehschev, Mar. 8,1971, BerUn, ZK der SED,
Sport, DY30IV A2/18/10 SAPMO, 1.

137
second edhion of the West German publication Olvmpischen Lesebuches. "Hecklmg" of

East Bloc populations contmued tiirough broadcasts from "Radio Liberty" and "Radio

Free Europe."'^

Ulbricht decided that the Cenfral Committee hself would establish the

fundamental dfrectives for the development of eUte sports. To succeed, the GDR must

concentrate on fewer disciplmes, those athletic discipUnes m which h stood the greatest

chances of obtainmg medals. Careful plannmg was to concem detaUs of travel costs,

sports equipment, and uniforms for the athletes.''* UUbricht also raUied all members of

the Cenfral Committee and twenty-five other concemed sports officials to participate in a

meethig to assign thefr respective roles hi creathig a "...widespread national wave to win

ideological mfluence over the people of our Republic, by way of mass

communications.""

All forms of media were to follow the strictures of socialist interpretation. The

successes of any sociaUst athlete were to be counted as successes for the socialist state

community. Particular attention was to be granted to a sense of brotherly closeness of the

athletes of the GDR and of the Soviet Uiuon. Reporters, TV broadcasters, and radio

"DTSB Vorlage, Erste Tagung der Arbehsgmppe der soziaUstischen Lander-

Olympische Spiele 1972-yom27. bis 29.12 1971 m Moskau, Dec. 9,1971, DY12:365,
SAPMO, 1-2, Anlage, 2.

'"DTSB, ProtokoUauszug der 11. Sekretariatssitzung, Aug. 11, 1970, Vorschlage

fur die organisatorischen und materielle Vorberehung zur Entsendung der
Olympiamannschaften zu den Olympischen Wmter-und Sommerspielen 1972,
DYl2:365, SAPMO, 1-4.

"Meethig of the Secretaries of the Central Committee, Dec. 18,1969, ProtokoU

Nr. 100/69, DY30 JIV 2/3 1589, SAPMO at Zehgeschichte fifr Sport, Potsdam
Univershy, 2.

138
announcers must amplify the results of the socialist country athletes with detaUed

background mformation on thefr role in the community, thefr respective sport, profession,

studies, etc. The portrah to be displayed of the GDR athlete should present, above all,

information pertment to his/her poUtical, professional, and educational development.

Notice should be made of any accompanymg contributions that mdividuals m the

community made to enable this success. This would thus indicate the closely-knh fabric

of communal Ufe and the sfrong sense of esprh de corps that sustamed the athletes. The

achievements of any athletefroma caphalist country, on the other hand, should be

attributed only to the sole efforts of that mdividual athlete. In addhion, any mention of

any kmd of commonality or relationship between a West German athlete and an East

German athlete was forbidden altogether. Any GDR athlete who defected was a

"betrayer," and might not be represented or shown m any media form, other than m the

fmal listmg of medals for a certain sport.

When the IOC awarded the 1972 Summer Olympic Games to Munich, the GDR

commenced issumg various publications to prove that the Olympic ideal could be

reaUzed only whhm the boundaries of a socialist country. A few Federal RepubUc sports

ofificials would be quoted as havmg been enlightened by the GDR "sociaUst" way of

livmg and thmkmg." The GDR's Department of Agitation was to lend hs hand to

promote "ideological clarity" regardmg the precise nature of "hnperialist West

Germany's" exploitation of the good name of the Olympics. A contmual comparison was

'^ProtokoU Nr. 63, June 19, 1972, DY30 JIV 2/3 1886, SAPMO at Zehgeschichte
fur Sport, Potsdam Univershy, 2-4.
"Deutscher Tum-und Sportbund, Olvmpische Idee VerwfrkUcht, 3.

139
to be made to the 1936 Nazi Olympics, which also represented "chauvmistic Great Power

pohtics." The Department of Aghation contrived a two-year media campaign to prepare

the public for this ideological exploitation."

So flagrant was this war coupUng sports and ideology that West Germany's

leadmg news magazine, Der Spiegel, devoted a four issue series to the renewed East

meets West confrontation.*" DTSB (east) President Manfred Ewald had afready

complamed bitterly to the DSB (west) President WiUielm Kregel m 1971 over the

"slanderous campaign agahist GDR sport[s]." Ewald demanded m no uncertam terms that

Kregel cease any kind of mterference as well as any form of discrimmation hi and agahist

GDR sports.*' "Refram from any poUtical misuse of sports," he ordered, pomtedly addmg

his observation that

...a large number of articles and commentaries from various forms of media in the
FRG appear...to have the sole purpose of poisonmg the mtemational atmosphere
of sports... Such politically transparent maneuvers can only be regarded as
conscious vexations of the FRG's sport-enemy forces agahist the development of

'^Summary of a discussion with Waher Ulbricht, 2.

"Announcement to all (GDR) edhors and media from the Dept. of Agitation,
Hinweise fur die poUtisch-ideologische Arbeh in Vorbereitung der Olympischen Spiele
1972 m Mflnchen, Apr. 30, 1970, DY30IV 2.033/10, SAPMO at Zeitgeschichte fifr
Sport, Potsdam Uruvershy, 1-5.

**'Bei uns ist hnmer Olympia: Der Sport der DDR vor den Sommerspielen m
Miinchen," Der Spiegel. 7 Aug. 1972, 78-91; "Bei uns ist hnmer Olympia: Der Sport der
DDR vor den Sommerspielen m Miinchen," Der Spiegel. 14 Aug. 1972, 82-93; "PoUtik
bis unters Zehdach, Konfrontation DDR-Bundesrepublik hn Olympia-Stadion," Der
Spiegel 21 Aug. 1972, 38-42. 'T)es ist, wia wenn's d' Mauer dabeUiatten," Der Spiegel
4 Sept. 1972,26-32.

*'(East) DTSB President, Manfred Ewald, letter to WUhehn Kregel President of

the (West) German Sportsbund from Berlm, Undated, ZK der SED, Sport DY30IV
A2/19/10, SAPMO, 1-3.

140
 sportmg relations between the GDR and the FRG.*^

Whh both Germanys' presses overly active m the Olympic year, aU the more

reason was presented for embittered responses to West German overtures. Even

educational publications m the FRG prmted articles detaiUng the lengths to which the

GDR went hi hs propaganda war. A contributor to a West German educational journal

Die Leibeserziehung. penned an article thled, "The Sport-polhical Campaign of the GDR

agahist the Olympic Games of Munich." The author elaborated upon the specific tactics

the GDR press employed to pamt the Olympic Games as an opportunity for the Federal

RepubUc to expound upon hs "milharistic-imperiaUstic" ideology.*^ East German

children also had thefr share of educational publications. One such article, "The

Successfiil Way of Sports in the German Democratic Republic in the Olympic Area." The

message relayed was the FRG's exclusionary poUcies and the GDR's long fight for both

recognition and the abUity to conpete mtemationally. In Korpererziehung. the GDR

reghne was depicted, by buUdmg the Berlhi Wall as taking "a measure of peace." The

consequent breakmg of all sports ties with the GDR three days afterwards was unfafr.

The subsequent victories of East German athletes vmdicated the system.*'* Avid GDR

sports fans received anti-FRG propaganda as well. Sports historian Klaus Remartz noted

that one of the GDR's leadhig newspapers, Neues Deutschland. printed UteraUy hundreds

«Ibid., 1-2.

^'Volker Klemmt, "Die sportpoUtische Kampagne der DDR gegen die

Olympischen Spiele von Munchen," Die Leibeserziehung. 21, no. 8, (1972): 269.

^"Lothar Skomhig, "Der erfolgreiche Weg des Sports der Deutschen

Demokratischen RepublUc auf olympischen Gebiet," Korpererziehung. 22, no. 5, (1972):
216-17.

141
of articles defaming the Muiuch Games.*'

Der Spiegel hi hs four-part series, presented a comprehensive and candid westem

view of the GDR sports system, along whh an assessment of the undergfrdmg poUtical

mtentions of the SED. Part one narrated the history of GDR sports and a chronology of

various pohtical events that framed sports history. The second article presented an

overview of how the sports system was constmcted and operated up to 1972. The thfrd

article m the series addressed the poUtical significance of the Games to the East Germans.

The author comments, "The gigantic world festival on the turf of the class enemy

affected the GDR leaders Uke the shock of the Soviets' Sputnik affected the White House

m Washmgton."**

West German journalists were keenly aware of East German endeavors to wage a

propaganda war. The comparison to the 1936 Hhlerian Olympiad was mevitable. "In

word and picture, the Olympic Games of 1936 are being glorified."*' Backroom

discussions among higher GDR sports officials had been engaged whh this topic long

before the 1972 Games occurred. One example of finger-pointmg mvolved the case of

the former Thfrd Reich sports leader Ritter von Halt. Hah was later a member of the FRG

National Olympic Committee and was paraded by the GDR as exemplifymg Nazi

^^BClaus Remartz, "Das manipulierte Echo: Presselenkung am Beispiel von

Olympia 1972," m Hartmann, Goldkmder: Die DDR im Spiegel Uires Spitzensports.
(Leipzig: Forum Verlag, 1997), 95.

**"PoUtUc bis unters Zeh dach," 38.

""Emschatzung der Ziele die Westdeutschersehs mit der Austragung von

Olympischen Spielen m Mimchen verbunden werden," HeUmaim letter to Honecker,
Mar. 16,1966, ZK der SED Sport, IV A2/18/3-4, SAPMO, Anlage, 4-7.

142
senthnents m the West.** West Germans could Ukewise have pomted out that DTSB

President Manfred Ewald had himself been a member of the Hhler Youth. This fact has

often been played up by Ewald himself, who said h was a guise he used durmg the Thfrd

Reich to infiltrate Nazism for communist resistance groups, though he readUy admits that

he enjoyed the activhies of the Hitier Youth enormously.*'

The fourth Der Spiegel article, pubUshed September 4, just one day before the 5

AM assassination of an IsraeU athlete on September 5, concemed hself less whh the

growing medal compilation of the East German athletes and more with the curiously

aloof behavior of the 1,000 GDR tourists aUowed to attend the Olympic Games m the

Federal Republic. Since this was the first time since the building of the Wall on August

13, 1961, that such a large number of GDR chizens was aUowed to fravel to the West en

masse, the East Germans' behavior was perceived as behig remarkably distant and cold.

The article's thle, "It's as if they had brought the Wall whh them" ("Des ist, wia wenn's

d'Mauer dabeihatten"), appropriately describes thefr actions. Typically, spouses were

never allowed to accompany GDR chizens if they were granted permission to fravel to

the West. Most of this group did not speak to non-GDR chizens unless spoken to.'" When

one economics professor from Leipzig, Dr. Peter Held, was asked by a West German if

he could speak freely to hhn, the professor responded tersely that this type of question

constituted an act of aggression, "...as if we Uve m a cage!"

**Ibid., 39. See also: "Bei uns ist hnmer Olympia," 7 Aug. 1972, 88.

^'Andert, 16-17.

^'"'Des ist, wia wenn's d'mauer dabeUiatten," 29.

''Ibid.
143
 Little poUtical capital appears to have been made of the feilure of the FRG

govemment to avert tiie terrorist assassmation of ten IsraeU athletes and a coach. This

can be seen m conspicuous absence of the issue m the SAPMO documents and other

Uterature. During the hostage-holdmg hself; the GDR's DTSB leader, Manfred Ewald,

refiised to cooperate with FRG security officials.'^ Even though the East German athletes

were m clear view of the buildmg, as they were housed m the dormitory dfrectly facmg

the IsraeUs' room wmdows on ConnoUystrasse 31, Ewald refiised to aUow his charges to

be relocated upon request of FRG securhy.'^ He did, however, eventuaUy, move most of

them vdthm the buildmg away from the south facade facmg the Israeli dorm. This

particular buildmg housmg the GDR sportsmen and women was a crhical lookout for the

Federal Republic sharpshooters. These highly skilled marksmen, donned m sporty

sweatsuhs, sfrategically shuated themselves m the East Germans' quarters, peering out

windows with weapons while looking for opportune moments.''* From the East German

leadership standpoint, ostensibly acquiescing to the wishes of the FRG officials in this

matter would have appeared to be either a sign of obsequious behavior to the West

Germans, or cooperation, nehher of which Ewald deemed a desfrable response. One GDR

wrestler surrepthiously snapped photos of the terrorists, knowing fiiU well that this could

hnperU his own and others' safety, as well as mhi his own personal chances of remammg

in the Olympic Games. When asked what would have been the consequences of his hasty

^'Serge Groussard, The Blood of Israel: The Massacre of the Israel Athletes. New
York: WUliam Morrow and Co., 1975,116.

"Ibid.

^"Ibid., 194.

144
photo session had he been discovered, he responded, "Ewald would have hnmediately

sent me home.""

While the West Germans were preoccupied whh the securhy issue of thefr guests,

GDR officials were more concemed with security problems of thefr own: controUmg

thefr potential republikfliichtige chizens and athletes. The chizens who were selected to

attend the Games had to fiilfiU very specific criteria. Not only were they to be able to

defend the poUtics of the GDR, but they had also to be members of ehher the SED, or the

Free German Youth, or otherwise be demonstrably "state conscious" chizens. Local

disfrict party leaders were delegated the responsibUity of selecting these "state conscious"

chizens. All those who were to attend the Munich Games had to undergo a series of

weekend "schooling" sessions so that they might best come to terms with "West German

questions." No GDR tourist would be aUowed to stay hi any private West German

citizen's quarters. Presumably this posed too easy an escape hatch for any East German

seeking refuge.'*

For the GDR TV audience at home, the Olympic Games were to be presented so

that a "...nationalist wave...is spread m order to Wax ideological influence on the people of

our RepubUc." This was deemed necessary to counter the "misuse of the FRG" of the

Olympic Games and the UkelUiood that the popularity of sports would have a lurmg

" Interview with Frank Hartmann, wrestler who participated m the 1972 Munich
Games, July 3, 1997, Schififerstadt.

^*Plan: aussenpoUtischer und auslandshiformatorische Aktivitaten hn Jahre 1970

m Vorbereitung auf die Olympischen Spiele 1972, ProtokoU Nr. 36/70 der Sitzung des
Sekretariats des ZK, Apr. 29,1970, DY30 JIV 2/3 1627, Anlage Nr. 6, SAPMO at
Zeitgeschichte fUr Sport, Potsdam Univershy, Anlage, 4.

145
effect on GDR chizenry and thereby dissipate Party loyalty." Any mdications of the FRG

that aUuded to German national pride, through ceremony or national symbols, must be

keenly watched for and suppressed.'* Coverage of atiiletic compethions prior to the

Munich event must play up the misuse of the Olympic Games by the FRG, and be

confrasted to the GDR's friendly relations whh other countries. Consultations whh other

sociaUst countries were to take place as to how to present the Eastem Bloc m the most

favorable Ught."

Other measures taken to downplay the hiterest and favorable image of the Munich

Games included hfrmg an (unnamed) femous author to depict Munich as the "Chy of the

Movement." Dark undertones would allude to the Bavarian capital as the birthplace of

National SociaUsm, thus tarnishing the chy's glamor and cjqiosmg hs tme role in

exacerbating the Cold War conflict.*" In the meanthne, the GDR's youth would be kept

preoccupied with a gUtzy cultural festival held during the two weeks of the Olympic

Games. Other youth activities were to be planned in this time period as weU.*' Not

"Aufgabenstellung der Parteikommission zur Vorberehung der Olympischen

Spiele hi 1972 m Miinchen, ProtokoU Nr. 100/69 der Shzung des Sekretariats des ZK,
Dec. 18,1969, DY 30 JIV 2/3 1589, SAPMO at Zeitgeschichte fifr Sport, Potsdam
University, 2.

^*Zu Fragen der PoUtik m Vorbereitung und Durchfiihrung der Olympischen

Spiele 1972, ProtokoU Nr. 41, June 11, 1969, DY30 JTV 2/3 1528, SAPMO at
Zehgeschichte ftr Sport, Potsdam Univershy, Anlage Nr. 1,1.

'Ibid., 1-2.

•"T^lan: aussenpoUtischer und...DY30 JIV 2/3 1627, Anlage Nr. 5, 5.

''Letter to Comrade Bittner from Ambassador of the GDR to tiie USSR, Sitzung
des Sekretariats des ZK, ProtokoU Nr. 64/70, July 29, 1970, DY30 JIV 2/3 1655,
SAPMO at Zeitgeschichte fifr Sport, Potsdam Univershy, Anlage Nr. 5, 1.

146
surprismgly, the Federal Republic of Germany also had poUtical hiterests m these Games.

Not so keen on dovraplaymg thefr socialist German counterpart. West Germans had more

pressmg poUtical motives, according to FRG poUtical scientist Norbert Lehmann.

Twenty-seven years after the end of the Nazi reghne, the West Germans were deeply

mterested hi presentmg a new, "...free, peaceful and agreeable Germany," and thereby,

they hoped, erasmg residual resentments left over from the Second World War.*^

Whhin the hmer cfrcles of GDR power, other concerns beyond poUtics, the press,

and national image preoccupied the mling eUte. Ffrst and foremost was the preparation of

the athletes. To prevent thefr scarce resources and chances of accming medals from being

dissipated, members of the GDR's Central Committee and other high level sports

poUticos decided the course of action to take. As aforementioned, resources would be

channeled primarUy to those athletic disciplines deemed to be GDR strong points.

Presumably for motivational reasons, the sports leaders would be mculcated with a

"socialist consciousness." Trainers, coaches, and other sports officials were to

demonstrate strengthened poUtical qualifications as well as greater expertise m thefr

particular field. Science and scientific methods would penetrate aU reahns of sports and

would be applied hi practice. Support for up-and-coming-athletes would be rendered

83
more systematic.

In 1966, or two years before h is alleged that the iUegal "supportive means"

played a role m compethion m ehher East or West Germany, the GDR began to enter the

^'Norbert Lehmann, Internationale Sportbeziehungen und SportpoUtik der DDR.

TeU I., Mimster: Lh. Verlag, 1986, 344.

^'Shzung des Sekretariats des ZK der SED, Nov. 18,1970, ProtokoU 100, DY30
JIV 2/3 1691, SAPMO at Zeitgeschichte fifr Sport, Potsdam University, Anlage 1,1.
147
ranks of the world's leadmg sports nations. Track and field athletes from the GDR

experienced the greatest success of aU nations present m these disciplmes at the European

Championships held m Budapest. GDR athletes were particularly successful m

gymnastics, a sport that requfres such a high degree of technique that "supportive means"

would not have unproved the athletes' skill levels.** Team sports such as rowhig,

voUeybaU, and team gymnastics also showed mcreases m performance levels.*' Even

these highly visible hnprovements m the athletes' performance levels did not placate a

leadership firisfrated with apparent deficiencies in the dearth of poUtical conviction of

thefr sportsmen and women.**

Things are stUl the way they were before: the unification of sociaUst education
and athletic frainfrig has not been thoroughly put mto action. This is evident, for
example, hi the dearth of political [i.e. politically correct] behavior of a few of the
rowers and wrestlers...AU energy which has been mvested primarily into the
training processes must be utUized better for more extensive education on psychic
characteristics.*'

At least the numbers of sports officials and trainers who advanced themselves

poUtically by undergoing "Party schools" had substantially increased.** This was possibly

due to the potential for job promotion and/or other favorable career enhancements to be

won from such "voluntary" schooUng.

On the agenda for the potential Olympians was not only the above-mentioned

*"Gerhard Lerch, "Die mtemationale Anerkennung des DDR-Sports,"

Internationale Umschau. 13, no. 8, (1968): 931-2.

"^Sitzung des Sekretariats des ZK der SED, Nov. 18,1970, 3.

"^Ibid., 5.

"Ibid.

""Ibid., 12.

148
push for enhancmg thefr "psyche," but also the caU for more frammg tiiroughout the year,

witii greater emphasis placed on "the appUcation of more efifective types of trammg,"

accompanied by the use of the high ahhude frahui^ center m Bulgaria.*' The growth m

athletic success was attributed to a concenfration of effort by Umitmg sponsorship to the

GDR's athletic strengths, unproved leadership, more effective information systems, and,

of course, a "sfrengthenmg of the poUtical-ideological work to mstUl stronger

[ideological] convictions, thereby develophig world class athletes." If the goals were not

met, h was because the decisions and plans of the leaders had not been rigorously

adhered to.'" The hand of the Cenfral Committee was evident m much of this preparation

as the Committee members delegated responsibiUties to lower-ranking officials who, in

turn, must ascertain that the dfrectives of the Central Committee were indeed being

fulfilled. The ofificials were given certain deadlines, at which time evaluations had to be

submitted, clearly revealhig that the Cenfral Committee's goals had mdeed been met."

Keen interest was dfrected towards the new sports technologies. High ahitude

trammg in Bulgaria had afready gone hito effect m preparation for the 1968 Games; but,

by 1972, the East Germans used simulated high althude chambers for trammg, faciUties

that had been buih origmally for military purposes. These chambers had specially created

atmospheric condhions sunilar to those found at 13,000 feet above sea level. A later

model of such a chamber, buUt m 1979 m the athletic trahung camp of Kienbaum, was

•^bid., 6.

"Ibid., 13.

"SED HausmitteUung from HeUmann to Honecker, Dec. 22,1970, ZK der SED

Sport, DY30IV A2/18/10-12, SAPMO, 1-5.

149
designed strictly for the use of athletes. GDR speed walker Peter Frenkel landed hhnself

a gold medal hi Munich tiie day after one of his many trammg sessions in the high

ahhude chambers.'^ An entfre research institute was buUt, the Research Institute for

Physical Culture and Sports (FKS), dedicated to sports science as weU as sports medicme

on the very same campus as the DHfK, albeh as a separate mstitution. The basis for

sports science was premised on the Soviet model. From this model GDR sports scientists

e)q)anded mto greater degrees of sophistication.'^ The athletes were placed on

scientifically based and nutritionally taUored diets for maximum performance.''* Modem

technology was applied in many respects to routhie training sessions. Various mstmments

that could reveal biomechanical errors became more commonplace.The demand for more

weight trammg equipment mcreased as the need for more individualized sfrength framing

became evident." Designing of unique equipment specifically for certain athletic

disciplines became an art soon mastered by GDR engmeerhig. On the edge of eastem

Berlm, m Grtinau, the Institute for Research and Development of Sports Equipment

"Thn Crothers, "The Secret of Thefr Success?" Sports lUustrated. 72, no. 10, (10
Mar. 1990): 12.

"Peter Steger, Gnmdlagen. Herausbildung und Prmzipien der

WissenschaftspoUtik auf dem Gebiet der Forschung hn Leistungssport der DDR, (Ph.D.
diss., Leipzig: Deutsche Hochschule fur Korperkultur und Sport, 1976), 79.

'"Kurze Emschatzung der hn Zeitraum 1968-1972 auf dem Gebiete des

Whitersports erzielten Ergebnisse und Schlussfolgemngen fur die Vorberehung der
Olympischen Wmterspiele 1976," DTSB Vorlage, 100/2/72, Apr. 6,1972, DY12:365,
SAPMO, 4.

"Vorlage fur das Sekretariat des ZK, Zwischenemschatzung zur ReaUsierung des
Politburo-Beschlusses vom 8.4.1970 Uber "Die weitere Entvdcklung des Leistungssports
bis zu den Olympischen Spielen 1972," ZK der SED Sport, DY30IV A2/18/10, SAPMO,
6,9.

150
(FES) achieved world renown as engmeers conceived, designed, and buih highly

specialized sports equipment. This msthute remamed a closed door to outsiders untU after

the BerUn Wall feU, whereupon many sought these devices.'* World champion and

Barcelona bronze medalist swimmer J6rg Hofifinann testified that the GDR had no fewer

thanfifteenswimming canals at aU the leadmg training centers." These swhn canals

were outfitted v^th electronically controUed current sfreams. The swimmer would be

observed andfilmedunderwater whUe swhnming upstream against the current. In this

manner, h was easier to detect any errors m the biomechanical elements such as the angle

of arms, legs, the reach of the arms, the degrees of kick, etc. The sfrength of the current

could be controUed by the coach who would heighten or decrease the varying degrees of

the currents. Current mcrease would be applied at sfrategic pohits, such as thefinalsprint,

to teach the athlete to exert extra force at the most critical moment.'* Four thne Olympic

swhnmmg champion Roland Matthes noted that the swhnming canals were not finished

untU after the 1972 Olympics, but that they did play a decisive role m preparmg

swimmers for the 1976 Games. This was thefirstthne that muhi-anglefihnmgof the

athlete was rendered possible. The contribution this new traming tool made to swhnming
99
was assessed by Matthes as enormous.

'^Claudia GottschUng, "High-TechfifrOlympia," Focus, no. 29, July 1996, 99.

'Interview with Hoffmann.

'*GottschUng, 100.
"Matthes received a total of four gold medalsfromtiie1968 and 1972 Olympic
Games for the backstroke m the 100 and 200 meter events. He was also awarded the
sUver medal m the 4x100 meter relay; bronze for the 4x100 meter crawl (both m 1972)
and bronze m 1976 for the 100 meter backsfroke. He was also two-thne World Champion
m 1973 for the 100 meter and the 200 meter backstroke and World Champion hi 1975 for
151
 Because much weight was placed on tiie appUcation of science to sports,

biomechanical analysis was employed m many atiiletic realms to enhance the level of

biotechnical expertise of tiie athletes. The European Championships of 1971 revealed

technical and methodological weaknesses of those athletes engaged m some of the

"throwmg" disciplmes, for example, discus for the men, and shotput for tiie women. The

swhnmers also showed deficiencies m thefr turning techniques when they would finish

each pool length. These problems were attributed, oftenthnes, not only to errors of

technique, but also due to a lack of "a fightmg spfrit," or to "arrogance and an

underestimation of the opponent," namely, the Americans.'""

The emphasis on technical ejq)ertise and precise applications of sports science had

a phUosphical basis hi the GDR. Professor Dr. Hehnut Digel who serves m the capachy

of FRG President of the Federation of Track and Field as well as Vice President of the

NOC, noted that

The GDR society was hnprmted whh a certahi socialist picture of humanity. In
this picture of socialist humanity, a natural science view of human potential, a
perspective of the technological maleabilhy of humanhy took on particular
unportance. In GDR socialism, the model of the machine as applied to humankmd
wielded a very potent fascination. It is for this reason, that the GDR sports system
had a different kind of sports science diagnostic, different sports science training
controls, and a completely different sports science definitive goal of athletic
performance behavior. It was not only hi sports that humanity had a simultaneous
machine-like character. The "human machines' had, m general the superior goal
of subordinating themselves to the creation of a classless society. To achieve this
goal aU means were justified.'"'

the 100 meter backstroke. See: Roland Matthes: Dieses Tamtam gehorte zur
Dasemsberechtigung des Apparates," m Grh Hartmann, 103.

""SED Hausmitteilung from Helhnann to Honecker, Nov. 29. 1971, Anlage,

Emschatzung des gegenwartigen Standes m den Wmter u. Sommersportarten, ZK der
SED Sport, DY30IV A2/18/10-12, SAPMO, 4-5.

""Hehnut Digel "Doping gestem-Dopmg heute," Leistungssport, 28, no. 4,

152
 Perhaps this emphasis on high technology and science superhnposed on athletes

conveys an overly-mechanized, dehumanizmg unpression. However, nearly all of the

athletes mterviewed for this work did not perceive the system to be dehumanizmg. In

contrast, most athletes spoke very highly of the system as a whole.'"^ Also, the GDR

resuhs of the 1972 Summer Olympics were hnpressive. The GDR netted 66 total medals

m comparison to the FRG's 40 and ranked thfrd m the world m the medal count.'"^ The

results of the Sapporo Winter Games were equally impressive. The GDR ranked second

m the world, whereas the FRG ranked sixth and the USA ranked fifth. The "quereUes

aUemandes," or conflict between the Germanys, mtensified as the substantially smaUer

GDR left the economic heavyweight, the FRG, athletically in the dust. A poU conducted

in West Germany m 1972 confirmed the GDR leaders' aspfrations: 54% of West German

chizens interviewed believed that Olympic Games' success was reveaUng of condhions

whhin a social system which were conducive to that success.'"" It appeared that the GDR

had won hs muhi-front war of achievhig a high medal count, surpassing the abiUties of

the FRG m sports, and elevatmg global opmion of the GDR socialist society.'"'An even

more surprishig resuh of the polls revealed that a resoundmg majority (66%) of West

(1998): 6.

""See: CHAPTER VII.: The System: the Athletes Speak Out.

""Wemer Schneider, Die Olvmpischen Spiele 1972: Mimchen. Kiel Sapporo.

(Munich: Bertelsmann Verlag, 1972), 248.

"*"Allensbacher Berichte, 1972/Nr. 3. Nr. 20 and Nr. 21. m Hartmut Becker, "Der
olympische Aufstieg der DDR: Memungsumfragen m der Bundesrepublik," Deutschland
Archiv. 7, no. 2, (1974), 158.

'"'Ibid.
153
Germans did not oppose the use of the GDR's state symbols as a condhion for hostmg the

Games.'"* StUl, only a small mmorhy (6%) beUeved the GDR's messagetiiatathletic

success vaUdated the superiorhy of the socialist system over that of West German

capitaUst-democracy.'"' The comments of then-ChanceUor WUli Brandt probably

fiiisfrated GDR leaders mtensely when he noted that, "If the GDR athletes wm, then we

wm right along whhtiiem."It was, then, not a GDR socialist victory after aU, but a

German one. Most West Germans agreed with thefr Chancellor, as the polls revealed that

thefr views towards the GDR reghne hself remahied unchanged.'"*

How did the GDR sports officials evaluate thefr own success? Because the two

top whmers m the wmter Games m 1972 were in the Soviet Bloc, and because the GDR

ranked second, placmg far higher than ehher the USA (fifth) or the FRG (sixth), this

victory was particularly relished. The DTSB Vice President Bemhard Orzechowski and

colleagues assessed the resuhs primarily in proper poUtical terms: the wmter Olympic

Games victory "was an essential component of the intemational class warfare and even

accelerated the dynamics of this [warfare's] development." A twofold victory of athletic

achievement and heightened intemational acclaim of the GDR's brand of socialism was

declared.'"' The GDR experienced the greatest growth m both medals and pohits (hi

'""Ibid., 161.
'"Tbid., 162.
"*Ibid., 164.
'"'DTSB Vice President Orzechowski, DTSB Vorlage, Apr. 6,1972, Befr.: Kurze
Einschatzung der hn Zeitraum 1968-1972 auf dem Gebiete des Wmter sports erziehen
Ergebnisse u. Schlussfolgerungen fur die Vorbereitung der Olympischen Winterspiele
1976," DY12: 365, SAPMO, Anlage 1, 1.
154
keephig whh hs aforementioned unofficial point system).""

That the Russians ranked number one hi both wmter and Summer Games in 1972

was also an mdicator that the GDR was on the right path, as this was the very system the

GDR had emulated. The notion that there must be "no sport for sport's sake" was

decidedly pattemed after the Russian model. No sport was to be "outside the reahn of

pohtics."'" Sport was, m fact, an important tool to mature the average Russian or East

German into becoming a good Communist and citizen. "Ready to work and defend the

homeland," was the motto the Russians cohied and the East Germans appropriated. Sport

clubs and societies along whh the prestigious sports badge were also elements of the

Soviet athletic culture that the GDR adopted."^ Among some of the other key

components the GDR mcorporated from the Russian model were the children's annual

sports festivals to scout out potential elhe athletic talent, otherwise known as the

Spartakiaden. Accompanyhig these organizational components was the widespread

permeation of sports in institutions not only for chUdren, but also for aduhs. The

""Die Weherentwicklung des Leistungssport der DDR bis 1980 und die
Vorberehung der Olympischen Sommer und Wmterspiele 1976, ProtokoU Nr. 12/73 der
Sitzung des PoUtburos der ZK, Mar. 27, 1973, Anlage Nr. 9, SAPMO at Zehgeschichte
fur Sport, Potsdam Univershy, 95.
'"JohnN. Washburn, "Sport as a Soviet Tool" Foreign Afifafrs. 34, no. 3, (Apr.
1956): 490-1.
'"This phrase was later changed to "Ready to work and defend the peace." Karm
Kuhle, et al., Aus den Anfangen der Sportfreundschaft UdSSR-DDR," Theorie und
Praxis der Korperkuhur. 24, no. 4, (1975): 328, 331; see also: Wonneberger, "Die
Sportbewegung der SBZ/DDR nach sowjetischem ModeU?"

'"Ibid., 943. The sources on this are vast. See also: WUli Knecht, "DDR-Sport-
Giitezeichen fifr sozialistische Lebensweise," Deutschland Archiv. 7, no. 9, (Sept. 1974):
935-8. See also: Brohm, 79-87.

155
GDR's special relationship with the Russians was to be defined under the condhions of a

"friendship confract between tiie Federation of Sports Societies and Organizations of tiie

USSR and the GDR." The terms of this contract of havmg the "closest relationships for

the broadest sectors of the people of both of our socialist countries," appear m some

respects to have been just wmdow dressmg.'"* Certamly the established pact, "among

friends we have no secrets," did not bear much weight m respect to GDR eUte sports.'"

The officials were loath to aUow the Russians entry even mto the sports schools they had

modeled after those m the USSR!"*

The contacts between the Eastem Bloc countries for various athletic compethions

did, however, mcrease substantially during the mid to late 1970s. This was due to the

GDR's desfre to fortify socialist soUdarity agahist the "hnperialist" West."' This was a

mam theme repeatedly cited throughout 1970s sports documents, as it served to safeguard

the GDR against further measures the FRG might take to isolate it in the intemational

arena."*

Evaluations of the DTSB reveal that preparations for the 1976 Whiter and

Summer Olympic Games held m Innsbmck and Montreal were conducted m much the

"""Diskussionsgrundlage zur Vorbereitung ernes Freundschaftsvertrages zwischen

dem Bund der SportgeseUschaften und-organisationen der UdSSR und dem DTSB," June
12, 1964, DY30IV A2/18/17, SAPMO, 1.

'"Kuhle, 328.

"*SED HausmitteUung, HeUmann to Honecker, Nov. 20,1970.

"^Konstanze Schellenberger, Die Entwicklung des DTSB der DDR von 1975 bis
1981, (Ph.D. diss., Leipizig: Deutsche Hochschule fifr Korperkultur und Sport, 1987): 81-
93.

"^ProtokoU Nr. 12/73, Sitzung der ZK, Mar. 27, 1973, SAPMO, 93.

156
same manner as those undertaken for the 1972 Games. Meticulous attention was given to

aU facets of the athletes' Ufestyles. A concerted effort was made to apply scientific

methods to aU reahns of trahimg. In the 1972 Games, very specific performance goals

were estabUshed for each athlete by the federal executive committee."' In 1976, precise

traming plans were Ukewdse drawn up for each and every disciplme.'^" If performance

was not up to par, then the mdividual sport club leaders must answer to thefr dfrectors. In

Dresden this led to an "ideological clarification" to rectify the problem.'^' The emphasis

on poUtical-ideological education was always rendered so as to intrinsically intertwine h

with athletic performance. EUte athletes were to cultivate "a hatred towards West German

hnperialism." Thefr poUtical views should also grant them the necessary convictions and

fortitude of character to strive harder and be willing to take greater risks m compethioa

Such psychological factors were assessed as being every bh as important as the actual

physical preparation.'^^ Not only must the athletes have such strong socialist beliefs, but

the coaches, physicians, scientists, and sports officials must all be hi ideological sync. A

Gleichschaltung of sorts, or coordination of views, was deemed necessary to grease the

wheels m fiilfilUng thefr goals.'^^ The poUtical envfronment of the '70s was considered to

'"DTSB Vorlage an das Prasidium 7/2/68, July 17, 1968, Bericht des
Bezfrksvorstandes Dresden uber den Stand der Vorbereitung der Olympiakader 1972,
DY12:365, SAPMO, 2.

""ProtokoU Nr. 12/73, Sitzung der ZK, Mar. 27,1973, SAPMO, 116.

'"DTSB ProtokoUauszug der 19. Tagung des Prasidums, Aug. 12,1971, Bericht
uber den Stand der Vorbereitung der Olympiakader auf die Olympischen Wmterspiele
1972, DY12:365, SAPMO, 3-4.

'"DTSB Vorlage Nr. 100/2/72 Apr. 6,1972, SAPMO, 1-8.

"'ProtokoU Nr. 12/73, Sitzung der ZK, Mar. 27, 1973, SAPMO, 93.

157
be a fevorable one for fiuthering the chances of sociaUst countries' athletic development

and consequent victorious results m compethion.'^"* The East Germans brought forth

resuhs m the Games of 1976 which agam, prove a conthiuation of hnplementmg all the

systemic elements of the GDR sports program. In the Summer Games m Montreal the

GDR accumulated more medals than ehher West Germany or the United States. In the

Whiter Games in Monfreal GDR athletes distinguished themselves particularly m such

sports as bobsleddmg and the luge.

Central Committee protocols repeatedly acclaim the GDR's athletic contributions

as a factor in enhancmg the country's image, as well as the hnage of the other socialist

states.'^' "It was a matter of historical significance that hnperialism had failed to prove hs

superiorhy in eUte sports at the Olympic Games. "'^* GDR officials reckoned the

Olympics of the 1970s to be a clear-cut victory for the Eastem Bloc. Even though the

USSR placed first m the medal count, the GDR contribution to this cause was considered

far and away the greatest. The GDR's medal count of 90 was much greater per capita than

that of "brother" Russia. The GDR shigle-handedly accounted for 61% of aU gold medals

won by the socialist countries.'^' StUl East Bloc soUdarity was deemed necessary to fight

the enemies of the Olympic spfrh: commercialization and professionalization of amateur

sports. The chief perpetrators of the anti-Olympic spfrh were no less than the FRG, the

""Ibid., 96.

"'Ibid., 99.

"*Ibid., 6.
"Norbert Lehmann, Internationale Sportbeziehungen und SporttwUtUc der DDR,
TeU II, Bd. 6., (Mihister: Lh. Verlag, 1986), 661-2.

158
USA, and, mcreasmgly, Japan.'^* A tone of wammg was issued that, though the FRG was

behmd the GDR m both pomts and medals, the gap was closmg. Even though thefr

premier goals had been achieved, this was no thne to rest on thefr laurels. An atmosphere

of victimization seemed to loom over them as the capitaUst countries were also perceived

as hitensifymg thefr pursuh of defeatmg the GDR in underhanded ways: changmg of the

mles, selection of compethion judges, doping manipulation, etc.'^' This was a muhi-front

war to be fought simultaneously on several battlefields. In preparhig for the 1980

Olympic Games, emphasis was placed on mcreasing the quaUty of the training, as weU as

systematically heighterung the frequency, intenshy, and duration of framing sessions.'^"

PoUtical education was again to be the drivmg force to motivate athletes to ever greater

heights of achievement. The fi:uits of this labor would be manifest hi the GDR's

remahihig decade.

""ProtokoU Nr. 12/73, Sitzung der ZK, Mar. 27,1973, SAPMO, 97.

'"ProtokoU Nr. 2, Sitzung des PoUtbifros der ZK, Jan. 4,1979, DY30 JIV 2/2
1760, SAPMO at Zeitgeschichte fifr Sport, Potsdam University, Anlage Nr. 9, 2.

""ProtokoU Nr. 8, Shzung des PoUtburos der ZK, Dec. 14,1976, DY30 HV 2/2
1648, SAPMO at Zehgeschichte fifr Sport, Potsdam University, Anlage Nr. 8, 25.

159
 CHAPTER VI

THE FINAL DECADE: THE 1980s

The final decade of the GDR's existence began as the 1970s had ended: an athletic

ttiumph as a demonstration of tiie ostensible "'superiority of sociaUsm over caphaUsm."' It

was indeed a remarkable showmg as the GDR ranked, m the 1980 Lake Placid Wmter

Olympic Games, for the first thne m Olympic history, higher than the Soviet Union as weU

as the United States, and landed first among nations for the most medals won.^ GDR

officials reckoned that this was not merely an athletic wm, but a "...confirmation of the

poUtical and ideological significance of eUte sports m the class war between sociaUsm and

capitaUsm."^ The East German presence was particularly feh m such profoundly high-

skUled sports as the enormously popular figure skatmg events in which GDR athletes

achieved medals m three out of four divisions. Anett Potzsch won the GDR's first gold in

women's figure skating, whereas her male counterpart, Jan Hofi&nann, was barely defeated

by American skater Robm Cousins to take home the sUver, whUe the GDR

Mager/Bewersdorff couple brought back the bronze for pafrs. The placing of Cousins over

Hofi&nann actuaUy had to be calculated by computer, as the margin between them was so

sUm. Cousms was only fourth place in the compulsories, but was second place in the short

'Lehmann, TeU II., 664.

^Henry, 426.

^Erste Emschatzung der XIII. Olympischen Winterspiele 1980 m Lake Placid

(USA) und erste Schlussfolgerungen, ProtokoU Nr. 9 der Sitzung des PoUtburos des ZK
der SED, Mar. 5, 1980, DY30 JIV 2/2 1827, SAPMO at Zehgeschichte fifr Sport,
Potsdam University, 1.

160
program and first m the final program."

Years of plannmg and preparation preceded this greatest of Olympic Wmter

Games victories. At the Party's nmth meethig, held m 1976 m BerUn, the SED

mcorporated hito hs five-year plan substantial aUocations for the ongoing sponsorship of

Physical Culture and Sports.' By domg this, the SED personaUy took this process m hand

for the express purpose of creatmg a "developed sociaUst society." That is, h was to be

one m which "...the thoughts and behavior of the workers are impressed with the sociaUst

ideology, with the Marxist-Leninist world view of the working class."* Concrete plans to

enhance the dynamics of the system were put in gear years before the athletes entered the

Olympic arena. The PoUtbifro had issued dfrectives with this mtent as early as

December 1976. Interim evaluations were periodicaUy vmtten up on the advancement of

athletic preparedness in keepmg with both the 1976 and the subsequently revised (1979)

PoUtbifro dfrectives.' These dfrectives were the startmg block for developments in the

'*Connors, 86. Henry, 426.

'Precise figures of fimding for the eUte sports program were unknown, even to
such leaders as DTSB President Manfred Ewald. WUU Knecht, Wege Nach Olympia.
(Dortmund: Verlag Busche, 1980), 45. See also, Proiektbericht: Die
Leistungssportforderung der DDR unter den Bedingung der Okonomischen Krise m den
achtziger Jahren. Workshop of GDR Sports, Apr. 18, 1997, J. Teichler. Extensive
endeavors to discem the GDR's fimding of eUte sports m the 1980s have been fiirthered m
1998-9 by Professor Dr. Hans Joachhn Teichler of Potsdam University.

*Konstanze ScheUenberger, Die Entv^icklung des DTSB der DDR von 1975 bis
1981. (Ph.D. diss., Leipzig: Deutsche Hochschule fifr Korperkultur und Sport, 1987), 8,
12.

'Semmarplan fur den Lehrgang leitender Kader des Leistungssports, Mar. 26-30,
1979, Klemmachnow, Mar. 15, 1979, BerUn, DY30 FV 2/19/14, SAPMO at
Zehgeschichte fUr Sport, Potsdam University, 1.

161
commg and final decade.*

lUustrative of this heightened compethion between the two world systems were the

concerns expressed at a March 1979 semmar by leadmg GDR sports ofificials. The first

issue on the agenda was "the role of eUte sports m the battle of both social systems and its

connection to the ideological class warfere."' To wm m this testmg ground of ideologies, a

specific strategy was outUned. Efforts must be made predommantly m the realms of

poUtical work, as weU as hi mcreasmg the degree and mtenshy of trainmg. Sports leaders

were particularly mtent on these two facets: the continual connection of poUtical ideology

with physical framing, and an uncompromishig adherence to central planning."' Great store

was placed m executmg the highest level of poUtical-ideological education. PoUtical

motivation was to be markedly emphasized with the athletes, especiaUy among those of

world class standmg." Training should be imbued with Marxist-Leninist teachings so that

the highest degree of fulfillment of goals would be accomplished. Officials adhered to a

quasi-reUgious conviction that trainmg plans would be foUowed most vigorously if

ideological convictions were strengthened.'^ A fightmg spirit, an uncompromismg wiU to

wm, a passionate shovmg, would aU result if the Party contmued efforts to mold the

personaUties of the athletes. In conjunction with physical trahung, poUtical education was

*Ibid., 3.

'Ibid., 2.

'"Ibid.,3-4

"Ibid. ,5.

'^Ibid., 6.

162
assessed as a dfrect prerequisite for athletic success.'^ The mtensity, frequency, and

duration of physical frammg were to be heightened not only among the Olympic

candidates, but h was to increase a staggering 100% among the succeedmg, younger

athletes.'" The trahimg times for aU sports were to be mcreased from 1200 hours to 1500

hours withhi the Olympic year."

GDR ofificials were wary that the West would have the upper hand in employmg aU

the material advantages inherent to caphaUsm. They also beUeved that a manipulative

effort in respect to judges and referees as weU as a widespread use of performance-

enhancmg dmgs by many countries, capitaUst and non-capitaUst aUke would be

prevalent.'* The overarching goal of the 1980 Olympic Games was to surpass first and

foremost the Federal RepubUc of Germany and, secondly, the Unhed States." This goal

would be reaUzed if the athletes imbibed the teachings of communist education and

'^Interview v^th Dr. Thomas Kohler, DTSB Vice President for EUte Sports,
"Poshion unter den fiihrenden Sportiandem der Weh konnte 1985 behauptet werden,"
Theorie und Praxis Leistungssport. no. 243, (May 1986): 4.

'"Semhiarplan fur den lehenden Kader des Leistungssports, 10.

"Zwischenemschatzung zur ErfuUimg des Beschlusses des PoUtbifros des

Zenfralkomitees der SED vom 14.12.1976 uber "Die Weherentwicklung des
Leistungssports der DDR und die Vorbereitung auf die Olympischen Spiele 1980," Anlage
Nr. 9, ProtokoU Nr. 2, Jan. 4, 1979, DY30 JIV 2/2 1760, SAPMO at Zehgeschichte fifr
Sport, Potsdam University, 10.

'*Beschluss "Die Weherentwicklung des Leistungssports der DDR und die

Vorbereitung der Olympischen Spiele 1980,"Anlage Nr. 8 zum ProtokoU Nr. 29/76, Dec.
14,1976, DY30 JTV 2/2 1648, SAPMO at Zeitgeschichte fifr Sport, Potsdam University,
7.

"Ibid., 8.

163
systematicaUy mcreased thefr trammg workload.'* These two themes are consistently

reiterated m the SAPMO state documents regardmg athletic preparation.

This hardcore approach proved to have results that probably surpassed even the

East Germans own expectations. In the 1980 Whiter Games the GDR led the world with

23 medals as opposed to the USSR's 22 medals and the USA's 12 medals. Such a victory

was particularly fraught with poUtical significance as h occurred on the soU of the leadmg

"inperiaUst," capitalist nation: the USA. The mmutes of a PoUtbifro meethig revealed a

glee that the perceived plan of the USA to use home advantage in achievmg the number

one position had been thwarted. This, of course, was achieved via "the exceUent fighting

spirit and preparedness of the GDR."" Even more to be reUshed was the fact that the Lake

Placid Games had been conducted at tremendous costs to the USA with disappomtmg

athletic returns for the host country. The Cenfral Committee beUeved that the Carter

Adminisfration mtended to exploh the Games to advance hs own "aggressive, hnperialist

goals." In this, the US was deemed to have Med miserably, as, in anfronictwist, the

majority of the audience was characterized as objective in hs observations of the athletic

performance of sociaUst countries.^" The USA was also seen to be a poor organizer m

respect to transportation, lodging, food, and mformation dissenunation.^' Given the high

'*Ibid., 25.

"Erste Emschatzung der XIII. Olympischen Winterspiele 1980 m Lake Placid

(USA) und erste Schlussfolgerungen, Anlage, 6.

'"Ibid., 2.

''Ibid., 3.

164
degree of state micro-management ascribed to the Uves of the GDR's own eUte athletes,

this was probably a fefr assessment. As Lake Placid was a smaU communhy, Uttle was

avaUable m respect to dorms or hotel accommodations. Hence, the U.S. federal

govemment buUt afecUitymtended to be used as a prison after the games. The Olympic

vUlage was thus granted the onerous thle of "the Olympic prison."''

To what did the PoUtburo attribute the splendid showhig of hs proteges? Ffrst and

foremost was the consistent adherence to long term plans as set forth by Party dfrectives.

Infusmg the athletes with poUtical-ideological motivation, thus mdoctrinatmg them to

become genume "sociaUst personaUties," was the guidmg spfrit. The athletes'fighthigwiU

to take on thefr opponents and the GDR esprit de corps was a fiirther advantage. The

coUective dedication of the entfre support stafif to hs poUtical caUing over a period of years

was assessed as another contributing fector. FinaUy, the carefiU selection process of those

athletes who demonstrated clear potential for medals was considered to be another strong

component of the GDR's success.'^ Hints of medical manipulation can also be found m the

Central Committee's protocol. One suggestion caUed for "the unproved appUcation of

medical measures to mobUize performance reserves."'" Another order was for "securing

the unhy of training and [by means of] trahung supportive means," "supportive means"

(unterstiitzenden Mitteln) bemg the East German euphemism for performance-enhancmg

"Lord KUlanhi and John Rodda, eds.. The Olympic Games 1984. (London:
RambfrdPub., 1984), 14.

'^Ibid., 4.

'"Beschluss "Die Weherentwicklung des Leistungssports der DDR und die

Vorbereitung der Olympischen Spiele 1980," 33.

165
dmgs.^'

Baskmg m the glory of a clear victory of sociaUsm over caphaUsm via athletic

prowess would prove to be !| short-Uved phenomenon. Even m the midst of calculatmg the

poUtical caphal accumulated fix)m tiie Lake Placid results, the GDR PoUtburo took note of

a potential change of venue. In Ught of the Russian invasion of Afghanistan hi December

of 1979, tiie US Secretary of State, Cyms Vance, proposed that tiie Summer Olympic

Games be moved from Moscow to a new location. The IOC President, Lord KUlanm,

however, remamed firm m the commitment to Moscow after a session with 73 IOC

members considered and rejected the American proposal.'* In a meeting of the PoUtbifro,

conducted at the highest security level members pondered thefr ofificial poshion on the

Soviet mtervention m Afghanistan as weU as other foreign aSairs issues. Thefr predictable

conclusion was to voice support of the Russian action. ParadoxicaUy, the East German

reghne had determmed at this same meeting that mtervention m the internal affafrs of other

states "could lead to nothing good." Yet the geographicaUy strategic importance of

Afghanistan was clearly evident for the Soviet Union, and thus intervention in this case

was assessed as justifiable. It was deemed hypocritical of the US to voice protest given the

presence of American forces m 30 different countries with a mUitary network established

throughout the world." Oddly enough, the obvious confrast to America's former activities

"Ibid., 27.

'*Erste Emschatzung der XIII. Olympischen Whiterspiele 1980 in Lake Placid

(USA), 8.

"ProtokoU Nr. 32, der Sitzung des PoUtburos des ZK der SED, Aug. 12,1980,
DY30 JIV 2/2 1852, SAPMO at Zehgeschichte fifr Sport, Potsdam University, 25.

166
m south East Asia was not mentioned. Perhaps the analogy was aU too close to mention

amidst SED hard-Uners.

The GDR offered assistance to the Russians as exchement mounted over the first

Olympic Games to be held in a sociaUst country. In earUer years, the discussions at

meetmgs between heads of state, Brezhnev and Honecker, had oftenthnes gravitated

towards sports. Brezhnev noted to Honecker his awe of the GDR's athletic

acconqjUshments:

B-Your GDR is exceUent. We have also [won] many medals. But we're a large
country. The GDR is a smaU country. That's a tremendous accompUshment.
H-Our athletes speak with great respect of the accompUshments of athletes of the
Soviet Union and other sociaUst countries. For the first thne, the Soviet
Union, the GDR and other sociaUst countries have won the most medals.
[InO.G. 1976.]...
B-Sport m the GDR is very highly developed. You've done tremendous work m
this respect. We have high regard for this.'*

The mutual admfration of the two leaders in the athletic accompUshments of "sociaUsm

versus imperialism" had been a pomt of commonaUty m the Cold War's game of one-up-

manship. It was a matter of grave historical significance beyond merely that of national

pride. A comment on the preparations for the 1980 Olympics described this beUef

For the first time, imperialism [capitalism] lost its superiority in eUte sports at the
Olympic Games [of 1976.] This wiU lead objectively to the further growth of the
poUtical and ideological significance of eUte sports as a factor in the conflict
between sociaUsm and imperialism and lead to the prevalence of the poUtics of
peaceful coexistence."

'*Klaus Wiegrefe, "Honecker und Breznev auf der Krim," Viertelsjahreshefte fifr
Zehgeschichte. 41, no. 4, (Oct. 1993): 601-2.

"Beschluss "Die Weherentwicklung des Leistungssports der DDR und die

Vorbereitung der Olympischen Spiele 1980, 5.

167
The GDR noted that hs "ideological opponents" were foUowmg the preparations for the

Moscow Games with the mtent of dividmg the Olynpic movement. Moscow, after aU,

stood for the fight for peace and security. The Americans were unjustly heckUng the

Russians because of President Carter's stance on the Soviets' "assistance" to the revolution

in Afghanistan.^" The ulthnate decision of Carter to boycott the Moscow Games was

considered by the GDR to be a combmed assault on socialism and the Olympiad. Even m

the United States, there were caUs for a de-poUticization of the Games by movmg them

permanently to a neutral host site.^' The GDR's Department of Aghation dfrected that

GDR joumaUsts mundate Thfrd World countries v^nth thefr version of the story whUe

keephig a watchful eye on the poUtical mood throughout the world. East German

joumaUsts were ordered to wield mfluence over capitalist coUeagues m impressing upon

them thefr pohrt of view.^' In regards to sports questions m preparation for the Olympics,

a closer collaboration with the USSR's Communist Party would be effected and stronger

SED controls would be exerted.^^ Because the Olympics were deemed a pawn m the

mtemational chess game between socialism and capitaUsm, or "imperialism," a grand

display would be made even grander in order to trunq) the sUght of the USA and hs

accompanyhig dissident nations. IOC President Lord KUlaiun dismissed this Cold War

^"Bericht, AbteUung Agitation, BerUn, Jan. 23,1980, DY30IV 2/2.037 14,

SAPMO at Zeitgeschichte fifr Sport, Potsdam University, 2.

^'"Tossmg the Olympics JaveUn," New York Thnes. 17 Jan. 1980, A22.
32T
Bericht, AbteUung Agitation, 3-4.

"ibid., 6.

168
game of vaUdathig one's poUtical system via high medal counts. He commented dryly, "I

do not thmk h shows you have a better way of Ufe if you wm a lot of medals."^" StUl the

Eastem Bloc knew the whole world would be watchmg as, prior to Carter's boycott

announcement, 5,000 westem journalists had been expected to provide coverage of the

Games.^'

Whh the teeth kicked out of the compethion between socialism and caphaUsm,

Westem coverage of the Games was negUgible. The actual cause of the boycott, the

Russian mvasion of Afghanistan, was played down hi the GDR press. The boycott was

instead presented as, yet agam, another example of the West's "aggressive unperiaUsm"

and an attack on the humanistic principles of the Olympic movement. This movement

could only be most aptly expressed whhin the parameters of a socialist country.^* The

Russians' official Olympic pubUcation, Moscow '80. issued in numerous languages,

clahned the American-led boycott to be a complete faUure:

The anti-Olympic campaign unleashed by certahi quarters and above aU by the

Washmgton administration ended m complete fiasco. The success of the Moscow
Games has shown the baselessness and senselessness of the desfre to use sport for
selfish poUtical ambhions, to desfroy the time tested tradhions of mtemational
sports cooperation."

In the absence of westem compethion, joumaUsts were placing thefr bets on an

^"Espy, 133.

^'Roger M. WUUams, "Moscow '80, Playmg for PoUtical Pomts," Saturday

Review. 1 Sept. 1979, 12.

^*Lehniann, TeU II., 669-72.

"Moscow '80: Games of the XXII Olympiad Moscow 1980. (Moscow:

Fhzkuhura i Sport, 1980), Introduction, n.p.

169
East German medal sweep. Runner's World author Brian Chapman marveled at the

scientific approach taken towards the discipline of long distance runnhig as weU as the

con:q)rehensive care afforded the GDR's long distance runners. The study of runners under

the carefiU scmtmy of sophisticated cameras, measuring mstmments and biomechanical

engmeers had been taken to a new high-tech sphere. East German physiological research

was not only cutting edge, but the appUcation of scientific evaluation, computer analysis,

and various radical hmovations was assessed by Chapman to be nothing short of

revolutionary.^* Some such innovations unique to the GDR consisted of the underground

high altitude chamber as weU as the swim canals. Newsweek journalists concurred that the

highly scientific methods employed at the heart of the system, at the DHfK (the German

CoUege of Physical Culture m Leipzig), where the athletes are "framed, fihned and tested

under near laboratory conditions," were exemplary. They also took a more cynical stance,

beUeving much of the success to be due to the athletes' advancement in dmg usage. A

French joumaUst ofL'Express ascribed the accompUshments to a combmation of highly

scientific trahimg coupled whh some dmg abuse. Admfration was expressed for the

extensive mvolvement of chUdren m sports as weU as the comprehensive system of

"champion husbzmdry."""

^*Brian Chapman, "East of the WaU: East German trahung is ained at Moscow
1980," Runner's World. Mar. 1978, 60-67.

^'Pete Axhehn and Frederick Kempe, "The East German Machme," Newsweek, 14
July 1980, 50.

""Paul Katz, "East Germany's Olympic Secrets: Muscle culture becomes an exact
science," L'Express. m Atlas World Press Review. Apr. 1977, 52.

170
 West Germans had enviably admfred thefr chief opponents' comprehensive system

for years. With the mde awakenmg provided by the GDR's magnificent showmg in the

Munich Olympics, the West Germans analyzed the system to the extent that thefr eastem

brethren would aUow. Thereafter, the FRG contmuaUy explored whatever developments

were divulged by the East German sports system hsel^ or from athletes who defected

from the GDR. For example, Der Spiegel reported the former DHfK ChanceUor and

leadmg GDR sports historian. Professor Dr. Gihither Wonneberger, as asserting that "the

sole criteria for tmth is the [abUity to have effective] appUcation." At the German CoUege

for Physical Culture, a concerted effort was made to apply research dfrectly to the flesh

and blood existence of the athletes on a quasi experimental basis."' East German

authorities such as DTSB President Manfred Ewald and State Secretary for Sports Giinter

Erbach would contmue to press thefr phUosophy to a wondering world that sociaUsm

provides the most ideal cfrcumstances for thefiiUdevelopment of human potential

particularly athletic potential."'

MeanwhUe, West German joumaUsts and academics explored the various

opportunities sports presented to effect detente between the Germanys. Sports joumaUst

Giinter Holzweissig wrote extensively on this theme, oftenthnes expressmg sharp criticism

41 'Rtihrt euch, weitermachen," Der Spiegel 29, no. 44, 27 Oct. 1975, 202-3.

"'Manfred Ewald, "Sport m the SociaUst GDR," 27,43. Gunter Erbach,

"Aufgaben der StaatUchen Organe bei der weheren Entwicklung der soziaUstischen
Korperkultur und des Sports m der DDR," Theorie und Praxis der Komerkuhur. 31, no.
2, (Feb. 1982): 243-56.

171
on the SED's hitentions. FRG academicians, such as Herbert M. Fischer, caUed for usmg

aU means, mcludmg sports, to strengtiien ties to the GDR, so that one would not hear

fromfemUiesand fiiends that they had been neglected and forgotten. The goal State

Secretary for Inner-German Relations Lotiiar Wrede urged, was by aU means to mamtam

and, as much as possible, buUd upon existmg relations with the GDR, desphe the

mcreasmgly compUcated mtemational situation. Wrede appealed for more athletic

compethion between the GDR and the FRG, especiaUy compethion that would embrace

aU sports (not just eUte sports) and that would mclude aU rankmgs of athletes, mcludmg

the handicapped."" Due to financial Umitations, the GDR could not fuffiU this wish as

comprehensively as the West Germans would have Uked.

For thefr part. East German journalists were assigned the task of deUberately

"popularizing" certam sports hi the media that the state could afford to sponsor for the

general pubUc. Tennis and equestrian sports, for example, were fer too costly for the state

to sponsor for GDR chizens."' Even eUte athletes did not participate m these high doUar

sports. Such athletic discipUnes as tennis were portrayed, m the GDR, as "capitaUstic tittle

Holzweissig, Sport und PoUtik in der DDR: also "Sport als Instrument der DDR
m den hmerdeutschen und mtemationalen Beziehungen," cited m Horst Uberhorst, ed.,
Geschichte der Leibesiibimgen: Leibesubimgen und Sport m Deutschland vom Ersten
Weltkrieg bis zur Gegenwart. Bd. 3, TeU 2, (BerUn: Bartels & Wemitz, 1982).

Akademiegesprach, "Sport hn GeteUten Deutschland II," Fiihrungsund

Verwaltunps Akademie BerUn des DSB. June 16-17,1982, 3, 5-6.

"'Klaus Huhn, Aghationssituzung, Dec. 16, 1982, SED, ZK, Bifro Schabowski,
DY30 FV 2/2.040/12, SAPMO, 1.

172
tattle" observed Olyn^ic champ shot putter Udo Beyer."* The East German press was

carefiil to give a "correct" Party view on any news pertainmg to the Olympic boycott due

to the Afghanistan invasion. Neues Deutschland. for example, Umhed hs articles pertment

to the Olympic Games to bilateral cooperation between the Soviet Union and the GDR. It

also hicluded articles concemmg the high expectations of the national team and the hard

work h had done in preparation, along with cooperative efforts of the USSR and the GDR

in respect to assisting Thfrd World countries prepare for the Games. The relationship

between these two countries was always couched m positive terms."'

Tme to the American joumaUsts' expectations, the East Germans performed

exfremely weU. Forty-seven golds were won by the GDR alone."* As with the Lake Placid

resuhs, the GDR attributed the large medal total to a strict observance of the PoUtbUro's

dfrectives of December 14, 1976 and January 4,1979. The endeavor of the Americans and

the West Germans to bUght the emmence of the Moscow Games was to no avaU.

Moscow was emblematic of leadmg the Olyn^iad to hs highest pomt, whereas the

"reactionary forces of hnperiaUsm do everything possible to subordinate the Olympic

"*Interview with shotput Olympic Champ Udo Beyer, Feb. 20, 1997, Potsdam.

"'Gimter Holzweissig, Diplomatie m Trahungsanzug. (Munich: Oldenbourg

Verlag, 1981), 170.

"*Henry, 428.

"'Beschluss zur weheren Entwickhmg des Leistungssports in der DDR im

Zeitraum 1981-1985 und zur Vorbereitung auf die Olympischen Spiele 1984, ProtokoU
Nr. 49, Sitzung der PoUtburos des ZK der SED, Dec. 2, 1980, DY30 JTV 2/2 1869,
SAPMO, 1.

173
Games to thefr poUtics of confrontation."'" Ofificial GDR summaries of the 1980 Summer

Games assessed the sittiation m keepmg witii this genre of heated Cold War rhetoric. If the

victory of one system over anotiier could not be proven by medals, h could at least be

proven even more symboUcaUy by accusations that the "hnperiaUsts" were out to nun the

tme significance of the Olympiad ahogether. Contmual emphasis m sports Uterature was

placed on sociaUsm presentmg tiie most ideal of cfrcumstances for thefiilfiUmentof tiie

Olympic ideal." StUl m terms of athletic perfonnance, this was no time for the GDR to be

complacent. Fear was evident that the intemational federations and sports organizations

were becommg mcreasmgly more sympathetic to and dependent upon the caphahst

countries. The material outlay for eUte sports m these countries was also expenencing

phenomenal growth, whUe the Central Committee wondered how the GDR could keep

pace."

The 1984 Winter Olympics received fuU participation, particularly of the Eastem

Bloc, on the poUticaUy acceptable sociaUst terram of Yugoslavia. The capitaUst countries

also had no axe to grind with a country whose former leader, Josef Tito, had so openly

thumbed his nose at Russian hegemony. The goals the East German reghne had set for the

Lake Placid 1980s Whiter Games remained hi place for 1984: mamtain the GDR's position

as a leading sports power, surpass the efforts of the FRG and the USA, and achieve a

'"Ibid., 5.

"Hehnuth Westphal "F)ie SteUung der olympischen Idee hn soziaUstischen Sport

der DDR." Theorie und Praxis der KSrperkulttu". 32, no. 3, (1983): 174.

"Beschluss zum weiteren Entwicklung...Dec. 2,1980, Anlage 5, 5.

174
poshive balance as a whole for aU the sociaUst countries.'^ A comprehensive analysis of

the entfre eUte athletic program was undertaken to ascertam tiie country's readmess. A

sfrengthenhig of aU reahns was m the works: scientific research, sports medicme, technical

developments, creative cooperation with coaches and athletes, and, of course, a systematic

poUtical education.'" A strict observance of the athletes' uidividual trahung plans (ITPs)

must be guaranteed by the coaches. These plans were drawn up m advance and approved

at high levels of the sports hierarchy." The ITPs would prescribe specifics of a graduated

workload.

With the exception of ice hockey and bobsleddmg, support was to be concentrated

m individual sports, as the team sports were too cost intensive. FRG sports historian Klaus

Reinartz noted that this tendency had started in 1969 m order to reduce the costs per

medal whUe elevatmg the overaU national Olympic rankings.'* There were very few team

sports in Sarajevo in which the GDR participated. Some of these included bobsledding and

'^Ibid., 7.

'"Ibid., 7-8.

"Zwischenemschatzung zur ErfuUimg des Beschlusses des PoUtbtiros des ZK der

SED vom 2.12.1980, "Zur weheren Entwicklung des Leistungssports in der DDR hn
Zeitraum 1981-1985 und zur Vorbereitung auf die Olympischen Spiele 1984 und
Schlussfolgerungen fur die weitere Olympiavorbereitung," ProtokoU Nr. 51, Sitzung des
ZK der SED, Dec. 14, 1982, DY30 JIV 2/2 1982, SAPMO at Zeitgeschichte fifr Sport,
Potsdam University, 15.

'*Dr. Klaus Remartz, "Die ZweiteUung des DDR-Sports: Leistungssport m nicht

gefi)rderten Sportarten," Workshop: Geschichte des DDR-Sports. des Bundesinstituts fifr
Sportwissenschaft, 18 Apr. 1997, 1.

175
tiie luge; aU other sports were mdividual." Bobsleddmg was a sport m which the GDR had

enjoyed considerable success in the past. Team sports requfre greater outlays of fundmg

and team wms count for only one medal m the overaU national rankmg. Hence, the

propensity was to hnplement the "watering can" principle, whereby those sports with the

greatest UkeUhood of yieldmg a high per capha medal wm with the least state expenditures

were most Ukely to receive state sponsorship.'* Some team sports were considered

exceptions to this rule, as was the case with ice hockey. State Security Minister Erich

Mielke's pet sport. MieUce was so taken whh ice hockey that, when budget cuts threatened

to eUmmate hockey as an eUte sport, as h did notfiilfiUthe state sponsorship criteria,

Mielke took h upon himself to sponsor the team from the State Security Mmistry's

budget." MieUce was also an avid soccer fen. He would become quite mcensed oftentimes

at various calls of referees at soccer matches and would let loose a barrage of expletives

expressmg his view on the given referee's competence. DTSB President Manfred Ewald

noted that, at one match, when he sat next to Mielke, a spectator had had enough of

Mielke's comments, upon which he tumed to the State Security Mmister and stated in no

uncertain terms, "Hey you idiot up there, shut up afready if you don't know anything about

"Vorschlag der Zusammensetzung der DDR Olympiamannschaft zu den

Olympischen Wmterspielen 1984, ProtokoUauszug 264, Sekretariatsshzui^, Dec. 6, 1983,
Olvmpische Spiele: Wmter u. Sommer 1984. DY12/10331 (377), SAPMO.

'*Interview witii Dr. Klaus Bartonietz, GDR and FRG Biomechanist, July 5, 1997,
Neustadt.

"Remartz, 4. Andert, 136.

176
soccer!"*"

Long-term planning to unprove the system embraced increasing the performance

capacity of the sport schools. This was hi keepmg whh the state's carefiU attention to aU

developmental stages offledgUngOlympic candidates. Youth were carefliUy scmthiized

and dfrected to athletic discipUnes deemed appropriate for thefr particular body types and

skiU levels. Regional and local framing centers where chUdren were m trammg but not yet

inducted mto the sports schools were under the watchful eye of volunteer coaches. The

training plans for the athletes were routinely overseen by dfrectors of sports divisions for

extended periods of thne to see if progress in performance had been made and if the goals

had to be adjusted. These frammg plans were oftentimes submitted to high level ofificials m

the Sports Secretariat, who, in turn, would make suggestions for changes. '

The dual tasks of education and framing comprised mtrinsicaUy mtertwmed

elements. EUte athletes must demonstrate, as a consequence of thefr communist education,

...a love for the party and the sociaUst fatherland in connection to a strong
soUdarity with the Soviet Union and the other socialist brother countries and a
hafred agahist hnperialism [capitalist nations] and hs aggressive goals.

Furthermore, the athletes should be weU-versed in Marxist dialectic and how h appUes to

sports, both to mdividuals and to teams. A certam degree of near reUgious fanaticism was

*"Andert, 139.

*'Ehischatzung des Standes der Erziehung und AusbUdung der Olympiakader..."

SteUungnahme zur Vorlage des DTV der DDR. Abt. Sommersport, Abt. Sportmethodik,
Mar. 21,1984, DY12:377, SAPMO, 1-2.

*'Beschluss zur weheren Entwicklung des Leistungssports m der DDR hn

Zeifraum 1981-1985, 12-14. Emphasis mme.

177
expected as Marxist-Lenmist teachmgs were to be taught whh great zeal and rendered

appUcable not only to sports, but to day-to-day Uvmg.*^ Successful athletes were used as

examples of the embodhnent of "sociaUst personaUties." These athletes were caUed upon

to give personal testhnonies of thefr successfiU battles agahist the forces of hnperialism, to

stfr up greater patriotic fervor among thefr compatriots.

At the sports club level there has been some progress made withhi the context of
an emotional formulation of poUtical speeches for the peace offensive of sociaUsm
and [also] to intensify the mtemational situation, particularly against the
hnperiaUsm of the USA and the FRG. Recounting the experiences of former eUte
athletes in conflict with the hnperiaUst enemy has not been used enough.*"

In fact, the criteria for acceptance to the Olympic team mandated proof of a firm

commitment to the Party and the sociaUst state.*' There is sufificient room to beUeve that

this criterion was not always fuUy adhered to. Figure skating champion Katarina Witt, for

example, was not a member of the SED, yet her athletic abiUties were so outstanding that

Party membership was not an issue.**

Athletes were also carefiiUy schooled m maintaining a cool distance

("Abgrenzung")fromWestemers, whether they be other athletes, sports officials,

joumaUsts, or spectators. To guarantee that athletes mamtained this distance, plamclothes

Secret PoUce members were usuaUy present with the sportsmen and women when they

*^Ibid., 15.

*"Vorschlag zur Zusammensetzung der Olympiadkader 1984 m den

Wmtersportarten, Abt. Sport, May 3, 1983, Berhn, Olvmpische Spiele Wmter u. Sommer
1984. DY 12/10331, (377) SAPMO, 6.

*'lbid., 1.

**Ibid., document A 22/5/83/13/15.

178
had opportunities to mmgle with thefr sports coUeagues of "hnperiaUst" countries.

Olympic shot put chanq)ion Udo Beyer clahned this was not always the case. Oftenthnes

Westem and Eastem Bloc athletes enjoyed fiiendly mteraction without the watchful

presence of the Secret PoUce. Beyer even expressed gratitude to American athletes for

teachmg hhn EngUsh phrases.*' Two thne Olympic marathon Champion Waldemar

Cierpmski expressed regrets that he could not communicate with feUow-marathoner Frank

Shorter, not because of any Secret PoUce restrictions, but sunply because he did not speak

English. Wrestler Frank Hartmann testified that one always witnessed the same tourists

and spectators m thefr presence. The athletes were quite aware whom these people

represented.*'

This type of control did not end with the athletes. Even though Yugoslavia was a

sociaUst country, the decision of who was aUowed to attend the Whiter Games~and who

was not~specificaUy excluded spouses of the athletes. DTSB Vice President Bemhard

Orzechowski himself expressly ordered that "...necessary measures are to be introduced

that no spouse of any Olympic participant wiU be included within the tourist delegation."'"

The temptation to flee with one's spouse had to be curtaUed somehow. Keeping spouses

*'lnteryiew with Beyer.

Interview with Cierpmski.

*'lnterview with Hartmann.

'"Beschluss iiber die Zusammensetzung der Touristengmppe des DTSB der DDR
nach Sarajevo, ProtokoUauszug der 263. Sekretariatsshzung, DTSB der DDR Sekretariat,
Nov. 29, 1983, DY12/10331 Olvmpische Spiele Wmter u. Sommer 1984 (377), SAPMO,
1.

179
andfemUieshostage withm the GDR was the best metiiod of domg so. Even so, some

particularly successfiU atiUetes did defect and spoke at length on condhions witiim eUte

sports m the GDR. Track star Renate Neufeld-Spassov had not only defected earUer, m

1979, but spoke out to the West German press of the GDR's strict controls on the

athletes' personaUty as weU as the pressure exerted on athletes m her discipUne to take

tablets. (These tablets were brought with Neufeld-Spassov and were cUnicaUy analyzed to

be anaboUc steroids)."

Restrictions hnposed on GDR athletes and thefrfemUiesnotwhhstandmg, GDR

athletes performed exceptionaUy weU m the 1984 Whiter Games of Sarajevo. The Soviet

Union and the GDR led m the accumulation of medals, with the USSR ranking number

one with 25 medals and the GDR number two with 24 medals. The GDR had by fer the

greatest number of gold medals, gathering m nine as compared to the Soviets' six and the

Americans' four. GDR leaders were gratified that the USSR and the GDR, once more, set

the pace as world sports leaders. Again, the inevitable comparison of Germans to Germans

and socialists to capitalists heavUy favored the East. In contrast, the West German sports

authorities noted that they had not made much progress m four years, and could no longer

consider themselves to be a leading force in the world in wmter sports.

Perhaps because of sour grapes, the press in the FRG took on decidedly anti-elhe

sports overtones, contendhig that this level of athleticism was not only unhealthy, but was

"WUU Lutz, Ideologic und ^Vlssenschaft in der Sportsoziologie der DDR, Bd. 3,
(Bochum: Studienverlag Dr. Norbert Brockmeyer, 1988), 110-13.

"Sportredaktion der Frankfurter AUgemeinen Zeitung, Sarajevo 1984: Das F.A.Z.-

Olvmpiabuch. (Bad Homburg: Lhnpert Verlag, 1984), 129.

180
frequently ruinous to the athletes' character.'^ Anti-eUte sports was an atthude that started

m Westem Europe m the late 1960s as a neo-Marxist critique of the Olympic movement.

It has been most astutely assessed by Professor John Hoberman at the University of Texas

at Austin as a movement m keepmg with the neo-Marxists' anti-caphalist, non-

compethive, technophobic phUosophy. Even the Olympic Games themselves came under

attack by the neo-Marxists. "The neo-Marxist crhique of the Olympic movement is

aimed...at the Olympic festival hself, which is denounced as a counterfeh celebration of

global reconcUiation."'" By the mid 1970s, this neo-Marxist phUosophy of the leftist

mteUectuals and academicians entered mto the mahistream press. It continues to be a

decisive factor in the wrhhig of sports history, and particularly GDR sports history, by

westem German historians m united Germany today."

The GDR poUtical evaluation of the 1984 Winter Game results once again assessed

the victory as one of class warfare between sociaUsm and capitalism. The latter system

was encroaching upon the tme meaning of the Olympiad with a sharperdng tendency

towards commerciaUzation and professionahzation. The good resuhs were the offspring of

diUgent fulfiUment of the EUte Sports Dfrectives of the SED. The emphasis on sports

medicme, technical solutions, and scientific trammg methods had proved decisive.

'^"Typen wie aus dem Panoptfloun," Der Spiegel 38, no. 30, 23 July 1984, 71, 75.

'"Hoberman, The Olympic Crisis: Sport PoUtics and the Moral Order. 109-10.

" A prime example of this can be seen in such works as Grit Hartmann's
Goldkmder: Die DDR hn Spiegel Aires Sphzensports. (Leipzig: Forum Verlag, 1997), as
well as Giselher Spitzer's Dopmg m der DDR: Em historischer UberbUck zu emer
konsphativen Praxis. (Cologne: Strauss Verlag, 1999).

181
Accolades were granted to "...the growmg quaUty and effectiveness of the ideological

efforts." The athletes were deemed, by and large, as havmg developed tme "socialist

personaUties."'* One wonders if this was the case whh ice queen and first-tune gold

medaUst Katarina Witt, whose flfrtatious personaUty was a complete showstopper and

suggested anythmg but that of a serious sociaUst. Witt commented that she would select a

man in the audience, "then skate for hhn, as if in an act of love."" It was doubtful that h

was the sociaUst aspects of what the East German press described as "the prettiest face of

socialism" that appealed to the global audience.'* Described m the American press as

"fresh faced...blue-eyed...mby-Upped...l2-car pUeup gorgeous," Witt actuaUy gave a

backhanded compUment to sociaUsm m the post-WaU years:

I'm StUl thankful for everythmg my country gave me, but they used me too...I
understand now that's why they gave athletes so much support and money,
because the sports system presented the socialist system. They put too much
attention on this and missed a lot of other thmgs, Uke the economy."

The popularity of Witt's 1980s Olympic, World, and European Championship reign

carried on mto the 1990s, even when she scandaUzed the skating world audience by posmg

for the December 1998 issue of Playboy.

'*PoUtische Wertung des Ergebnisse bei den XIV. 01yn^>ischen Wmterspielen

1984 m Sarajevo und die DarsteUung von Entwicklungstendenzen hn Zeitraum 1980-
1984, Olympische Wmter und Sommerspiele 1984. VD A 22/1/84/15, SAPMO, 3-4, 7.

"Anne Janette Johnson, Great Women in Sports. (New York: Visible Ink Press,
1996), 521.

'*Hemz Koch and AngeUka KissUng, Unsere Herzen dem Sports. (BerUn:
Gesellschaft zur Forderung des olympischen Gedankens in der DDR, 1989), 49.

"Connors et al., 94.

182
 Otiier athletes spotUghted as contributmg particularly to tiie 1984 GDR gold medal

coUection were bobsledders Wolfgang Hoppe and Dietmar Schauerhammer.*" The East

German bobsledders would be later stereotyped by fihn producers at the Calgary 1988

Olympics m a HoUywood Cold War prototype. Depicted were scowUng, evU sociaUsts

peering on at the performance of the unsophisticated Jamaican bobsled team m the

American movie Cool Runnings. Schauerhammer recaUed watching the Jamaican team

with amusement, but, in confrast to the American typecastmg, has quhe an amiable tfnot

effervescent personaUty. He recounted how he had originaUy wanted to become a

musician and had not even taken up sports untU the age of 18. NBC did a special showhig

on this musician-tumed-athlete, portraying a reaUstic and far more congenial sportsman

than did Cool Runnings.*'

This war of hnages mtensified in the early 1980s as American missUes were

stationed on West German soU. East German authorities closely foUowed the development

of the anti-missUe, peace demonsfrations m Westem Europe. Significant to these

authorities was the fact that, whUe the influence of communists was growing in the peace

movement, no noises were made as to thefr ostensible "leading role" m the movement. The

Los Angeles Olympic Games were seen, on the other hand, as a highly effective

propaganda tool explohed by American President Ronald Reagan to whi the presidential

election and expand upon US hnperiaUsm, even m sports. The GDR counter-position was

*"PoUtische Wertung der Ergebnisse bei den XIV. Olympischen Wmterspielen, 5.

*'interview with bobsled Olympic gold medaUst Dietmar Schauerhammer, June 8,

1997, Oberhof

183
to have a coUective good showhig of sociaUst countries and thereby defeat Reagan's
• • 82
mtentions.

Gearing up for the Summer Olymprc Games m Los Angeles meant participatmg in

preUmmary pre-01ynq)ic compethive events m 1983. The 1983 World Championships

portended the potential cfrcumstances of 1984 as these events were also held m L.A. No

shortage of mk was spiUed m preppmg the athletes psychologicaUy for tiie hnpact of

competmg m the most m:q)erialist of nations. Not only was the home turf advantage

fevoring the Americans, but a renewed rigorous poUtical and athletic dichotomy existed

between the two ideological systems. Under President Reagan, Cold War rhetoric became

sharper. Youth sports festivals were prime opportunities to test this clash of ideologies.

Member of the GDR State CouncU Egon Krenz used one such festival to mform the youth

that the American President had "damned" them as members of "the evU empfre," and that

the atmosphere m the United States was increasmgly clouded with anti-Soviet, anti-

communist sentiments. The Olympics m LA would therefore be used by Americans as a

means to "poison this festival of peace and of world youth with a hysteria of hatred

towards people."*^

Academicians at the femous German Sports CoUege m Leipzig pondered how to

*'Manfred Feist on the Peace Movement and Manfred Ewald on the preparation
for the LA Olympic Games, Argumentation, Apr. 12,1984, DY30 2/2. 040/16, SAPMO
at Zeitgeschichte fur Sport, Potsdam University, 1-8.

*^ZentraUcomitee HausmitteUung, from Egon Krenz to Erich Honecker, copy of a

sports festival speech. May 14,1984, Bifro Krenz DY30IV 2/2.039 96, SAPMO at
Zehgeschichte fifr Sport, Potsdam University, 12.

184
create the correct mental framework among thefr athletes to withstand these pressures.*"

The DTSB noted m hs pre-Olyrr^ic plans that, above aU, particularly hitense preparations

must be made m the reahn of poUtical ideology to enable the athletes to endure under the

"compUcated condhions." The athletes were to hone thefr skUls of "party behavior" and

develop a pronounced cool distance toward Westemers.*' Two thne Olympic javeUn gold

medalist Ruth Fuchs addressed this very problem m her doctoral dissertation on

Motivational Development in Long Term Performance BuUdup. Emphasis on group

trahung appeared to have more weight than did poUtical education, although these fectors

were not mutuaUy exclusive. QuaUties of conviction, enthusiasm, consistency, "poUtical

behavior," "party-Ukeness," endurance, and others, were aU deemed to be the ofl&pring of

coaches,femUy,and feUow athletes who had been steeped in communist principles.** In

the post WaU years, Fuchs' poUtical convictions did not abate as she became a member of

parliament m the FRG representhig the PDS, the party that was the post WaU offspring of

*"Siegfiied MuUer et al., "Standpunkte und Empfehlungen zur unmittelbaren

poUtisch-ideologischen und padagogisch-psychologischen Vorbereitung der Olympiakader
und MannschaftskoUektive auf die Wettkampfe in Los Angeles," Theorie und Praxis des
Leistungssports. 22, no. 3, (1984): 34-96. See also Hans-Gimther Rabe, "Erfahrungen aus
vorolympischen Wettkampfen des Jahres 1983 m den USA," Ibid., 97-ff.

*'"Emschatzung der Erziehung und AusbUdung der Olympiakader des DVfL der
DDR..."Vorlage fifr das Sekretariat des Bundesvorstandes des Deutschen Tum-und
Sportbundes der DDR, Oct. 25, 1983, Olvmpische Wmter u. Sommerspiele. DY12:377,
SAPMO, 4, 6.

**Ruth Fuchs, Motivationsentvyicklung im Langfiristigen Leistungsaufljau. (Ph.D.

diss., Leipzig: Deutsche Hochschule fur Korperkultur und Sport, 1984), 57-61, 63-65,
109-18.

185
tiie SED.*'

As the Olynqjic Games deadUne grew closer, the USSR demonstrated a

recalcitrant mood. By mid-AprU of 1984, the Soviet Union requested an emergency

session of the Intemational Olympic Committee. Among the charges presented by the

Soviet Olympic Committee was the accusation that the US, under Reagan, was guUty of

fomenthig anti-Soviet senthnent. Reagan was also said to be withholding entry to

leghhnate Russian Olympic delegates who were suspected of bemg KGB members, and,

finaUy, that the US was defemmg the Olympic ideals with commercialism.** Many

speculated that the uhhnate boycott was merely a reflection of deterioratmg Soviet-

American relations. Others, however, were genuinely surprised at the Soviets' withdrawal

given thefr procUvity to showcase communism at the Olynpic Games.*' To some

observers, the Soviet decision not to participate appeared to be a thinly veUed case of tit

for tat, m that the US had boycotted Moscow m 1980. A more thorough assessment of the

Soviet puU-out was made m Der Spiegel the West German newsmagazine. AU possible

options were exploTed m an article enthled "Boycott: the Russians' fear of the West,"

which mcluded Soviet fear of high profile protests of the Russian presence in Afghanistan,

and fears of US groups organized to aid defections of eastem athletes.

*'Fuchs, Lorbeerkranz und Trauerflor. 123.

**Serge Schemann, "Moscow Charges Anti-Soviet Bias at Olympic Games," New
York Thnes. 10 Apr. 1984, 1.
*'Jane Leavy, "Game Pomt for Olympics," Washmgton Post. 13 May 1984, Fl,
FIO.
'""Boycott: Die Angst der Russen vor dem Westen," Der Spiegel 38, no. 20, 14

186
 Soviet sateUites such as the GDR, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Hungary,

among others, Unked arms, m at least a visible pubUc statement of sociaUst unity to declare

thefr own boycott. The reciprocal boycotts mitiated by the two superpowers prompted

IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch to consider forbiddmg any future boycotts

altogether." WhUe the Soviet cUent nations compUed with the Russians' decision, there is

evidence that deep resentment and dissent prevaUed among them because of the boycott.

One GDR State Committee Member for Radio, Ernst Dieter Schmickler, who had met m

Prague whh the Sports Chafrmen of aU the socialist countries, commented, upon his retum

to BerUn, on the state of the Olympic Games. Because the next summer Olympic Games

were to be held hi South Korea, a country which no Warsaw Pact country recognized, the

sports leaders, Schmickler reported, wanted an hnmediate assurance that the Soviets

would not use this setthig to make yet another poUtical statement. The dissent was

particularly pronounced in the GDR, a bold gesture which, under other cfrcumstances,

would have seemed heretical. Schmickler observed that, among the Eastem Bloc

countries, the Soviet-enforced boycott of the Los Angeles Games led to both distancing

from and loss of faith m the Soviets' sports leadership. In fact, m the GDR, this "Russian

roulette" was deemed whoUy unacceptable. In stark contrast to the Party Une of socialist

Bloc friendship, a genuine bittemess and enmity appeared to penetrate the ranks of sports

enthusiasts. Athletes were despondent and depressed, particularly because these

May 1984,124-9.

""Westem Athletes May Be Invited to Soviet 'Counter' Games," Washmgton

Post, 20 May 1984, F l l .

187
"amateurs" did not receive thefr usual premiums."

Despite the feet tiiat the 1984 Summer Olympic Games suffered from the absence

of the leadmg sociaUst nations, participation at the L.A. Games was, up to that pomt, the

best attended yet, with more tiian 7,700 athletes from over 140 countries takmg part. The

East German audience received objective and thorough coverage of the Games as Neues

Deutschland devoted a front page to the openmg ceremonies, and an esthnated 75% of the

population foUowed the various events on television.'^ Even though East Germans were

not m attendance, the GDR's DTSB compUed the fradhional Olyir^ic Games evaluatioa

It was strictly a poUtical assessment regardmg the impact of the boycott and the

Americans' aUeged abuse of the Olympics. The evaluation contahied Uttle of the customary

analysis of the resuhs of the athletic compethion. In contrast to Schmickler's bald-faced

report, this one was colored with the usual doctrinafre rhetoric. The global community

was depicted as sympathizmg with the justified boycott by the Soviet Bloc. The Olympic

Charter aUegedly endured damage from the USA's exploitation of the Games to promote

poUcies of hegemony and confrontation; this was seen as posmg a real threat to the future

of world sports. A rather fronic assessment was drafted as the authors presented the L.A.

Games as a classic case of poUtical misuse of the Olympiad and as a flagrant effort to

demonstrate US superiority and thereby foster deeper patriotism! Offense was particularly

"Ernst Dieter Schmickler, Staatl. Komitee fifr Rundfiink, DLF 5.05 Uhr, Nov. 29,
1984, DDR-Vorbereitung auf die Olvmpischen Spiele m Seoul DY30IV 2/2.039 257,
SAPMO at Zeitgeschichte fifr Sport, Potsdam University, 1-2.

'^Charles Leerhsen et al., "The Gold Rush in Los Angeles," Newsweek, 13

Aug. 1984, 26.

188
taken at the hmocuous slogan, "America goes for Gold." Much was made of this 'brazen

statement,' chmg the complamt lodged by several countries with IOC President

Samaranch against such an "excessive" display of nationaUsm.'"

The first 01ynq)ics' participation by professional athletes m such sports as soccer,

basketbaU, tennis, and basebaU was particularly upsetting to the DTSB as this skewed the

balance of compethion. As there were no "official" professional athletes m the Soviet Bloc,

this meant that, for the first thne, the sociaUst countries' best athletes would no longer be

playhig the caphalist countries' second-ranking athletes, as the best had afready been

skhnmed off mto professional sports. By admitting professional athletes in certam sports,

the playing field was now considerably leveled. In addhion, amateur athletes of caphalist

countries were now legaUy aUowed to receive sponsorship from companies in exchange

for wearing labels or promotmg companies through advertisement. This granted them

more thne to trahi." Since some sports are not so easily marketed, the playing field in

those disciplines remained predictably unaltered. StUl, the East German absence,

particularly m svmimmg, was keenly feh. Yet h was doubted that the GDR would have

taken most of the gold in either men's or women's swhnming events. The American

popular press singled out the GDR's feUow German, Michael Gross, of the FRG, as the

donunant swhnmer of the Games. Whh two golds and two sUvers, "the Albatross" gave

his brethem across the WaU a reason to rejoice. Speculations also abounded that the East

'"Emschatzung der XXIII. Olympischen Spiele 1984 m Los Angeles, DTSB, 13

Aug. 1984, Olvmpische Winter und Sommerspiele. DY12:377, SAPMO, 1-2, 4, 9.

""Die Sieger smd mude," Der Spiegel 38, no. 20, 14 May 1984, 125.

189
German women would not have beaten the "world's best," Tracy Caulkms and Tiflfeny

Cohen.'*

With the opportunity to prove themselves agamst the ImperiaUst nations thwarted

yet agam. East German athletes and sports ofificials eagerly awaited the 1988 Olympic

Games in Seoul South Korea and Calgary, Canada. Expectations were great in the United

States that "Comrade Honecker's weU-laid plans" would bode even more success for the

Uttle RepubUc. Key components of the GDR sports system were becoming common

knowledge. Time. Sports lUustrated. Runner's World, and Newsweek, among others, aU

presented articles detailing the GDR's talent screening of chUdren, the systematic training

of athletes, and the athletes' paradoxical dual motivational basis of striving for capitaUst

rewards whUe competmg for sociaUsm."

Largely unknown to the uitemational eye was the worsening economic situation in

the GDR, rendering the sponsorship of the athletic program more and more difficult. The

DTSB was faced more and more with the chaUenge of presenting a hard and fast case for

the defense of sociaUsm's superiority. PoUtical education instmctors were mcreasmgly

confronted with questions from athletes on how to deal with economic shortfalls that were

becommg glaringly apparent. Lines and waitmg periods for both basic and luxury

consumer goods were becommg longer. Newly constmcted buUdhigs intended for sports

facUities were abmptly used for other purposes. Meetmg the production goals of the

'*Richard Mannmg, "A Hero Flymg High," Newsweek. 13 Aug. 1984, 30-1.

"James L. Graff, "Watch Out For the G.D.R.," Thne. 19 Sept. 1988, 73;
Alexander Wolff, "A Teutonic Juggernaut," Sports lUustrated. 14 Sept. 1988,12-21; see
also: Chapman, Axhehn, and Leehrsen.

190
economy had taken such a downtum that even the pampered elhe athletes were takmg

note and posmg troublesome questions at the poUtical education semmars.'*

ParadoxicaUy, most of the plannmg for the 1988 Wmter and Summer Olympic

Games proceeded as in previous years, desphe the increasmgly dfre economic situation.

Attention was granted to the heightened efforts to incorporate new technology, computer

screerung, and more sophisticated traming equipment into eUte sports. The leaders

perceived the aforementioned disgruntlement of the athletes and planned for addhional

"observers" to accompany them to the Games." The West's strongest "weapons" against

the socialist countries were seen as a growing propensity towards commercialization and

professionahzation of the Olympic Games. Particularly mtriguing to the Central

Committee was the expandhig presence of the mass media at the Games; the media were

beconung hicreasmgly more adept at capturing the attention of the global audience. This

high-tech window to the world presented a most clearly defined projection of the battle

between and among the sports superpowers~the GDR, the USSR and the USA-m the

South Korean games. Gratifymg to the Committee was also the high recognition the

athletes brought to the GDR. The focus of the Committee for the Korean Games was to

present the muhifeceted aspects of the sociaUst society that aUowed the maxhnizmg of

athletic potential. This was to stand m sharp confrast to an unfavorable portrayal of

'*Infonnation zur Lage hi den Bezfrksorganization, DTSB Vorlage fifr das

Sekretariat des Bundesvorstandes, July 20,1988, DTSB Staats Sekrt. DTSB, DRS 1429,
SAPMO at Zeitgeschichte fur Sport, Potsdam University, 2-3.

"Bericht zur TeUnahme der DDR-Olympiamannschaft zu den XV. Olynpischen

Wmterspielen 1988 m Calgary/Kanada, Anlage Nr. 9, ProtokoU Nr. 11, Mar. 15,1988,
DY30 JIV 2/2 2264, SAPMO at Zehgeschichte fifr Sport, Potsdam University, 2,4.

191
American athletes and also to broader anti-American sentiments.'""

For the second thne m hs short-Uved history, the GDR exceeded, at Seoul the

athletic efforts of the USA hi the Summer Olympic Games. The overaU national rankmg of

second among nations and, certainly number one on a per capha basis, was the last great

medal coup for the GDR. The GDR attamed 37 gold medals, whereas the US had 36. The

GDR coUected a sum total of 102 medals m confrast to the US's 94!'"' WhUe the Soviet

Union won 132 medals, the combined Soviet Bloc gleanmg of 51.6% of aU medals and

55.2% of the gold medals was significantly due to the GDR's contribution. This

magnificent outcome was attributed oflficiaUy to the "...unified and strict dfrection of eUte

sports...to the leadership of the Party and the comprehensive ideological and educational

preparation of the GDR athletes." Long-term training, the appUcation of science and

technology, andfrainingm favorable cUmate condhions outside of the GDR, were some of

the factors deemed responsible for the remarkable results. Other more abstract

cortiponents of success were ascribed to the "fightmg atmosphere and coUective

consciousness and behavior...of the entfre team." Whh a medal coUection of sk golds,

swimmer Kristm Otto was not only the most successfiU athlete of the Seoul Games, but hi

the post-WaU years she was held forth as the most successful German athlete ever to

'""ibid., Anlage Nr. 8, ProtokoU Nr. 41, Oct. 11, 1988, Sitzung des PoUtburos des
ZK der SED, DY30 JIV 2/2 2298, SAPMO at ZeitgeschichtefifrSport, Potsdam
University, 2,4.
'"'David WaUechmsky, Sports lUustrated presents The Complete Book of the
Summer Olympics. (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1996), XV.

192
compete at the Olympic Games. This honor later became tarnished due to aUegations of

doping. The Federal RepubUc ofifer to Otto of a high-rankmg poshion on the German

Olympic Society m 1997 was thus caUed hito question, although the coveted Hans-

Hemrich-Sievert prize was stUl bestowed upon the swhnmer.'"^ The controversy

surroundmg these honors mspfred many athletes to come to Otto's defense. Gold medaUst

javeUn thrower Ruth Fuchs, for example, askmg, tfOtto had been "doped," which

aUegation Otto denies, ponders why Otto does not have the characteristic artificiaUy deep

voice so typical of highly drugged female swimmers?'""

The resuhs of the 1988 Winter Olympic Games m Calgary were just as profound

as those of the Summer Games. The Soviet Union and the GDR ranked, agam, number

one and two among nations. The most profound medal coup could be seen in the GDR's

stake m the luge. Of nine total medals awarded in this discipUne (men's single, men's

double, and women's shigle). East Germans took home sbc.'"' Katarina Witt, agam,

floored the spectators with her "seductive and dramaticflafr,"and reigned as the Olympic

ice queen.'"* Of the 32 events m which the GDR participated (out of a possible 46 events

'"'Ibid., 5-6, 8, 10.

'"^"Erdriickende Beweise und Mitleid hn FaU Otto," Leipziger VoUcszeitung. 18/19

Oct. 1997.

'""Ruth Fuchs, "Nur 'Haltet den Dieb!' mfen, das hUft nicht," Neues Deutschland.
24 Apr. 1998. See also: "HoUmann fordert Fafr play fifr Kristm Otto," Leipziger
Volkszehung. 17 Oct. 1997,17.
105,
Connors et al., 115.

'"*Ibid., 94-5.

193
ahogether), 16 medals were won. This was agam presented as a rebuff to the efforts of the

"hnperiaUst" nations. The GDR assessment of faiUngs and successes m each respective

athletic discipUne took on conspicuously secular overtones: only rarely were poUtical-

ideological motivational factors mentioned. The focus was far more oriented on technical

and physical elements rather than on communist ideology.'"' Perhaps the compethion had

become so mtense that any relative advantages perceived through communist

hidoctrination were dimmished through the heightened advantages of technology, science,

and a more widespread use of performance-enhancmg drugs among the global athletic

community.

So accustomed was the uitemational community to havmg an East German wm

that, if any German anywhere won an event, the assumption was made that the whmer was

a chizen of the GDR. At the 1985 World Ski Championships m Bormio, Italy, the GDR

national anthem was played for a West German victor. To the hosts' embarrassment, they

realized that the GDR had not even sent a team to conqjete!'"* Given the FRG's

coniparably lower performance levels, questions emerged among the West German sports

authorities as to whether the GDR's sports system was a system worth emulatmg. PoUs

were conducted by academician Dr. Kurt Mocker to discem what the West Germans

knew regardmg the system, and if they indeed favored appropriatmg any aspect of h.

'"'Emschatzung der Ergebnisse bei den XV. Olynpischen Winterspielen 1988,

Vorlagefifrdas Sekr. des Bundesvorstandes des DTSB der DDR, May 3,1988, DTSB
DRS 1429, SAPMO at ZeitgeschichtefifrSport, Potsdam University, 3-13.

'"*Dietrich Staritz, Geschichte der DDR 1945-1985. (Frankfiut am Mam:

Suhrkamp Verlag, 1985), 175.

194
Oddly enough, a relatively high percentage of both the general pubUc and coaches (42% to

40% respectively) favored adoptmg the GDR program of state-sponsorship, whUe the

FRG athletes themselves were far more dishicUned (only 20%) to want to operate on

GDR terms.'"' Perhaps West German athletes understood aU too weU the strictures

associated with sociaUst-style sponsorship. Accompanymg the sponsorship typicaUy came

the price of poUtical aUegiance to the SED and/or sociaUst principles. This type of poUtical

Gleichschaltung (coordmation) was not a fector in FRG sports. The West German Der

Spiegel newsmagazhie even reported excerpts from an SED Ust of dfrectives for

prescribed behavior and atthude of East German sportsmen and women at the Calgary

Games. The dfrectives pamted a sharply dichotomous "friend-foe" picture, consistent with

the same Cold War rhetoric employed by President Ronald Reagan. Athletes were

encouraged above aU to mamtain a "poUtical-moral closed state m every respect, as this is

a decisive fector in victory.""" Trumpets mdeed had been blown at home to wam the

GDR athletes of the cormptmg mfluence of the caphalist countries. The IOC, which was

aUegedly an organization teenung with Westem imperialists, was ostensibly using a quota

system for aUowing only a certam number of athletes per country on a per capha basis as

weU as exploitmg the twhi evils of commerciaUsm and professionaUsuL (The formula for

determhimg the number of athletes aUowed per country was disconcerthig to East German

'"'Kurt Mocker, "Was Wissen Wfr tJber den Sport m der DDR?"
Akademiegesprach: Sport hn geteUten Deutschland IV, (BerUn: Fuhrungs u. Verwahungs
Akademie des DSB, 1986), 12-13.

""No evidence as to how this document was acqufred or verification of hs

authenticity was revealed by Der Spiegel "Festigung prinzipieUer FemdbUder," Der
Spiegel 42, no. 3, 18 Jan. 1988,166-7.

195
ofificials as the GDR's substantially smaUer population than capitaUst 'heavy-weights'

USA and FRG, guaranteed a smaUer number of East German athletes in the Olympic

Games). Communist education would be the antidote to commerciaUsm and

professionalism of sports. It appeared as if athletes were at least grantmg Up service to the

Party, as the number of Party members had reportedly mcreased on the national team.'''

East German athletes were presented as having higher ideals than athletes m the West,

who were, after aU, motivated only by the baser mstmcts of material gain. The DTSB,

again, found it necessary to enft)rce a "long-term and immediate poUtical-ideological and

psychological preparation of the Olympic candidates," lest they buckle under the pressure

of accepthig capitaUst values, given thefr exposure to capitalist countries and thefr

peoples."'

Very disturbmg to GDR sports leaders were the newly conceived poUcies of

Russian leader MikhaU Gorbachev Glasnost (openness) and Perestroika (restmcturing),

which threatened the usual orthodox approaches to sports relations long fostered by East

BerUn. This left GDR sports leaders oftenthnes m a confiismg state of ambiguhy m regards

to mtemational sports relations. Even athletes pondered how the new domestic poUcies of

the USSR would be reaUzed and how this would influence Russia's sportmg and poUtical

"'Zwischenemschatzung zur ErfuUung des Beschlusses des PoUtbifros des ZK der

SED, Dec. 9, 1986, Anlage Nr. 20 zum ProtokoU Nr. 34, DY30 JIV 2/2 2198, SAPMO at
Zeitgeschichte fifr Sport, Potsdam University, 3-4.
112£
'Siegfiied MuUer and Hemz Schwddtmann, "Zu Schwerpunkten der poUtisch-
ideologischen Vorberehung der Leistungssportler und ihrer KoUektive auf die
Olympischen Sommerspiele m Soul" Theorie und Praxis Leistungssport. 24, no. 12,
(1987): 8-9.

196
relations."^ Several efiforts to coordmate the Eastem Bloc mtemational cycUng race, the

Friedensfahrt (or Peace Tour), to start m Paris and end m Moscow, met with vehement

resistance from Central Committee member Rudi HeUmann, Dfrector of Sports and

Physical Culture. In previous years this race had been Umited to East Bloc terram. WhUe

HeUmann worried that the GDR would be excluded as part of the routefromthis most

prestigious of races, he also worried about the notion of operung up the border

temporarily to West BerUn strictly for Eastem Bloc racers."" Giinter Schabowski, edhor-

m-chief of the GDR's leadmg newspaper Neues Deutschland, also wamed PoUtbifro

member Egon Krenz that this official race could conceivably lead to openhig the borders

to the Federal RepubUc."' Krenz, m turn, informed Erich Honecker that the Soviets, and

certainly Gorbachev, were intractable m thefr resistance to the GDR's objections."*

PoUtbifro member Hermann Axen presented sfrenuous opposhion to the USSR's

suggestion to expand the Peace Tour outside of the traditional East Bloc boundaries, as

did DTSB President Manfred Ewald.'" When the Soviets, now attuned to Glasnost,

"^DTSB, Vorlage fur das Sekretariat des Bundesvorstandes, Berhn, July 12, 1989,
DRS 1429, SAPMO at ZeitgeschichtefifrSport, 4.
""SED HausmitteUung, Rudi HeUmann to Egon Krenz, Jan. 18,1988, DY30IV
2/2 039 259, SAPMO at Zehgeschichte fur Sport, Potsdam Univershy, Cover letter and
Anlage, 1.
'"ZK HausmitteUung, Gunter Schabowski to Egon Krenz, Sept. 24,1984, Ibid.,
1-2.
"*ZK HausmitteUung, Egon Krenz to Erich Honecker, Sept. 26,1984, Ibid., 1-2,

'"ZK HausmitteUung, Hermann Axen to Erich Honecker, Sept. 26,1984, Ibid., 1-

2. Also: Bundesvorstand des DTSB der DDR, Manfred Ewald and Rudi HeUmann, Nov.
11,1987, Ibid., 1-3.

197
tumed a deaf ear to the GDR's objections, HeUmann tried a new tactic. He contended that

h would be poUticaUy embarrassmg to open tiie borders to West Berhn-at least right

away~as Reagan had so pubUcly chaUenged Gorbachev to do. Also, sendmg GDR athletes

to Paris would be a fremendous burden to the state budget and could hnpafr the entfre

development of the country's sports program."* These arguments won the GDR sports

leaders thefr case. The French eventuaUy v^thdrew Paris as the startmg gate for the 1989

Peace Tour, acknowledgmg that professional teams did not find h feasible tofiilfiUthe

compUcated terms of thefr sponsors. The East German authorities decUned to have the

race commence m the FRG's Frankfurt am Main, as then the two hundredth anniversary of

the French Revolution would not be commemorated!'" Thus, the voice for an East/West

sports rapprochement was stiUed.

Yet the pressure for greater detente was on, as dictated by the rapidly worseiung

economic situation in the GDR. On October 31, 1989, just nme days before the BerUn

WaU feU, an analysis of the economic conditions of the GDR was presented to the Central

Committee. The cfrcumstances could not have been more grim. In the GDR's sports

caphal Leipzig, thousands of apartments were deemed to be conqjletely iminhabhable,

due simply to the mabUity to fund thefr maintenance costs. In this highly classified report,

the GDR economist's assessment gloomUy speUed out that, "The assertion that we

mamtain a functioning system of planiung and administration would not withstand any

"*SED HausmhteUung, Rudi HeUmann to Erich Honecker, Jan. 18, 1988, Ibid.,
Anlage, 1-3,6.

'"ZK HausmitteUung, Egon Krenz to Erich Honecker, Dec. 13, 1988, Ibid.

198
rigid test." The GDR was reportedly laggmg behmd the FRG by 40% on a per-capita

productivity level. The abUity of the GDR to repay hs foreign debts to nonsociaUst

countries was thus considered to be highly unUkely. Critical areas of the social service

sector, such as health care and sufficient residential housing, were neglected. The terms of

the USSR's peresfroika, or restmcturing, were compUcatmg Russian-East German

relations. Even if the highest degree of productivity were planned and adhered to, the

viabUity of the economy would stUl be caUed into question. This forced concessions to

intensify economic relations whh the FRG, along with other capitaUst countries such as

France, Austria, and Japan in order to provide an outlet for the GDR's exports.

Desperate measures in the reahn of sports took place. Desphe the economic

malaise, the GDR submitted the appUcation of Leipzig to host the 2004 Summer Olympic

Games.'" WhUe the Vice President of the GDR's National Olynqjic Committee, Rudi

HeUmann, conceded that the country had no real intention, or expectation, of being host to

the 2004 Games, the leaders toyed with the idea that h could potentiaUy be a source of

revenue for the failing economy. Not only that, the mere act of applying for Olympic

Games host should present a convmcmg display of confidence in the GDR's national

identity and leadership hi the world of sports.

"Analyse
120, der Okonomischen Lage der DDR mit Schlussfolgerungen, Anlage Nr.
4, ProtokoU Nr. 47, Oct. 31,1989, DY30 JTV 111 2356, SAPMO at Zehgeschichte fifr
Sport, Potsdam University, 3-4,18
121
Ibid., 22.
122c
'SED HausmitteUung, Rudi HeUmann to Egon Krenz, Mar. 15,1989, DY30 FV
2/2.039 256, SAPMO at Zehgeschichte fifr Sport, Potsdam University, 1-2, Anlage 1-3.

199
 Desphe the glaring mdicators of economicfroubles,plans forfiitureOlympic

Games proceeded as usual. As early astiiefaU of 1987, guidmg principles were estabUshed

for the development of eUte sports up untU the year 2000. A close watch was kept on high

tech developments enhancmgframmgand the ensumg costs. UpscaUng the tradhional

talent selection andframmgcenters was mcorporated mto the plans as were increasmg

both a higher athletes'frammgworkload and sfrengthenmg the role of both sports

medichie and biomedical research. The latter may have been a thinly veUed reference to

state assent to dopmg practices. Communist education was to be enphasized more than

ever, m order to convhice athletes of the necessity for sociaUsm."^ The pressure to excel

m the mtemational arena was so great that East German sports writers observed that many

countries were adaptmg the GDR's concepts of talent scoutmg and youth sponsorship.""

More mmute plans were laid for the Olympic Games of 1992 and 1996. AU the usual

factors were considered, with the hopes of again mcreasing the levels of performance of

athletes to mamtam the GDR's leading status. Fears of defection must have plagued the

sports leaders m that the goal of the sociaUst hidoctrination program was to mculcate "an

unshakeable loyalty to the GDR and poUtical resoluteness.""'

"^GrundUniefifrdie perspektivische Entwicklung des Leistungssports der DDR bis

zum Jahre 2000, Anlage Nr. 12, ProtokoU Nr. 43, Oct. 27,1987, SAPMO at
Zeitgeschichte fur Sport, Potsdam University, 3, 8, 10-12
"""Das Lebensnerv des DDR-Leistungssports," Theorie und Praxis
Leisttmgssports. 27, no. 2, (1989): 4.
"'Beschluss zur Vorbereitung auf die Olympischen Spiele 1992 und die
Olympischen Wmterspiele 1992 und 1994, Anlage Nr. 11, ProtokoU Nr. 5, Jan. 31,1989,
DY30 JIV 2/2 2313, SAPMO at ZeitgeschichtefifrSport, Potsdam University, 1-4

200
 The hoped-for loyalty and resoluteness were hrevocably sundered as the

breathtakmgly rapid events of 1989 franspfred, ulthnately leadmg to the demise of the

GDR hself When Hungary opened hs border and tens of thousands of GDR chizens,

mostly youth, voted with thefr feet and fled the GDR in the summer and faU of 1989, the

contmued existence of the GDR reghne was on shaky grounds."* When on November 9,

1989, the BerUn WaU feU with the announcement by the GDR reghne to aUow unrestricted

travel visas to its citizenry, the undoing of the world's greatest sports system began.

*Dfrk Verheyen, The German Question: A Cultural. Historical and GeopoUtical

126T

Exploration. (Boulder: Westview Press, 1992): 189-90.

201
 CHAPTER VII

THE SYSTEM: THE ATHLETES SPEAK OUT

Whh the enduig oftiieCoki War on the night of November 9,1989, when the

Berlm Wall was announced open for unUmited travel for East Germans, the GDR sports

system hung m balance. The hnmediate months after this momentous event were

characterized by uncertainty bordering on chaos, and by a void of genume leadership.

Accompanyhig this was a lack of concrete vision as to the dfrection for the GDR's elhe

athletic program. Sharp criticism was expressed among the ranks of the sport hierarchy

regardmg the administration's seeming mabilhy to stUl "the turbulence m the GDR's eUte

sports." The chief complaint was that the given cfrcumstance's "mtemal and external

contradictions" were met by a leadership blmded by poUtical goals. This uhhnately led to

a diminished capachy m dealmg with the rapid social and poUtical alterations as they

influenced eUte sports.' The crisis was exacerbated in light of the growmg unlUcelUiood

of the GDR's contmued existence as a regime. Many athletes worried about thefr future

livelUiood and providhig for thefr families. The stuimmg resuhs of the 1988 Olympic

Games were declared to be a pyrrhic victory as the GDR eUte athletes could no longer

keep pace whh mtemational developments m sports. Glarmg deficiencies were noted,

particularly m the sponsorship of the younger Olympic candidates.'

Tentative acknowledgments of the decUne of the system were made prior to the

fall of the mfamous BerUn Wall. As early as 1983, reports mdicated that the development

'Remhard Schreiter and Horst Forschel, "Uber ehuge Hmtergrimde der

Turbulenzen hn Leistungssport der DDR," Trahung Wettkampf. 28, no. 4, (1990): 194.

'Ibid., 197.
202
of GDR sports had not kept pace with developments found elsewhere among the world

eUte. The numbers of athletes m the youtii talent pool for the Olympic candidate

program dhnfrdshed significantly mtiielate 1980s." A former eUte atiUete, gymnast

Bfrgh DahUce, testified tiiat many parents removed thefr chUdrenfromthe Children and

Youth Sports Schools (KJS) due to rampant rumors m the 1980s of extensive steroid

usage, particularly among tiie swunmers.' While the classic success stories of sports,

especially mfigureskatmg, were bemg broadcasted by the East German media m the

early 1980s, the DHfK m-house word was that the GDR was showhig a marked dearth of

abUhy m many discipUnes requfrmg a high degree of technical skUl. This was the case m

gymnastics, divmg, ski jumpmg, and pole vauhmg.* Drastic differences m athletic

performance trahimg throughout the GDR were a problem sports theorists stmggled with

long before 1989.' After 1989,tiieatiUetic landscape m the GDR became pockmarked

with glarmg holes of mconpetence. The enfeebled admmistration attempted to resolve

^Horst Roder, "Die notwendige Offensive im Training und m der

Sportwissenschaft zur beschleunigten Leistungsentwicklung im Hinblick auf die
Wettkampfhohepunkte 1984." Theorie und Praxis des Leistungssports. 21, no. 12, (1983),
3.

•^'Aufgaben und Massnahmen zur Weiterentwicklimg der Sichtung und Auswahl

von Kmdem und Jugendlichen fur das leistungssportUche Training," Vorlage fifr das
Sekr. des Bundesvorstandes des DTSB der DDR, July 5,1988, DRS 1429, SAPMO at
Zeitgeschichte ftfr Sport, Potsdam Univershy, 3.

'Interview with Bfrgh Dahlke, former gymnast, June 19, 1997, BerUn.
^Roder, 10.
bemhard Schreiter, "Niveauunterschiede hn Leistungssport der DDR-eme
Herausfbrderung," Theorie und Praxis Leistungssport, 25, no. 6, (1987): 73-90.

203
the situation by exerting stricter confrol with more vigorous dfrectives.* Many athletes,

such as Ronny Weller, Andi6 Zoschke and Antje Maas, depleted the system of hs talent

by moving to the more prosperous Federal RepubUc' The highly framed coaches, seeing

thefr prospects as secure Ufelong employees of the state dhninishmg, sought employment

not only m the FRG, but also mtemationally. Austria reaped a rich harvest of the

coaching stafif, employing over a dozen of the top coaches m sports rangmg from track, to

judo, to rowing, to swhnmhig. The United States profited from the refined skUls of

coaches Meinhard Nehmer, bobsled specialist, and Hardmut Buschbacher, expert in

rowing. Offers to GDR coaches came from many Scemdinavian and westem European

countries including Sweden, Norway, Swhzerland, Greece, Spam, France, Denmark, the

Netherlands, Great Britahi, and Italy. Other coaches went as far as South Korea,

Australia, South Africa, Egypt, and New Zealand.'" Some of them would resort to domg

short-term contract work in a variety of countries, as did Edwm Tepper, a GDR track

coach. A smaU percentage of them, the lucky ones, were absorbed mto the FRG system,

mcludmg biomechanist Klaus Bartonietz and wrestlmg coach Frank Hartmann. Whhm

the ffrst five years after the Wende, the cadre of former GDR boxmg coaches was reduced

from 198 to 9. GDR frack coaches had comprised a group of 680, of whom only 21

"Schreiter, 197.

"'Es muss sich lohnen, hn Land zu bleiben," Deutsches AUgemehies

Sonntagsblatt. Hamburg, 13 July 1990,10.

"Traum von Medaillenregen," Der Spiegel no. 47,1997, 206-8. Jochen

lOttn

Danneberg, "Em Thifrgmer framiert Koreas Skispringer," Leipziger VoUcszehung, 2 Jan.

1998,22.

204
continued to work m united Germany." Otiiers endeavored to ply thefr skills by different

routes. Dr. Hans Jibofifo mvented a new type of bicycle which would give the cycUst as

much as a 26% power output advantage. He sought to patent and manufacttue this device

mtiieUnited States.'^

Criticism of the eastem sports system had been expressed m the Federal RepubUc

long before the Wende, which marked the thne period when GDR chizens themselves

could fmally openly e?q)ress such crhicism of thefr govemment. One of the more

vociferous critics, FRG journalist WilU Knecht, had clahned the athletes were basically

mcarcerated m the sports schools and baited whh material advantages denied thefr fellow

chizens.'^ Others shnply asserted that such a system was "inhumane" and violated the

values of a pluralist society.'" One American considered no sports system worthy of

sacrificmg "the human values of family life andfi:eedomof action."" Another American

writer also considered the sports schools as a type of imprisonment, yet did mention that

the East German children did not themselves perceive h as such. '*

To make such value judgments h is useftil first and foremost to consider an

"JeffSchultz, "Freedom had downsidefi)rGerman athletes," Atlanta Journal

Constitution. Aug. 5,1996, http://www.atlantagames.com/oly/germ2.htm.
''Ed PaveDca, "The Jibofifo Technique," Bicvclmg. Apr. 1990,134-5.
"Knecht, Wege nach Olympia, 55.
'"Dieter Ehrich, "Leistungssport in der DDR unter besonderer Berucksichtigung
der Talentsuche und Talentferderung," Die DDR. Breiten und Spitzensport. (Munich:
Kopenukus, 1981), 38.
'^AUan J. Ryan, MD, "Sports, Training and the State," The Physician and Sports
Medicme. 4, no. 11, (1976): 40-1.
'^Frank Shuman, "The East German Olympic Traming System," Sfrength and

205
abbreviated version of the stmcture and machmations of the system Second, h became

evident during the course of theresearchof this work that very diverse views on both the

value and vaUdity of tiie system were bemg presented m post-Wall Germany, many of

them based on the same documentation used m this work. The documents, therefore,

present oftenthnes an mcomplete or sketchy view of the reality of the system, or they can

be combmed m a manner to misrepresent the system to validate a given world view. This

caUs mto question, as mentioned hi the first chapter, not only the manner m which the

documents are hiterpreted, but also the integrity of the sources used and the motive of

those hiterpretmg the material. A more complete picture can be gamed of the system as a

whole, not by conq)armg one historian's view to another's, or even by merely taking a

purist's fundamental approach to the GDR's state records such as the case has been m

this particular work up untU now, but, rather, by complementing the document review

whh the testhnonies of those mdividuals whose Uves were dfrectly hnpacted by the

policy makers: the athletes themselves. A fafr assessment of the system can be made from

the mterview responses of these roleplayers who experienced the systemfirsthand.For

thisresearch,I conducted interviews of 20 hidividuals, includhig coaches who

themselves had been athletes m the GDR system, a former State Secretary for Physical

Culture and Sport, a biomechanist, athletes who had been successfiil and athletes who

were not." A few athletes have been and are currently (2000) active as sportsmen and

Heahh, 45, (1977): 19.

'Understood by the term "successful" are those athletes who achieved world class
level by the whming of either a world or European Championship and/or an Olympic
medal. "Unsuccessfiil" athletes are those athletes who did not win either such award at
the world class level.
206
women in both eastem and united German systems. Some became coaches (or, m one

mstance, a physiotherapist for the eUte athletes) m the GDR and then later m the FRG. A

nux of male and female, as weU as younger and older athletes was selected through

various contacts. Only one former athlete, a (non-successfiil) female swhnmer, would not

retum phone calls or rendezvous even after she had agreed to do so.

A^Tule this overview of athlete responses to shnilar questions is nehher

comprehensive nor quantified, it does provide a more complete picture than one which

would be whoUy reliant on state documents. Iceskatmg queen Katarhia Witt, for exanple,

noted how the Stasifileswere used to nusrepresent her experiences. A conversation was

bugged during a visit Witt hadfroman American in her room at the Hotel Bellevue in

Dresden. A secret poUce agent mferred a sexual liasonfroma seven mhiute thne lapse in

Wht's conversation. This aUeged Uason Witt has since repeatedly denied.'* Such

documents are used on a regular basis as the gospel tmth to depict a largely unfavorable

and polemical view of a system ostensibly steeped hi nothmg other than Stasi and

steroids. This is, for example, the theme of such recent works as GiseUier Sphzer's

Dopmg m the GDR: An Historical Overview of a Conspfrative Practice, and partially of

Grh Hartmann's Goldkmder." Spitzer is also a contributor totiielatter work and is

known m Germany among sports historians, both West and East aUke, for employmg

research methods and analysis deemed highly questionable.

'^Mattias Geyer and Udo Ludwig m mterview with Katarhia Wht, "Die Weh
bleibt stehen," Der Spiegel no. 7, 9 Feb. 1998,129.

"Spitzer.
'T)r. Amd Kruger, a West German Professor attiieGeorg-August Univershy m
Gfittmgen, notes that Dr. Spitzer presumed extensive dopmg under the auspices of a Dr.
207
 To give a bfrd's eye view of tiie system one must start with the fact that many of

thefimdamentalideas of the sports system were appropriated from the Russians. Of the

more significant ones were those mcludmg a comprehensive massive sport system which

would cuhivate an atiiletically mvolved populace m which the mdividual chizens were to

be "ready to work and defend the homeland."" State sponsorship of sport at botiitiieeUte

and popular level was not a concept unique to the East Germans. The overlappmg of

poUtics mto sports was also not just accidental m hnmediate post-war Germany. It was a

deUberate and forceful poUticizmg of aU athletic reahns takmg place as early as April of

1946 under the auspices of the Socialist Unity Party m the Soviet Zone of Occupation."

Sport, m this new SED era, never was meant to be divorcedfromideotogy. It was to be

so thoroughly steeped m poUtical significance that arigorouspropaganda battle was

fought to ensure that sports were not to be loved merely for sport's sake. Tofightany

"reactionary chizens' ideology," that is, non or anti-communist ideology, no neutraUty or

poUtical indifference was to be accepted on the track,field,court, or m the pool'^

Considerable forces were concenfrated on the poUtical-ideologic work. Central to

this was the battle against "pure athleticism," ^amst every atthude which was
preoccupied whh the attitude of an isolation of sportsfromthe problems of the

FrOhner. This is based on Spitzer's document interpretation. These charges were denied
by Frohner herself and her athletes. In a court action, Sphzer called for Frohner to be
bannedfromher profession. The judge dismissed the ceise based on insufficient evidence
and hearsay. Arnd Kruger, "Anmerkungen zur historischen und ethischen Dimension von
Dopmg und Dopingforschung," Beifrage zur Sportgeschichte, 7, (1998): 56. See also
Chapter VUl: Stasi Steroids and Vergangenhehsbewaltigung.

^'KarUieinz Gieseler, "Das Leitungs- und Leistungs-System der Korperkultur m

der DDR," Sportwissenschaft. 13, no. 1, (1983): 115. See also: Interview witii Erbach.
^Giinther Wonneberger, ed., Orperkultur und Sport m der DDR. 24-5.

''Gieseler, 116.
208
 thne...then the "only sports" attitude would be replaced with "every athlete an
activist!"^"

Sport was to be an efifective tool then, to uphold communist beUefs and fight

westem "hnperialist" ideas. Other conqjonents, such as the establishment of the first

ChUdren and Youtii Sports Schools (KJS) m 1952-3 and the creation of the Sports Clubs

hi 1954, also emulated the Soviet sports system. The mclusion of athlete, coach, sports

physician, and sports scientist under one, over-arching, state-sponsored umbrella, was the

big picture Russian system the GDR appropriated and refined whh characteristic German

thoroughness and exacthude.^' Most assessments of GDR society agree that no other

reahn of this nation was as weU-developed as was elhe sports.'* The groundwork was

laid with the 1949 constitutional guarantee to access to sportmg activity m Articles 18:3

and 25:3 as weU as m the Youth Law of February 2,1950."

Whh this legal and constitutional foundation, the sponsorship of a potentiaUy

Olympic athlete within the eUte sports program consisted of many phases. Systematic

support began for would-be Olympians in 1954 with the dfrective to these athletes to

assume the leadership among all Germans, both East and West, in championships and

athletic record-settmg no later than 1956.'* The basis for cuhivathig an Olympian began

'"* Wonneberger, 25.

"Ibid., 27.
^Ehrich, 23. Gieseler, 133. Schumann, 53.
"Gieseler, 117. This law, as Gieseler notes, was subsequently altered on May 4,
1964 and Jan. 28,1974 to make greater provision for popular sports for young people
under the supervision of the DTSB.
'*Ufrich Pabst, Sport-Medium der PoUtUc? (BerUn: Bartels and Wemhz, 1980),
133.
209
m the talent selection process through the many opportunities presented m youth and

children's sports. Former State Secretary for Physical Culture and Sports Professor Dr.

Gihither Erbach commented that every child m the GDR was tested twice each year for

his/her athletic abilhies m keephig with very specific criteria. Children who showed

promise were retested.^' A four-fold system of sievmg the approxhnately 250,000

children was devised. Generally, children were observed first m school-organized athletic

activhies under the watchful eye of physical educators.^" Somethnes the schools would

be visited by talent scouts who had specific athletic fields of specialization. The children

would be observed then for physical characteristics and/or skiUs.^' Secondly, they would

be scmthuzed agam m one of the GDR's 9,000 Trahung Centers (TZ). Here, the goal was

to select approximately 50,000 children who would train at the Traming Centers on a

regular basis. ^' Incentives were granted by way of token symbols of recognition.

Children and teens who achieved various degrees of performance levels were presented

with Sports Badges.^^ However, this sports badge program was not Umited to chUdren. It

was a mechanism designed to stimulate the masses as a whole, children and adults alike.

'Interview with Erbach.

'"Dr. H. Buhl Sept. 22, 1990, "Talentauswahl und Talentfiirderung m der

ehemaligen DDR, " Deutsche Zehschrift fifr Sport Medizm. 42, no. 3, (1991): 103-4.

"Interviews with Antje Maas and a female frack athlete, anonymity to be retahied.

''Erich Honecker letter to Willi Stoph, Sept. 24, 1970, ZK d. SED, Sport, DY30
IV A2/18/10-12, SAPMO, 1-2.

"Brohm, 82. See also: Ingeburg Wonneberger, "Leichtathletische Leistungen der

bemfstatigen Jugend von 15 bis 18," Em Beitrag zur Begrundung der Leistungsnormen
Jugendlicher fur das Sportabzeichen der Deutschen Demokratischen RepublUc. 261-72

210
to participate more m sports. After approxhnately three years of trahimg at the Trahung

Centers, the more talented chUdren were identified and offered the opportunhy to be

placed hito the sports boardmg schools.^' The GDR's leader, Party Chairman Erich

Honecker, saw to h personaUy that the fimdmg for the framing centers was mcreased

from 5.5 mUlion marks m 1970 to 16 milUon marks m just three years. He was pressmg

for an accelerated means to mcrease the numbers of junior athletes m the high

performance reserves.^* Another means of findhig talented youth was through nationwide

compethions, the annual Spartakiades. Here, some 9,000 to 10,000 chUdren would be

engaged in athletic con^thion first at school then at the district stage, and fhiaUy at the

regional level The winners in each respective athletic discipline were aUowed to proceed

to the next level^' The Spartakiades were seen as the most efifective means by sports

organizations to test the children's abilhies and replenish the reserves of high

performance candidates.^* The nationwide Spartakiades were also seen as opportunities

forfiirtherhistUling socialist principles in the young con:q>ethors and were regularly

'''Giinther Erbach, "Das Sportabzeichenprogramm der DDR 'Bereh zur Arbeh und
zur Verteidigung der Hehnat'-em wfrksamer Beifrag zur weheren Auspragung des
Massencharakters von Korperkuhur und Sport," Medizhi und Sport. 17, no. 2, (Feb.
1977): 33-7.
"John Bales, "Lessonsfromthe GDR," Coachmg Review. 9, (Sept./Oct. 1987):
30.
'^Erich Honecker letter to WUli Stoph, Sept. 24,1970.
"Gunter Witt, "Mass Participation and Top Performance m One: Physical Culture
and Sport in the German Democratic Republic," Joumal of Popular Culture. 18, no. 3,
(1984): 161. See also: Interview with Erbach.
'*"Erster mformatorischer Berichtfiberdie Ergebnisse der 1. Deutschen Kmder-
und Jugendspartakiade, Arbehsgmppe Sport, Aug. 23,1966, DY30 JFV 2/2J 1248,
SAPMO, 3.
211
assessed by the Central Committee for thefr poUtical as weU as athletic value. ^' For

example, hi 1966, when the Spartakiade movement had hs hiception, the regional

Spartiakiades also sponsored forums on the "dirty war of the USA m Vietnam," where

coUection plates were passed to gather contributions for Vietnamese chizens.""

Sometimes h was none of these systemic factors which aided m sorting out the

talented children for high performance sports. Like in other countries, the selection

process could have been as simple a matter as a parent taking a keen hiterest in his or her

own child's athletic abUhies and encouraging the child to become involved in some

particular sport, or the child him/herself pressmg the parents for the opportunity. This

happened to be the case with both gold medaUsts in figure skating, Anett POtzsch and

Katarhia Witt, whose mothers encouraged them to become skaters."' It was also the case

whh Wolfgang Schmidt, sUver medalist m the discus, whose father/coach Emest Schmidt

carefully nurtured and coached his young son through his childhood years on up to his

successes as an aduh."^

Attendmg the Kinder und Jugend Sportschulen (KJS), or ChUdren and Youth

"SED HausmitteUung, Rudi Helhnann to Eric Honecker, Oct. 28,1965, ZK der

SED Sport, FV A2/18/3-4, SAPMO, 11. See also, ProtokoU Nr. 11/78, Vorberehung und
DurchfiUimng der Vn. Kmder- und Jugendspartakiade der DDR 1979, Anlage 1, DY30
JIV 2/3 2703, SAPMO at Zehgeschichte fifr Sport, Potsdam University.

"•^ot specified is to which region of Vietnam the donations would go. Report
from Groger to Honecker, Erster mformatorischer Bericht fiber die Ergebnisse der 1.
Deutschen Kmder- und Jugendspartakiade, Aug. 12,1966, ZK der SED Sport FV
A2/18/3-4, SAPMO, 1-4. See also: Gieseler, 124.

"'Interview whh Potzsch. Witt, 32.

"'Ernst Schmidt, "Procedure hi the GDR for Selection of Athletic Talent," Track
and Field Ouarterlv Review. 79, no. 4, (1979): 38-9.

212
Sport Schools, was deemed an honor and privilege among GDR youth."^ The two-time

Olympic Champion m the marathon, Waldemar Cierpmski, remarked that to be granted

admittance to the KJS was a very significant cUmb up the social ladder. Because

Cierpmski came from a large femily, such an opportunity was golden as h provided

social mobility under the state's wmg. (See Figure 1). This mobilhy for Cierpmski was

deemed otherwise unlUcely."" The welfare of the KJS received attention from the highest

levels of office. The Central Committee hself established the boundaries for the growth

of the childrens' sports schools, as h did m 1963 and m 1970. Children admitted to the

program were to demonstrate not only good athletic potential but also "statesmanlUce

conduct, a compethive attitude in training and at compethion and an all-around good

grade average.""' Intense efforts were made to coordmate school and framing m the KJS

so that the children's primary emphasis would be on framing, but not at the expense of

thefr education. As early as 1963, when the expansion and adjustments of the initial KJSs

were being established, the concem was that the children were stressed beyond thefr

capachies because the problem of coordmatmg trainmg and schooling had not been

completely resolved."* Even the location of the KJSs was important as h posed logistical

problems for the children if the proxhnhy to the framing faciUties was so great that

"'Interview with a female frack athlete.

""Interview with Cierpinski

"'ProtokoU Nr. 53/70 der Shzung des Sekretariats des ZK, June 24, 1970, DY30
JIV 2/3 1644, SAPMO, 3-4.

"^Entwicklung der Khider- und Jugendsportschulen der Deutschen

Demokratischen RepubUk zu Spezialschulen des sportUchen Nachwuches, Anlage Nr. 8,
ProtokoU Nr. 30, June 6, 1963, DY30 JIV 2/3 850, SAPMO at Zehgeschichte fifr Sport,
Potsdam Univershy, 2-3.
213
valuable thne was compromised."'

Sports selection and sponsorship were not Umited simply to the schools and the

children. Athletic activhies were also funded through contributionsfromthe various

indusfries' and fectories' sports clubs, whose workers would contribute nominal fees for

sports equipment, activhies, andfecilhies."*Rovhig coaches would often spy out talent at

even this late stage. Former European Champion decathlete and two tune Olympic

bobsledding Champion Dietmar Schauerhammer was not sought out for his athletic skills

untU he reached the age of 18, several years after many of his cohorts had spent most, if

not aU, of thefr teenage years at a KJS."' (See Figures 2 and 3). Other athletes were ehher

sponsored or selected and uhhnately trahied through the National People's Army, as was

World Champion swimmer and Olympic bronze medaUst J6rg Hoffinann.'" (See Figures

4 and 5). The Mmister of the National People's Army, General Theodor Hofifinann,

granted one thousand active duty athletes an 18-month reprievefromthefr requfred

service hi order tofrainfor the 1968 Olympic Games." Olympic gold medalist

weightUfter Ronny Weller continues toframafter the Wende while serving m the milhary

"Ibid. See also: Bericht der Abt. Nachwuchsentwicklungfiberdie Ergebnisse der

tfberprfiftmg des Olympiakaders fifr 1972 und Schlussfolgerungen zur weiteren
Vorbereitung auf die Olympischen Spiele 1972, DTSB Abt. Nachwuchsentwicklung,
Nov., 29,1967, DYl2:365, SAPMO, 7-8. See also: Interview with Hoffmann.

"^Interview whh Erbach.

"Interview with Schauerhammer.
'"Interview with Hofi&nann.
"Manfred Ewald and Theodor Hofifinan letter to Erich Honecker, Apr. 9,1965,
ZK der SED Sport FV A2/18/3-4, SAPMO, 1-3.
214
reserve for the FRG."

This process of selectmg, sponsoring, educatmg, and trahung would-be

Olympians from childhood on was deemed to be a critical component of the success of

the whole GDR sports system.'^ The remarkably thorough mstrumentation of the ESA

program {Einheitliche Sichtung und Auswahl, i.e.. Uniform Viewing and Selection) was

to leave no stone imtumed in identifying talented children from the broader pool of

school children.

The contmuaUy growing demands of eUte sports requfres an early recognition of

children with good athletic prerequishes, m order to guarantee a longterm growth
of performance. Thus, it has become necessary, to create a uniform viewmg and
selection (system) as h pertains to a selection time period for 16 athletic
disciplmes and move it from the usual 4* grade level to the 3"* grade.'"

In fact, the children were evaluated in some athletic disciplines at even younger

ages. For disciplines such as iceskathig, swhnmhig, diving, and gymnastics, children

would be observed and evaluated as early as the first grade." Not only were numerous

physical characteristics and abilhies of the children taken into account, the physique of

the parents themselves was also considered to discem how the children might appear hi

thefr aduh years.'* One athlete noted that the chUdren who were considered for

"Interview vdth Olympic Champion hi Weightliftmg, Ronny Weller, July 7,

1997, at Ronny's home near Neustadt.

"Interview with Erbach.

'"Dr. K. Kupper, Leher, Abt. Khider und Jugend Sport, Die emhehliche Sichtung
und Auswahl fur die Traininpszentren und Trahungsstfitzpunkte des DTSB der DDR.
(BerUn: Bundesvorstand des DTSB der DDR, 1976), 1.

"Ibid., 2-3. See also: Interview with POtzsch.

"Interview whh Dahlke.

215
svdmmmg would be observed swimmmg nude, both boys and gfrls at once! The pomt

was to better perceive specific anatomical features m motion." Beyond these physical

aspects, the children would take psychological tests to detemune if they had the

appropriate personaUty for eUte sports.'* Included m this assessment, of course, was

whether the child adhered to the ordahied GDR pohtical beliefs."

Once the children were selected for the ChUdren and Youth Sports Schools

(henceforth, KJS), many of them would move mto the boarding schools if space was

available. Many did not reside in-house shnply because the KJS was located in thefr

hometown and h was more cost-effective for the State if the children lived at home.

Gymnast Bfrgh Dahlke, ice skater Anett Potzsch, and cyclist Marc Dennis Schulz all

lived at home whUe framing and gomg to school at the KJS.*" The rhythm of education

and training was carefiilly coordinated so that the chUdren would not have to worry about

eitherfeUhigbehind in thefr schoolwork or trahung insufficiently. Because of the primary

emphasis on sports, the educational aspect of the schools was perceived not so much as

secondary as h was a factor to be worked around and with. I^ because of training and

compethive events, the children needed more thne to study and do homework, then this

thne was readUy granted them. For athletes, the usual duration of high school studies for

''Interview whh a female track athlete.

'Supper, 3. See also: Interview with rower Carola Kamchen, July 6,1997,
Saarbrficken.
"Kupper, chart Ustmg: "Vorgabe fUr die Erarbeitung von Massnahmepianen zur
Durchffihrung der emhehlichen Sichtung und Auswahl fur Trahungszenfren und
Trahungssttitzpunte des DTSB m den Kreisen," Pomt: 1,0.
*°See Interviews with DahUce, Potzsch, and Marc Dennis SchuLz, former eUte
athlete m bicyclmg, June 10,1997, Leipzig.
216
achievmg the Abitur, or high school diploma, was routmely lengthened by one year. Even

more thne would be granted if deemed necessary.*' For eUte athletes at the university

level academics would ^ain be adjusted to the needs of the athlete-student. European

shot put Champion Hehna Knorscheidt was granted 10 years to do her degree in

elementary education at the univershy.*^ (See Figure 6).

Many athletes described the system as they experienced h as bemg highly

organized. Fears of not behig able to fh hito mainsfream society with an education and

professional placement were abated as placement was guaranteed by the State. A frequent

complamt among athletesfromthe GDR who now train m the FRG is that, today, no such

guarantees are evident. In the Federal RepubUc of Germany h is oftentimes very difficuh

for vocational counselors to find understandmg employers and/or educators who wiU

accommodate the training and compethion schedule of an athlete.*^ This problem did not

exist m the GDR. The two-thne Olympic Champion in the marathon, Waldemar

Cierpmski, remarked that, because his son was the German Champion in the triathlon as

weU as bemg ranked second m the world, he had a chance to see how the two different

systems of Germany compare. His comment on the current German system was, "In no

^'Interviews with Potzsch, Kamchen, Cierpmski, Knorscheidt, and Maas.

Interview with Andre Zoschk6, eUte athlete m wrestUng, July 4,1997, Schififerstadt.
Interview whh Axel Kahlert, Olympic athlete m handball June 7,1997, HaUe. See also:
Anlage Nr. 8, ProtokoU Nr. 30, June 6, 1963, SAPMO, 4.
62
Interview with Knorscheidt.
*'E. Emrich, et al., "Career counseUng m an Olympic Center-a German
experience," hi Dieter Hackfort, ed., Psvcho-Social Issues and Interventions m Elhe
Sports. (Frankfiul am Mam: Peter Lang, 1994), 205.
217
respect doestiiis(FRG) system work."*" Like aU other GDR chizens, athletes received a

very modest monthly stipend as long as they were undergoing somefi)rmof higher

education or vocationalframmg.*'Many athletes shnply took the route of studymg sports

at the DHfK m Leipzig as h appeared to be in keeping whhtiiefrown natural talents and

abilhies. Such was the case with shotputter Udo Beyer, ice skater Anett Potzsch, and

wrestler Frank Hartmann.**

For the athlete-in-trahung, the system was perceived to be ideaUy stmctured. The

daUy routhie typically consisted of two sessions offraining,referred to as units, and

would comprise on average some four to sbc hours of framing, or two units, a day,

accordmg to the age and athletic disciplhie of the athlete.*' Weekends would oftentimes

entaU travelhig to and participating m compethion. Most Sundays werefreedays. Some

athletes, such as marathoner Waldemar Cierpmski, would also train on Sundays.** The

athletes were to take vacations whh thefr parents only for a limited time of approximately

three weeks, at a time of the year selected by the KJS officials. The parents were to

understand that therigorsof being in training did not aUow for extensive leaves of

absence lest the condhioning of the athlete diminish. Most athletes did not consider this

"Interview with Cierpinski.

"Interview with Schauerhammer.
'^Interviews with Beyer, Hartmann, and Pfitzsch.
'Interviews with Hoffinann, anonymous femalefrackathlete, Cierphiski, Maas,
and Knorscheidt.
**Interview with Cierpinski
218
to be a hardship. Three-day home weekend vishs for the sports-engaged youth were

also granted on a regular basis. Gymnast FaUco Poy commented that most children, unlUce

one female track athlete, did not sufifer homesickness. Most of the athletes who had Uved

m the sport boarding schools, mcludmg the aforementioned track athlete, clahn to have

enjoyed the KJS experience hnmensely. For those children and youth who were livmg m

the KJS awayfromtiiefrparents' home, organized activities and outings were conducted

by administtators and overseers of the KJS. A weekend might mclude, for example, an

outmg to a lake for recreational boating and a picnic.'" For the youngest of children, who

oftenthnes suffered homesickness,fransportationcould be arranged so that many of these

children could have closer contact with thefr parents on weekends and hoUdays." West

Germans have pooh-poohed this system, believmg h hnproper for a nine-year-old

gymnast to be Uving awayfromhome and trahung as an elite athlete." In contrast,

Americans have deemed the KJS system worthy of emulation, if not m whole, then at

least hi part. PubUcly fimded sports schools shnilar in some respects to the GDR's sports

schools are bemg established by the huncfreds throughout the United States. WhUe they

might not aU be boarding schools, Uke the GDR's KJS, they do specialize in certahi

athletic disciplmes. Known as SPYDER schools, they lUcewise haveflexibleschool and

'Interview with a female track athlete.

'Interview with FaUco Poy, eUte athlete hi gymnastics, June 16, 1997, Potsdam.
"Wahrnehmung der Verantwortung des DTSB der DDR bei der Be&rderung der
Kmder vom und zum Ehemhuas an den Wochenenden und zu den Ferien, Anlage 1,
DY30 JFV 2/3 3010, SAPMO at ZehgeschichtefifrSport, Potsdam University, 1-2.
"Henry Allgaier, "Sportmtemate m Deutschland zwischen den Extremen,"
Frankfurter Allgememe Zeitung. 19 July 1990.
219
frammg schedules for the students.'^

The organization and care received hi the GDR sports system won high praises by

aU the athletes, but especially from Olympic medaUsts Eberhard Rdsch, Anett Potzsch,

Udo Beyer, Waldemar Cierpmski J5rg Hofifinann, Dietmar Schauerhammer and Olympic

participant Axel Kahlert.'" (See Figures 7, 8, 9, and 10). Many perceived "burdens" were

removed from the athletes' shoulders so that they could smgle-mhidedly focus on thefr

sporthig careers. The training and the KJS boardmg schools requfred no expense for

either the athlete or parents of the athlete." Training clothes were purchased by the

athlete and/or parent(s) at aremarkablylow rate. Even when the athletes would travel to

various compethive events, neither athlete nor parent(s) would pay. Periodic framing

can^s were also gratis. Some athletes had the opportunity of trahung at the Bulgarian

high ahhude training center for as long as six weeks. Others went just for a week or

two.'* Many enjoyed the opportunity offrainingat the eUte trahung center known as

Kienbaum. Kienbaum is situated some 30 miles outside of Berlin and is the she of the

aforementioned underground high ahitude chamber. It has the appearance of a small U.S.

community coUege campus, complete with dorms and athleticfecUhies.To be able to

tram m Kienbaum, whh some of the cream of the GDR's athletic elhe, was considered a

"Rosemary Shinohara, "SPYDER school captures attention," Anchorage DaUv

News, 7 Jan. 1998,B1-B3.
'"interview with Eberhard R6sch, biathlete. World Champion and Olympic SUver
and Bronze medalist, Apr. 20, 1997 m Halle and Mar. 15,2000 by telephone from
Anchorage, Alaska. See aU other Interviews.
"Ibid. See also: Interview whh Potzsch. Interview with Gerhard Grfiner, eUte
athlete m swimming, June 16, 1997, Berlin.
^'Interview with Hartmana
220
great honor by the younger athletes."

Beyond coverage of such weighty matters as costs, the logistics of coordmatmg

education and careers, training, housmg,fransportation,and parental visitation and

vacation thnes, the athletes also had a comprehensive health care plan and access to a

counselor. Physiotherapists, nurses, and sports physicians were employed at every sports

club. No practice session or con^ethive event occurred without the presence of a sports

physician. The coach also served as a mentor and counselor. The coaches and teachers

of the athletes werefrainedby sports psychologists who emphasized practical and dfrect

appUcation of principles taUored for each sport.*" One West German member of the

FRG's Federal Institute of Sports Science hi Cologne, Jan-Peters Janssen, commented

that h would be foolish not to consider appropriating the GDR's successfiil methods of

behavior confrol. These methods had a dfrect effect on leading psycho-physiological

indicators, such as blood pressure and heart rate.*' The key prmciple upon which sports

psychology operated in the GDR was that psychic changes, inrespect"to relationships,

whhin one's social and material envfronment," occur ffrst as a resuh of active behavior.

Thus, to effect change, the focus was largely on external factors such as compethion and

'^Interview whh Poy.

^^Interview with Bartonietz.
'Interview with Schauerhammer.
^''Glyn C. Roberts and Jay C. KuniecUc, "Sport Psychology hi the German
Democratic Republic: An Interview with Dr. Gerd Konzag," The Sport Psychologist. 3,
no. 1, (Mar. 1989): 73-4.
*'Jan-Peters Jannsen, "Kommentar zum Beitrag von Renate Mathesius:
'Sportpsychologie am ehemaUgen FKS m Leipzig,'" Sportpsychologie, 6, no. 3, (Aug.
1992): 30.
221
frammg under the guidance of a coach.*' Unquestionably, sports psychology played a

great role hi GDR sports, particularly m the KJSs. However, h differed from sports

psychology practiced hi the West as h also was heavily undergfrded with Marxist-

Lenmist prmciples, Russian psychology, and the ideals set forth by the Socialist Unhy

Party.*^ Little about sports psychology as h pertahied to elhe sports was openly

published or what was published had a high security rankmg, m order to protect GDR

sports advantages.*"

Athletes oqierienced, in addhion to a battery of diagnostic tests pertaming to thefr

sport, two thorough physical exams a year.*' Former Olympic wrestler, GDR coach, and

FRG coach Frank Hartmann, is convinced that the regular diagnostic tests performed on

aU athletes m the elhe program, in the KJS on up the various tiers, were a remarkable

aspect of the GDR system. He believes that such tests should be performed m the FRG as

weU, but fears this wiU not be done due to the cost factor.** The diagnostic tests of

performance levels were designed to measure specific attributes of motor skUls, speed,

sfrength, agility, and other abilhies of the athlete hi his or herfieldof expertise.

WeightUfter Ronny Weller described a device known as a "black box," which would film

*'Renate Matthesius, "Sportpsychologie am ehemaligen FKS m Leipzig,"

Sportpsychologie. 6, no. 3, (Aug. 1992): 25.
*'Hans-Gerhard Sack, "Sportpsychologie hi der DDR," Sportvyissenschaft. 13, no.
1, (1983): 148.
*"Gabriele Neumann and Angela Deitersen-Wieber, "Sportpsychologie hi der
DDR," Arbeh. Sport und DDR-Gesellschaft. (BerUn: Duncker & Humblot, 1996): 88.

^'Interview with Poy.

**Interview with Hartmann.
222
the various thrusts of the weightUfter from aU angles with high speed cameras. Thus, the

weightUfter could review the video of each minuscule movement along with his coach

and biomechanist to advise the weightUfter as to ahering his thrusts for maximum effect.

Weller's coach andfether,Gunther WeUer, claimed that the concept for this device was

appropriatedfromthe GDR and advanced hi the FRG.*' (See Figure 11).

The GDR was lavish in hs expenditures onfecilhiesand technology. Ice skater

Anett Potzsch recounted that video cameras were Ukewise used on the ice, particularly to

captiuethe effectiveness of the skater's jun^s.** (See Figures 12 and 13). The BCarl Marx

Stadt ice skatmg rink (renamed Chemnhz) v/hete Olympic Champion iceskaters Potzsch

and Wittfrained,is in use today for the youthful iceskaters to train, such as the ffrst

daughter of PStzsch. (See Figure 14). In Altenberg, the bobsledders made use not only

of an outdoor track, but also had access to an indoorfrackfor year-round training, as did

the lugers. (See Figures 15 and 16). The biathletes as weU could tram out of season in the

large mdoor biathlon hall m Ahenberg. (See Figure 17). Sv^dmmer Gerhard Grfiner

remarked that swimmers would befihnedunderwater in the dark with lights attached to

ankles, hips, and hands. A camera hi a side room would foUow the movements in the

pool through a submerged, underwater window. The end effect would be cfrcular Ught

patterns wWch would be assessed for the swhnmer's maxhnizhig of his or her

biomechanical potential.*' Olympic swhnmer Jorg Hofi&nann related that there were as

many as 15 swhnmhig canals designed to test a wide variety of any given swhnmer's

'Interview v^tii Weller.

**Interview with Potzsch.
'Interview whh Grfiner.
223
abUhies.'" This was considered to be the most significantframmgfeature m the GDR as h

regulated the trahung condhions of the swhnmer." Accordmg to one popular German

sports magazme, Focus, this method is used to this day m Germany for the trammg of

lead swhnmers such as Franziska von Almsick." Biomechanist Klaus Bartonietz

recollected that precious foreign currency reserves were oftenthnes used to update sports

technology, say, whh the purchase of American high speed cameras which would better

facilitate biomechanical analysis. Even American computers were accessible to

biomechanists, though they were deemed by biomechanist Klaus Bartonietz to be

primitive by contemporary standards.'^ (See Figure 18). The Dopmg Analysis Laboratory

m Kreischa, which tested athletes prior to thefr departure abroad, is sophisticated enough

to be m use m post WaU Germany. (See Figures 19 and 20).

Periodic assessments were made to asc^ertain the thoroughness of the system in

developing the best possible candidates for the KJS. Evidence exists that remarkably

thoroi^ analyses of the system's effectiveness were conducted to search for possible

gUtches.'" Even a West German's cursory mvestigation revealed that lapses were mdeed

evident as late as 1980. For example, access to popular sports m the GDR was found to

'"Interview whh Hoffinann.

"Ehrich, 36.
"Claudia GottschUng, "High-TechfifrOlympia," Focus, no. 29,15 July 1996,
100-1.
''Interview whh Bartonietz.
'"Fred Gras, "On the Development of Sport-Sociological Research in the German
Democratic Republic," Sociological Research m the German Democratic Republic, ed.
by The Scientific Council for Sociological Research m the German Democratic Republic,
(Berlhi: VEB Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften 1970), 129.
224
be msufificient m comparison to both the eUte sports level as well as to public sports m

the FRG. Sportsfecilhiesfor the general public schools were considered to be deficient

as was accessibUhy of the swhnming facilhies for the pubUc as a whole. While much

advertisement was done to popularize the numerous Youth Sports Festivals, elite sports

took priority in the buildmg and maintenance of facilhies, accordmg to assessments made

by West Germans m the early 1980s." (See Figure 21). These assessments stand m

marked contrast to ofificial GDR publications which proclauned that the physical culture

of the general populace was a high priority, "an mseparable part of the socialist way of

life."'* West Germans' early 1980s' esthnates of the oqienditures on eUte sports versus

outlays for pubUc sports in the GDR system were an approximate four (elite) to one

(pubUc)." The former State Secretary of Sports and Physical Culture, Dr. Erbach, msists

that the ratio was much different. (See Figure 22). He esthnates the ratio to have been an

approximate two (public) to one (elite). Furthermore, Erbach claims that segregating and

quantifying thefinancesfor each respective reahn, eUte versus public sports, is difficuh

due to the overlapphig nature of the two areas. The DHfK, for example, was sponsored

by the State and embraced not only the education offiitureelhe coaches, but sports
go

teachers for the pubUc schools as well

"Manfred Messmg and Dieter Voigt, "Das gesellschaftUche System der DDR als
Grundlage sportUcher LeistungsfSrderung," Leibesubungen und Sport m Deutschlanci
vom ersten Wehkriee bis zur Gegenwart. Bd 2: Geschichte der Leibesfibungen. (BerUn
[West]: Bertels & Wemitz, 1982), 895.
96,
Gras, 119.
'TCarUiemz Gieseler, "Das Leitungs-und Leisttmgs-System der Korperkuhur m
der DDR," Sportwissenschaft. 13, no. 1, (1983), 126.

'^Interview with Erbach.

225
 Regardless of the debate regardmg this aUeged disparity offimdmgfor pubUc

sports versus eUte sports, most athletes agree thattiiecare they received at the KJS was

good. Only a few disagree whh this notion. Infeet,the atiUetes are quite enthusiastic m

thefr poshive assessment of thefr experience m the KJS. Olympic Champion shotputter

Udo Beyer clahns he would have "hnmediately" put one of his children hi a KJS had the

opportunhy arisen." (See Figure 23). Frank Hartmann assertstiiat,if his daughter had

had the chance to go to a KJS, he "would have supported her m h 100%."'"" Those who

did not care for the lifestyle in the KJS were typically relatively unsuccessfiil mdividuals

who dropped out of the program early, such as swfrnmer Gerhard Griiner, who suffered

back problems, and gymnast Bfrgh Dahlke. CycUst Marc Dennis Schulz was very

disappointed as he was never given a room at the KJS boardmg school and lived at home

instead. Yet, he thoroughfy enjoyed the sports and the opportunities tofrainwith his

peers. Dahlke and Schulz disdain the system not so much for hself as for thefr opposhion

to eUte sports as a whole. Dahlke hasrefiisedto aUow her own chUdren to become

hivolved m elite sports, and beUeves, like Schulz, a medical student, that engaging m

high performance sports as a whole is not a medically sound practice. Schulz also

believes that the cycUst framing was dai]^erous, hivolvmgfrequentaccidents.'"' StUl

most athletes were pleased enough with the care and treatment they received at these

mstitutions that aU but the aforementioned three would wiUmgly place thefr own chUdren

m just such a school. The disclahner for some of the other respondents was that the child

'interview with Beyer.

'"^Interview with Hartmann.
""Interviews witii Grfiner, Schulz, and DahUce.
226
would have to specifically request this. Hesitation on the athletes' behalf was not

apparent due to the treatment they received, but rather m deference to the child's wisfr'"'

All of the athletes believe that, hi many respects, they received favored treatment.

Acclamations were universal m respect to the food the athletes were served at the

KJS. There the athletes could enjoy foods seldom found on the open market. Bananas and

fresh orange juice were some of the mostfrequentlyched foods avaUable at the KJSs;

these were a rarity m the average East German household. Efiforts were made to regulate

the diets of the athletes with meal tickets. Each discipline was evaluated for specific

energy expendhure levels as weU as for what was deemed necessary for muscle build-up,

weight maintenance, and so forth. Former Secretary for Sports and Physical Culture

Erbach claims that there was never a serious attempt to restrict the diets of the athletes.'"^

Nevertheless, individuals received a meal ticket of a certain color that indicated to the

cafeteria personnel the food plan that that athlete was on. Blue tickets were issued for the

shotputters, whereas the track athletes would receive yellow and red. The latter two

colors had lower caloric value than did the blue.'"" The athletes could easily cfrcumvent

this type of control (as did one femalefrackathlete) shnply by buyhig any addhional

foods they might want on the open market or via packages sent by thefr parents.

Katarhia Witt recoUects how she waged an ongohig battle with her weight as weU as with

her coach, Jutta MfiUer, who was conthiually trymg to get Witt to cut back on snack

"^Interview with Hofifinann, Poy, Grfiner, and Maas.

""Interview whh Erbach.

'"Interview with a female track athlete.

'"'Ibid.
227
foods and keep her weight down. MfiUer even would go so fer as to look through the

waste paper basket m Witt's dormroom for teU-tale enq)ty food contamers.'"* Anett

Potzsch claims that bulemia and anorexia among figure skaters was not common durmg

her trahung years, so the eatmg disorder problem was not a prevalent issue.'"' Another

athlete told how, because she was a few kUos overweight, the coach would always try to

slim her down by requfrmg that she put hi extra laps around the trackfield.'"*

The degree of control exerted on the personal Ufe of the athletes appears to have

varied on a case-by-case basis. Strict controls, however, were fafrly uniform when h

came to the reghnen of trahung. Each athlete's life gravitated around the strictures of a

carefiilly conceived series of training plans. Olympic and world class athletes Beyer,

Potzsch, Schauerhammer, Knorscheidt, WeUer, Hofifinann, and Hartmann recollect how

they oriented themselves around the periodic training plans. Some of them, such as

weightUfter Weller, simply had weekly plans which would hidicate the daUy reghne of

fraining one week hi advance.'"' Udo Beyer, Olympic shotput Champion, recalls that

plans for him embraced various cycles of framing. These plans mcluded weekly,

monthly, and yearly cycles as weU as "Olympic" cycles, i.e., cycles of four years.""

Anett PStzsch praises the former trahiing system, claimhig that a buUd-up period was

msthuted that strengthened the ice skater sufficiently to prevent susceptibilhy to

'"'Witt, 45-6.

'*"Interview whh P5tzsch.

'"interview with a female track athlete,

'"fnterview with Weller.

""Interview ynth Beyer.

228
mjuries. Bobsled Champion Dietmar Schauerhammer relates how theframmgplans for

his disciplme were preordamed one year m advance. He would know for exactly one year

what hisframmgreghne would consist of on any given day of any given week."^

Wrestler Frank Hartmann comments that his coach was very exactmg and would msist on

a precise execution of the trahimg plan. Yet Hartmann hhnself recoUects that, after his

stint as an Olympian was over and he hhnself became a coach, he would oftenthnes

deviatefromthe plans for his own charges. This was especiaUy the case if the athlete was

sick, hung-over, or even merely havmg problems m his personal life. Coach Hartmann

confides that he would sometimes lie by plachig the appropriate numbers in the

appropriate places on theframmgplan forms, thereby assertmg that the athlete had

completely fiilfiUed the prescribed activhies. Thus, Hartmann satisfied his superiors that

the requfrements werefiilfilledwhile adapting traming to the athlete's actual condhion."^

Other athletes remark that, m the event of mjury or Ulness, adjustments were frequently

made to thefrainingplans. Rower Carola Kamchen and iceskater Anett Potzsch both

observe that, under such cfrcumstances, much ground would be lost but that this was

deemed to be par for the course. New trahung plans would then be developed.""

While crhicism of the GDRfrauiingsystem abounds, particularlyfromthe West

Germans, none of the athletes has clahned that he or she received harsh treatment. Only

two of eighteen athletes thought that thefrainmgplans were mhumane and this was due

'"Interview with Potzsch.

'"Interview with Schauerhammer.
"'Interview with Hartmann.
""Interviews with Kamchen and Potzsch.
229
largely to thefr conceptual disdam of high performance sports for chUdren.'" In sharp

contrast to West German crhicism of the system, tiie atiUetes describe the frammg plans

as bemg very challengmg, but necessary to achieve tiie world's phmacle of atiUeticism.

Olympic Champion ice skater Anett Potzsch remarks tiiat her coach, Jutta MfiUer, the

very same coach who had framed otiier Olympic medalists such as Christme Errath,

Katarhia Witt and Jutta MuUer's very own daughter, Olympic silver medalist Gabi

Seyfert, was considered to be a very difficuh and exactmg framer. The goals MfiUer set

for her charges were reputedly quhe high and MfiUer herself was unrelenthig m the

fiilfilhnent of the plans. Yet Potzsch believes h was precisely this unwaverhig discipline

which led her and many others to success."* WeightUfter Ronny Weller and his coach-

father, Gfinther Weller, consider the goals to have been high and quite difficuh, but to

have deviated from them would have dhninished one's chances for success."' Swhnmer

Jorg Hoffinann observes that one problem whh the current traming system m the FRG is

that the athlete who disagrees with the high discipUne called for on a fraining plan can

shnply change coaches. This option simply did not exist hi the GDR, and Hoffinann

believes the FRG system leads uhhnately to a watering down of the athletes'

motivational basis. If an East German coach attempts to impose the same high standards

of disciplhie and rigor of trahiing in contemporary Germany as he did hi the GDR, he

may lose the athlete to a more lenient coach."*

'"Interview with Schulz.

'"Interview with Potzsch.

'"Interview with Weller.

"^Interview with Hoffinann.

230
 Biomechanist Klaus Bartonietz asserts that the GDR was unique m that the

emphasis of sports science was always a dfrect application of theory to practice. While he

admitted that there are countless biomechanists m the world for his speciahy, the

throwmg sports, le., javelm, hammer, shotput, and discus, he believes that his abUhy to

work dfrectly with the athlete is smgular.'" Due to his coachmg and council javelm

thrower Boris Henry achieved the 1998 number one rankhig m the world.""

One aspect of the system given high marks by East and West Germans alUce was

the professionahzation of the GDR coaching staff". West German professor Dr. Amd

Kriiger remarked m a lecture deUvered hi 1980 that at that thne the East German coaches

were 23 years ahead of thefr West German counterparts. Not only was coaching an

academic major at the DHfK, h also embraced two fields of specialization: eUte sports m

general and the specializing m one particular sport."' Many of the ideas of

professionalization and specialization were derived from the Russians, who also had a

premier sports univershy, the National Research Institute of Physical Culture m Moscow,

estabUshed hi 1918. CoUaboration between the sports scientists of this histhute and the

"Interview with Bartonietz. Dr. Klaus Bartonietz is also a regular contributor to

sports pubUcations. See, for example: K., Bartonietz, "Rotational Shot Put Technique:
Biomechanic Fhidhigs and Recommendations for Training," Track and Field Quarterly
Review. 93, no. 3, (FaU 1994), 18-29.
I20tt
Javelm: The Plague Strikes," Track and Field. Jan. 1998,27.

'"Amd Kriiger, The Preparation of Coaches m East and West Germany: Science
vs. Art. Proceedhigs of an intemational semmar, December 1979, reprint by Israel
Netanya, Wmgate Institute for Physical Education and Sport v^th the support of the Sport
and Physical Education Authority m the Ministry of Education and Culture, Jemsalem,
1980, 177, 179.

231
DHfK was frequent."' GDR sports ofificials frequently attributed the success of theh

system to tiie exemplary system of the Russians."^ UnUke American students, GDR

sports students only took courses which dfrectly pertamed to thefr major; there were no

general course requfrements to fiilfiU prior to commencmg course-work m one's major.

Hence, the four to five years of study were all dfrectly pertment to the coachmg

discipline. In addhion to the univershy-tramed professional coaches, an average of

"180,000 quaUfied voluntary sports mstmctors nationwide" were mvolved m all

capachies of sports coaching."' Not only were there numerous coaches m both ofificial

and unofficial capachies, but the degree of scientific research applied by these coaches

was deemed to be far ahead of that of even the Americans. The athletes' meticulous

adherence to thefr traming schedules mdicated the tmst they demonstrated in thefr

coaches' skiU level."* The academic program for a coach embraced the discipUnes of

social and natural sciences and sports theory and practice, foUowed by two years of

specialization hi his or her respective field."' The PoUtbfiro hself would be concemed

"'Grigori Raiport, Red Gold: Peak Perfonnance Techniques of the Russian and
East German Olympic Victors. (New York: St. Martm's Press, 1987), XVII.

"'DTSB ProtokoUauszug der 75ten Sekretariatsshzung, Oct. 19,1971, Spr. 7

Olympische Spiele 1972, Jan. 18,1966-28, 1972, DYl2/365/9245, SAPMO, 2.

""Brian Chapman, "Physical Education and Sport in Schools of East Germany,"

AustraUan Joumal for Heahh. Physical Education and Recreation. 82, (Dec. 1978): 13.

'"Dieter Wales and Wolfgang Ghter, "Milestones m the 30 Years History of the
GDR: 7. The Successfiil Seventies," Sports m the GDR. 4,1979,10.

'"Brian Chapman, "East of the WaU: East German Traming Is Aimed at Moscow
1980," Runner's World. Mar. 1978, 61.

"'Dr. paed. Hans Schnflrpel, Deutsche Hochschule fur Korperkultur Leipzig:

Studienplan Diplom Sportlehrer. (Leipzig: DHfK, 1965), Studientafel See also: Merry

232
witii the degree of scientific appUcation of theory to practice, pressmg for various frammg

methods which drew on research and successful experience. Specialized research for each

athletic disciplme was emphasized.'^*

While the West Germans refer to the GDR sports system as an "island of

capitaUsm m socialism," many of the athletes were not convmced that caphaUsm offered

a better sports system. Many of the one-tune GDR athletes who are frammg for or have

personaUy experienced or witnessed the system of united Germany clahn the FRG system

to be greatly mferior to that of the GDR. Both world class shotput throwers Hehna

Knorscheidt and Udo Beyer consider the level of elhe sports to have declined

substantially smce the FRG takeover."' World Champion swimmer Jorg Hofifinann

considers no aspect of the FRG system worthy of retaining. When asked what specific

aspect he would retain from the FRG eUte sports system, his response was, "Nothing!"'^"

Olympic gold medalist iceskater Anett Potzsch deems the FRG rejection of GDR

MUler, "What Hath GDR Wrought?" Scholastic Coach. 47, no. 6, (1978): 86, 88, 119.
MUler further Usts the specific subjects in social sciences as having hicluded hitroduction
to logic, sports psychology, theory and history of sport, world sports movement, national
and mtemational sports problems, the organization of the GDR sports system, Olympic
poUcy and the management of sports culture and, of course, Marxism-Leninism. Natural
sciences studied consisted of mathematics, statistics, anatomy, physics, biology,
chemistry, biomechanics, and sports medicine. These topics would fill the first two years
of studies with the last two comprised of courses pertahiing dfrectly to a specific athletic
discipline. MiUer comments that this was 40% theory and 60% appUcation.

"*Beschluss zur weheren Entwicklung des Leistungssports in der DDR im

Zeitraum 1981-1985 und zur Vorbereitung auf die Olympischen Spiele, 1984, Anlage Nr.
5 zum ProtokoU Nr. 49, Dec. 2, 1980, Shzung des PoUtburos des ZK der SED, DY30
JIV2.2 1869, SAPMO, 16,18,22.

"Interviews with Knorscheidt and Beyer.

"Interview with Hoffinann.

233
systematic frammg "regrettable" and wishes the GDR's basic foundational trahung for

ice skaters would be adopted hi order to prevent mjuries.'^' A sUver medalist m the

discus, Wolfgang Schmidt, scorns the FRG trahung system, commentmg:

Is there a frammg system here? In all seriousness, in comparison to the GDR, [the
FRG] is purely amateur. What the Federal RepubUc was and is economically, that
is what the GDR was m sports: a soUd elhe sports system. And what the GDR
was economically, is what sports are here [in the FRG].'^'

StiU, the capitaUst hnpulses of material reward for medals and awards did seem to

exert the usual mcentive m the GDR. While Beyer disdams the FRG trahimg system, he

believes that the material advantages offered successfiil athletes play a decisive role hi

the athletes' desfre to excel.'^^ Two-thne Olympic Champion javelhi thrower Ruth Fuchs

remarked that anonymous gifts of money were mysteriously sUpped to athletes after

achievhig awards in world class events, compromising the confractual agreement to

maintain amateur status.'^" Many athletes believe that the material advantages inherent

to whining medals were significant, but were not the most important feature in motivating

them to excel. Like most athletes everywhere, many assert thefr love of sports alone as

thefr chief motivator. They were and are athletes, "body and soul"'^' Other athletes

professed that the intrigue of travelhig abroad, oftenthnes to the forbidden West, was a

tremendous lure m being 'faster, higher, sfronger.' Rowers Kamchen and Maas, handball

'"Interview with Potzsch.

'"Interview with Schmidt, hi Hartmann, 214.

'"Interview whh Beyer.

""Fuchs, Lorbeerkranz und Trauerflor. 83.

"'Interviews with Schauerhammer, Knorscheidt, Grfiner, Schulz, and Cierphiski.

234
player Kahlert, weightUfter Weller as weU as wrestler Hartmann yearned for the sights

unseen and unknown by thefr fellow countrymen, declarmg this thefr greatest

mcentive. Despite these yearnings, not one shigle athlete mterviewed expressed a

desfre to defect during the GDR period.

Unremarkably, athletes responded differently to my questions regardmg

motivation than they did hi a pre-1989 sttidy done by javelm Champion Ruth Fuchs (see

her dissertation. Motivation Development m Long Term Performance BuUd-UpX'^' In

the pre-1989 study, no athlete clahned to be mspfred by travel as this type of candor

might have caused a rift wdth the reghne. WhUe some athletes gave Fuchstitieexpected

answer that poUtical motivation sthnulated thefr winning performances, my interviewees

never saw this as a sellmg point. In fact, several athletes scomed the whole notion of

poUtical education serving as a motivation. Many simply clahned that aUegiance to

Marxist-Leninist ideology was part and parcel of thefr upbrmging, but was peripheral at

best to galvanizing them to excel.'^* WhUe the physical presence of the Wall in Berlin

(and demarcating East and West German borders elsewhere) represented the most visible

symbol of thefr isolationfromthe West, the athletes were less restricted than most GDR

chizens. (See Figure 24). Segregationfromwestem athletes Ukewise received lukewarm

compliance during the GDR period. Many athletes would feign the mandated aloofiiess

from westem athletes at intemational competition, but would evade thefr Stasi

'"Interviews whh Weller, Kahlert, Kamchen, Maas, and Hartmann.

"Tuchs, Motivationsentwicklung hn Langfristigen Leistimgsaufljau.
"*See aU mterviews of athletes.
235
watchguards and secretly meet for socializmg after events.'^' Cierphiski expressed a

desfre to mteract with his American counterpart Frank Shorter but was mhibited, not by

the orders of sports autiiorities, but by his mabilhy to speak EngUsh.'"" Shotput

Champion Beyer esteemed his relationships to Americans from his years as an active

competitor m particular. The friendships he made m this thne period have been sustamed.

He also commented that the EngUsh he acqufred was from American athletes, whom he

assessed as demonstratmg the most sportsmanlUce conduct of any athletes he knew.'"'

Many other athletes were aware of Stasi patrols and adhered, at least superficially, to the

Party adjurations out of fear of unknown punitive measures.'"' Anett Potzsch comments

specifically on her relationship to athletes from the West:

B-Did you have acquamtances or friends among the athletes [m the West]?
A-Well one knew many athletes and we got along well together but...
B-You weren't aUowed to have contact with them.
A-It wasn't aUowed. StUl, we got together at compethion and we taUced to them
That's normal
B-And you didn't have contact with them by mail
A-We weren't aUowed to do that. And I didn't do that because one caused a lot of
problems if one did things we weren't aUowed to do. And sport was very
important to me, so one would try to atUiere to the mles.'"^

The control exerted over the athletes attendhig intemational events started long

before they even boarded the plane. An obsessive attention to detaU and planning

"Interviews whh Beyer and Schauerhammer. Dietmar Schmickler, "Es muss sich
lohnen hn Land zu bleiben," Deutsches AUgememes Sonntagsblatt. Hamburg, 13 July
1990.

'"Interview whh Cierpinski.

'"'Interview with Beyer.

'"'Interview with Hartmann.

'"'Interview with Potzsch.

236
revealed m the documents mdicates an unprecedented micro-management of the athletes'

behavior, attfre, attitude, and activhies. The Olympic files reveal planning of matters

such as not only how the athletes should be attfred m thefr free thne and m thefr marching

clothes for the stadium, but also how the delegates, trainers, officials, sports scientists,

judges, press delegation, and GDR tourists should be attfred. Lists were issued mdicatmg

how many pafrs of socks, shfrts, pants, and other hems of clothing could be packed. The

Usts were even gender-specific.'""

If one divorces the stmcture of the systemfromthe poUtical trappings of ideology

and party confrol and in this case some might consider that a questionable endeavor, one

can see that the advantages of the GDR sports system clearly outweighed the

disadvantages. At least that is how the athletes themselves perceived h. When asked what

the advantages were, the answers were both varied and numerous. Shotputter Udo Beyer

and swimmer Jorg Hofifinann both believe the system as a whole should be revived.

Biomechanist Klaus Bartonietz praises the systematic approach tofrauiingand the dfrect

application of scientific sports theory to practice. Ice skater Anett Potzsch would Uke to

see more year-round comprehensive trahiing. Wrestler Frank Hartmann commends the

regular testmg of the athletes' health and physical abilhies.'"' When asked what the

perceived disadvantages were, many athletes were hard pressed to answer. TypicaUy,

disadvantages cited had less to do with the athletic system hself and more with the

curtaUments mherent to a confined society operatmg whhm the strictures of a

'""DTSB Tagesordunung, Berlm, Mar. 9,1972, DY12/365 s. pr. 7,9245

Olympische Spiele 1972,18/1/1966-28/11/1972, SAPMO.
'"'Interviews v^dth Beyer, Bartonietz, Potzsch, and Hartmann.

237
dictatorship. One athlete expressed cynicism towards the system, but believed that the

athletes of the GDR would have prevailed nevertheless, whether steroids were abused or

not, due to the remarkable characteristics afready noted.'"* The advantages most

frequently mentioned had to do whh the coordmation of training to education, the state

sponsorship, the high level of scientific research and methods as applied to trahung, and

the thorough organization of the Children and Youth Sports Schools. Many also greatly

appreciated the security afforded them with respect to fiiture job placement and

educational stipends as weU as the availabiUty of highly quaUfied coaches. Perceived

disadvantages had to do typicaUy v^th curtaUment of freedom to travel after one's

athletic career ended, inabUhy to change coaches, and behig "sieved" out of the system if

performance was not forthcoming.'"' Many of the athletes decry the tendency of the post-

Wall German press to over-hype the disadvantages or stories of steroids and downplay

what they consider to be a very well conceived system. One female track athlete, who

wishes to remain anonymous, assesses the West German historians' reduction of the

GDR's sports system's successes to steroids and Stasi:

They themselves weren't there, they don't know what good things and
what....they only know what the bad things were m our system. They don't know
what the good thmgs are. And if one East German said, "This was bad," then they
take that and state, "You see, 95% of East Germans have said h was bad." But
that's not the way h was. They have this atthude o^ "If you know the opfruon of
one, then you know the ophuon of all of them." I think that's terrible.'"*

World Champion swhnmer J6rg Hofifinann states even more to the pomt:

'"'Interview with Schulz.

'"'Interviews whh Potzsch, Beyer, SchuLz, Hartmann, Knorscheidt, Zotschke,

Maas, Kamchen, Schauerhammer, and WeUer.

'"interview with a female track athlete.

238
 The way h is m the press is that h has to have a sensationalistic character or h
won't be read. NaturaUy, many thmgs are felsified m order to anhnate the
reader...otherwise, no one wUl be hiterested. And from that perspective, whUe
many thmgs are exaggerated, there are also many thhigs that are tme but are
sfretched and maybe suppressed. On the other hand, I thmk h's sad that people
here m the West pass judgment on how thhigs were m the East, and actuaUy have
no idea what happened then...I doubt these people are tryhig to help them, they're
only trymg to profit from them'"'

The predominantly favorable answers of the athletes m respect to thefr

assessments of the GDR sports system are surprising, given the post-WaU dismantling of

GDR sports organizations, the stories and rumors of steroid saturation, and a general

decrying of the "anti-humanitarian" elements attributed to the system as a whole, by

Germans as weU as Americans. Negative frmuendoes along these Ihies have reached the

American mamsfream press as they did in July of 1999 in a Thne magazine article:

Watching the crazy cuhure of kids' sports m America today, a cynic might marvel
at how the world has changed. The good news is that the cold war is over. The
bad news is that the East Germans won.""

The one-sided story of alleged systematic and universal application of

performance-enhancmg dmgs as weU as Stasi infihration appears to have permanently

blighted the reputation of the former GDR sports program, marrmg an otherwise

admfrably organized system.

'"Interview with Hoffinann.

""Andrew Ferguson, "Inside the Crazy Culture of Kids Sports," Thne. 12 July
1999, 52-60, 56.

239
Figure 1: Two time Olympic Champion Waldemar Cierpinski (right) at the Olympic
Qulifications in Eisenhiittenstadt, 1980. Bundesarchiv Koblenz, Bild 183/W0/31/31.

Figure 2: Olympic Gold Medalist for 1984, Dietmar Schauerhammer (rear) at the
Sarejevo Winter Olympic Games, works the brakes. Bundesarchiv Koblenz, Bild
183/1984/0210/119.
240
Figure 3: Dietmar Schauerhammer (far right) in 1987 at the GDR Championships,
Dresden. Bundesarchiv Koblenz, Bild 1984/0322/6.

Figure 4: European Champion swimmer in the 1500 meter freestyle, Jorg Hoffinann, won
with a time of 15:12,64 in 1990. Bundesarchiv Koblenz, Bild 1990/0205/29.
241
 :^rt2&--? .:V»C£,i„3i

Figure 5: Jorg Hoffinann competes in the 1500 meter freestyle at the European
Championships in Bonn, August 19, 1989, just a few months before the Berlin
Wall fell. Bundesarchiv Koblenz, Bild 1989/0819/9.

Figure 6: Helma Knorscheidt (right) [1983 European Champion] congratulates her

competitors for shotput at the 1981 European Championships in Grenoble, France.
Bundesarchiv Koblenz, Bild 183/Z0221/28.

242
Figure 7: Eberhard R5sch, Olympic Silver and Bronze Medalist, here at the 1978
World Championships for biathlon. Bundesarchiv Koblenz, Bild 183/10304126.

Figure 8: Eberhard Rosch, perched on teammate's shoulders, celebrates with his

team, their 4 X 7.5 Biathlon Meter Relay victory at the 1981 World
Championships in Finland. Bundesarchiv Koblenz, Bild 183/Z0216/21.

243
Figure 9: Axel Kahlert (right) gives a youthfiil admirer his autograph at the
World Championship for Handball in Berlin, 1974. Bundesarchiv Koblenz,
Bildl83/N0304/701.

Figure 10: Axel Kahlert takes a jumpshot at a Halle handball game, the GDR
versus Sweden, in 1975. Bundesarchiv Koblenz, Bild 183/P1007/52.

244
Figure 11: Germany's most successfiil weightUfter of all time, Ronny Weller, at
age 17 wins the Junior World Championship in 1987, at Frankfiirt am Oder.
Bundesarchiv Koblenz, Bild 1987/0627/28.

245
Figures 12 and 13: Anett Potzsch skates to win the 1980 World Championship
(above) in Dortmund and for the Olympic Championship in 1980 at Lake Placid.
Bundesarchiv Koblenz, (above) Bild 183/W0315/18, (below) 183/W0224/102.

246
Figure 14: 1980 Olympic Champion Ice Skater Anett Potzsch-Rauschenbach
and her youngest daughter watch older daughter compete at the Chemnitz ice
skating rink, 1997. Photo: Cole.

Figure 15: An inside view of the GDR Altenberg bobsled track. Photo: Cole.

247
Figure 16: An overview of the bobsled track at Altenberg. Photo: Cole.

Figure 17: Author Barbara Cole surveying the indoor biathlon training center
near Altenberg in 1997. Photo: Professor Dr. Giinther Wonneberger.

248
Figure 18: Professor Dr. Klaus Bartonietz, biomechanist for the throwing sports,
at work at the Schififerstadt Olympic Training Center. Photo: Cole.

249
 Figure 19: Kreischa Doping Analysis Laboratory, 1997. Photo: Cole.

Figure 20: Kreischa Doping Analysis Laboratory, 1997. Photo: Cole.

250
 ^
5po
• ^ - "

Figure 21: Poster promoting a Youth Exercise and Sports Festival in 1977 in
Leipzig. Institut fiir Zeitgeschichte und Sport, Potsdam University, 1997. Photo:
Cole.

251
Figure 22: State Secretary for Sports and Physical Culture, Professor Dr. Giinther
Erbach, gives the GDR soccer team captain Hans Jiirgen Domer, an honorary
certificate, in 1985 in Potsdam. Bundesarchiv Koblenz, Bild 1985/0518/28.

Figure 23: Udo Beyer, 1976 Olympic Champion Shotputter at the European
Championship Qualifications for GDR track and field athletes in
Neubrandenburg, 1986. Bundesarchiv Koblenz, Bild 1986/0608/24.

252
Figure 24: The last remnant of the great divider: the Berlin Wall, in front of the
Bundestagabgeordnetenhaus in Berlin, 1997. Photo: Cole.

253
 CHAPTER Vm

STASI, STERIODS,

AND VERGANGENHEITSBEWALTIGUNG

In post-WaU Germany, coming to terms with the past, or Vergangenheits-

bewdltigung, hi the wrhmg of the GDR sports history has embraced largely the more

scandalous perhneters of Siasi infilfration and the usage of performance-enhancing dmgs.

The uitemational press has also echoed the West German historians' revisionism. Whhin

Germany hself, promment newspapers, such as Munich's Suddeutsche Zeitung, attribute

nearly the entfre success of the GDR's sports program to the aUeged "state ordered,

systematic" and "universal" usage of Ulegal performance-enhanchig dmgs. Britam's

preeminent news magazine. The Economist, commented that, "...the tme secret of thefr

success was less that athletes were doped by the state, more that the state doped hself

with athletes."^ Canada's Mc Lean's asserted that the GDR's "astonishmg success

depended heavily on the systematic use of Ulegal dmgs."^ In 1979 the New York Thnes

was quick to report on sprmter Renate Neufeld-Spassov's 1978 defection and recountmg

of mandatory mgestion of pUls, which pUls were later confirmed hi the FRG to be

anaboUc steroids." Neufeld-Spassov's tale, told at length to Der Spiegel m 1979, was the

'Robert Hartmann, "Erne NOK-Ehrung m Berlm: Brezehi 2te Klasse,"

Suddeutsche Zeitung. 5 Oct. 1998.

^"Communist Sport Machmes: BrunhUde Bows Out," The Economist, 22 Dec.

1990,67-8.
^Andrew Phillips, "A Haunted Past."McLean's. 27 July 1992, 51-2.

"John Vmocur, "East German Tale of Tyranny," New York Thnes. 11 Jan. 1979,
17,19.
254
firstfiiU-fledgedaccount of athletes taking dmgs under coercion.' Yet shortly after the

Wende, the New York Thnes prmted nary a word on ehher Stasi or steroids, choosmg

mstead to consider issues of poUtics and financial decline.* Later, the emphasis tumed

solely to steroid usage as "froves of documents" were unearthed largely from Stasi files,

uidicating a more extensive usage of performance-enhanchig dmgs than mitially

suspected.' Sweeping generalizations were made about the system in association with

doping, aU of this based on Umited testimony of health problems by the athletes.*

JoumaUst Jon Entme presented the prototypical Cold War picture of the system m his

Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports.... Entine described the GDR as

"Frankenstein," asserting that the athletes m aU sports, except saUmg and gymnastics,

were "force fed dmgs."'

This enq)hasis on Stasi and steroids for sports historians hitent on pennmg the

GDR's past has become one of the most contentious and pervasive issues m a less than

harmonious exercise of Vergangenheitsbewdltigung smce the Wende. It is the whole

'"DDR: Schluck PUlen oder kehr Fabriken aus," Der Spiegel 33, no. 12, 19 Mar.
1979, 194-207.
*Michael Janofsky, "In East Germany, Trauma Between 2 Eras," New York
Thnes. 15 Apr. 1990, Section 8: 1,4. Also: Janofsky, "Bom of Need for Recognhion,"
Ibid., 4.
'Alan CoweU, "Little Blue PiUs And a Lot of Gold," New York Thnes, 5 Apr.
1998,25,29.
*The New York Thnes also granted Potsdam University historian Giselher Spitzer
the thle "sports psychologist" when he has no such credentials. Alan Maimon, "East
German Dopmg Left a Cmel Legacy, Mothers Allege," New York Thnes, 6 Feb. 2000,1,
6.

'Jon Entme, Whv Black Athletes Dommate Sports and Why We're Afraid to TaUc
About It. (New York: PBS Public Affafrs, 2000), 310-1. Underlme mme.
255
kemel of a very heated debate m conten^rary Germany regarding the sports system of

the GDR. The acrimonious atmosphere surroundmg this topic has proven to be a very

divisive factor between East and West Germans m the difficuh period of adjustmg to

each either other m the ffrst ten years of reunification. It is often said in contemporary

Germany that there is a Wall stUl existent in people's mmd, segregathig East from

West.'" Discussion regarding the tme nature of the GDR athletic success story is just one

such point of division. It is a major point of division. The rancor of the debate hself has

captured the ear of the mtemational press as the International Herald Tribune gave h front

page bilUng in an article enthled "German Sports-Dmg Trial Poisons East-West

Rapport."" In Ught of aU this houndhig every scent of scandal, one is compelled to ask,

are the aUegations of "systematic and universal dopmg" merhed? Can one ascribe the

entfrety of the success of this system merely to savvy pharmaceutical applications, as

many West German historians such as GiseUier Sphzer of Potsdam University and the

FRG press typically do?'^ Is h tme, as Sphzer clahns, "The elite sports of the GDR could

never have made h without dopmg substances"?

Smce October 28,1993, a thorough hivestigation of the aUeged "universal and

'"WUliam Drozdiak, "Berlm Wall is gone, but united Europe stUl proves elusive,"
Washmgton Post. 9 Nov. 1999.
"William Drozdiak, "German Sports-Dmg Trial Poisons East-West Rapport,"
Intemational Herald Tribune. 19 Mar. 1998,1.
'^GiseUier Spitzer, Doping m der DDR: Em historischer tJberblick zu emer
konsphativen Praxis. (Cologne: Sfrauss Verlag. 1999). For an mterview and summary of
this work see: Interview mit GiseUier Spitzer, "Ungehemmte Dosiemngen,"
Leichtathletik. 9 Feb. 1999,16-17.
'^Frank Hartmann "Em Buch zum Super-Gau des Dopmg," Sfiddeutsche Zeittmg,
16 Dec. 1998.
256
systematic" dopmg practices of tiie sports physicians and coaches has been conducted

under the auspices of the office m Berlm known as tiie Central Investigation Office for

Government and Unification Crhnmalhy {Zentrale Ermittlungsstelle fur Regierungs- und

Vereinigungskriminalitdt, or ZERV).'" The question at hand, then, under hutial

consideration at the BerUn ZERV trials, was: under which legal system should the

defendants be judged, that of the former GDR or tiiat of the FRG? The Fifth Penal Senate

of the Federal Judicial Court decided that the judicial sovereignty of the former GDR was

to be negated." Approxhnately 680 hidividuals will be brought to testify m court for thefr

knowledge of or role m the administration and distribution of Ulegal performance-

enhancmg dmgs to athletes. The trials concem 300 athletes who aUegedly suffered

physical harm from doping, as well as four deaths.'* The deadline for wrapphig up these

trials is October 2, 2000, as the statute of Umitation on Cold War crhnes wUl then have

reached the ten-year Umh." The German Press Agency {Deutsche Presseagentur) posted

a chronology of the more significant events leading up to the trials as weU as the trials

themselves. Chiefly, the federal court was concemed with the crhnes of administermg

steroids to unwitting minors who consequently had endured physical injury resulting

'""Puzzlespiele hn Sumpf," Der Spiegel, no. 24, 6 June 1997, 127. "Jeden Tag
emen dicken Hals," Der Spiegel no. 19,4 May 1998, 67, 70,72-3.

"jfirgen Holz, "Erste Zeugen nach Ostem," Neues Deutschland. 4/5 Apr. 1998,
10.

'*"Puzzlespiel im Sumpf" [Ibid.] See also: "On Your Marks," Track and Field
News, 46, no. 3-4, Mar./Apr. 1993, 39.

"Unification day--when the German Democratic RepubUc was dissolved as a

reghne and effectively was annexed by the Federal Republic of Germany-is October 3,
1990. Hence, the ten-year statute for all crhnes of the State wUl end on October 2, 2000.

257
from excessive steroid consumption.'* Among the mitial defendants were four swhn

coaches and two sports physicians of Berlm's Sport Club Dynamo.

To the charge of issumg steroids to minors, some coaches and sports physicians

confessed m August of 1998, which is when the ffrst penahies were hnposed." By

December 7, 1998, fmes had been issued to no fewer than four sports physicians and five

coaches.^" To arrive at these fines, the judges listened to the testhnonies of 17 female

swhnmers. Nevertheless, the court affirmed that, of those who testified, there were no

confirmed mcidents of physical hijury, such as sterilhy or Uver damage.^' When former

DTSB President Manfred Ewald, along whh the Dfrector for Sports Medicme of the

GDR, Dr. Manfred HSppner, were brought to trial May 2, 2000, h was essentially an

mdicator to the pubUc that the SportfUhrer and his chief sports physician would not

emerge unscathed while the lower ranking officials were penalized.^^ The range of

Ewald's responsibilities and domain was vast in the GDR sporting scene. He was not

only DTSB President, he was the NOC President as weU. He was also a member of the

'*"Die Prozess-Stationen: Erne Chromk von Oktober 1993 bis Dezember 1998,"
Sfiddeutsche Zehung. 12 Aug. 1998, 33.

""DDR-Dophig: Gericht feUt erste UrteUe gegen Artze und Trahier,"

Sfiddeutsche Zeitung. 21 Aug. 1998,4.

^"Among them were the famous Rolf Glaser and Dieter Bums, swhn coaches at
[East] Berihi's Sport Club Dynamo, along whh other swhn coaches Volker Frischke,
Dieter Lmdeman, and Dieter Krause. Three sports physicians, mcludhig Dr. Bemd
Pansold and an addhional coach, were also fined. Ibid.
21 'Schuldspmch gegen Doper m der DDR," Sfiddeutsche Zeitung. 21 Aug. 1998.
22.
"Ewald steht als Dopmg-Drahtzieher vor Gericht," Leipziger VoUcszehung. 2
May 2000, 1; Frank Mertens, "Auch Ewald und Hoppner mfissen bald vor Gericht,"
Leipziger Volkszeitung. 20 Jan. 2000,18.

258
Central Committee of the SED. Ewald was praised durmg the GDR years for many

talents, mcludmg "organizational talent, exceptional self disciplme, exemplary pragmatic

abilhy to reaUze ideology, and clever adaptabilhy." He is also known for his forcefiil

poUticization of GDR sports.^^ While some m Germany have taken exception to a

perceived hasty trial, others are reUeved that Ewald has not escaped the hand of justice,

as athletes testify of heahh problems related to dopmg.^" One hundred forty two cases of

swhnmers who endured hijury to thefr heahh have been confirmed, aU due to the

partakmg of anaboUc steroids m thefr trahung years. Most of these cases concem

swhnmers and frack and field athletes who hnbibed the Ulich substances before reachmg

adulthood. In contrast to the glowmg reports of Ewald's character given by the GDR

press before 1989, Leipzig physician Lothar Pickenhahi claimed that Ewald relentlessly

proceeded with a dopmg program with "unbelievable bmtalhy and a merciless heart."^*

Pleas that Ewald was ehher unaware of or uninvolved in any aspect of the use of any

Unterstutzende Mitteln, the euphemism for supportive means, are unlikely to meet a

sympathetic ear with the presidhig judge. Durmg his tenure as DTSB President, Ewald

had ordered Hoppner to keep the female swimmers from speakmg with joumaUsts lest

"Willi Knecht, "Manfred Ewald-SportfiUirer der DDR," Deutschland Archiv. 6,

no. 5, (1973): 468.

^""Krhik an Schnellverfehren gegen Manfred Ewald," Leipziger Volkszehung. 9

Feb. 2000, 24.

^'Paul Geitner, AP, "East German Olympic Chief on Trial,"May 2, 2000,

//A:\East German Olympic Chief on Trialhtm.

^*Roger Cohen, "In German Courtiiouse: Pam, Dopmg, Medals," New York
limes, 11 May 2000, D4.
259
they betrayed thefr artificially deep voices.^'

As for HSppner, who served also as the head of a branch organization called

"Work Group Supportive Means" from 1975 to 1990, his pleas that he was only

overseemg any dmg takmg m the best mterests of the athlete, as well as at the requests of

both parents and sportsmen and women, are even more likely to meet skeptical ears.

Hoppner clahns he was merely trymg to prevent athletes from takmg dmgs whhout

medical oversight. He also msists that he never engaged in dopmg minors and that he

acted lawfully in the GDR.^* The latter statement appears contracUctory, as most of the

recipients of the steroids and other dmgs were indeed minors; thus Hoppner's acts were

mdeed iUegal under GDR law.^'

Even in the sports capital of the GDR, Leipzig, trials are bemg held to determine

the culpabiUty of former coaches, scientists, and physicians at the Sport Club DHfK m

the trafficking of Ulich dmgs.^" Nevertheless, the press m the new federal states (former

GDR), confirms that h would be a mistake to reduce the success of the whole GDR

"Mfracle Machine" to mere doping schemes. Instead, the newspapers proclahn that the

renowned elements of the system, such as the sports schools and the expertise of the

highly skUled and much-m-demand GDR coaches, were the foremost factors m gleanmg

"Lucian Kim, "The shme is off the gold: East Germany's steroid-enhanced
Olympians," U.S. News and World Report. 15 May 2000, 31; Udo Ludwig, "Mh
unglaublicher Bmtalhat," Der Spiegel no. 18,1 May 2000, 52,54.

^*Remhard Zweigler, "Dopmg-Arzt Hoppner brfiskiert Opfer: Mitverantwortung,

aber kerne Schuld," Leipziger Volkszeitung. 6/7 May 2000, 3.

^'Wmfried Wachter, "Dunkles Kaphel" Leipziger Volkszeitung. 2 May 2000,1.

^"Frank Mertens, "Ermittlungen stehen kurz vor dem Abschluss," Leipziger

Volkszeitimg. 26/27 Mar. 2000.
260
medals.^'

The pursuh of these two themes-Stasi and steroids~hi the press and

conten^rary historical writmgs as the most pervasive if not significant elements of the

GDR sports system, has unquestionably affected the relations between East and West

Germans and the entfre reunification process. East Germans feel disadvantaged m thefr

ovm countty. The press, the judicial system, the pay scales, the pension rates, the poUtical

system, and the job market fevor first and fijremost West Germans and West German

views.^^ Stories depicted hi the press overwhelmingly present a Westem point of view.^^

Many East Germans feel subjected to a type of colonialism, particularly m matters of

sports in which the West Germans' arguments are given the greatest weight. Victor's

justice is how the East Germans perceive it.^" Eastem German newspapers are replete

with protests. One article hi an Eastem German newspaper proclaimed, whh tongue in

cheek, "GDR Sport, judged quite perfectly."^' In another newspaper, a poU conducted

among East Germans revealed that an absolute majorhy rejected the trials of GDR sports

3'lbid.

^^Volker Kluge, "Zweierlei Recht im veremten Deutschland," Neues Deutschland.

12 Aug. 1998, 3. See also: Martin Schaarschmidt, "West-ostdeutsches
Kurioshatenkabhiett," Sachsische Zeitung. 9 Sept. 1999 for a discussion on the different
pay scales for East/West Germans.

"Colleen Barry, AP "The FaU of the BerUn Wall: Ten years later, eastem
Germans find happhiess among themselves," Post Register. 9 Nov. 1999,1,4.

^"Klaus Blume, "Der Westen tritt wie erne Koloniahnacht auf," Sport 17
Oct. 1990, 27; Leserbriefe: Erhard Richter, "VerstandnisvoUer Umgang statt weiterer
Unfrieden," Neues Deutschland. 16 Feb. 2000.

^'jfirgen Holz, "DDR-Sport ganz perfekt verurteUt," Neues Deutschland. 18 Dec.

1998, 16.

261
ofificials m Berlm ahogether, whereas over half (58%) believed the trials to be highly

unjust, as only GDR sport is behig brought to task. Over half of older East Germans

(those over 50) perceived the trials as "delayed revenge." The majorhy also deplored the

high costs oftiietrials.^* As Egon Krenz, the last General Secretary for the GDR's

PoUtbfiro, clahned, "This is not a matter of dopmg, but of revenge, because the GDR was

better at sports than the FRG was."" Surprismgly, even the West German press concedes

tiiat the trials have less to do with sports and far more to do with poUtics. The Frankfiorter

Allgemeine Zeitung notes that the Berlm ZERV trials are poUtical while they "apparently

concem the only area crhnmalized m which the GDR was successful namely sports."

The feelmg among the Eastem pubUc, therefore, has heightened to unprecedented levels

of mdignation at a perceived great injustice.^*

However, the General State Attomey, Christoph Schafgen, who is overseemg the

trials and serving as Dfrector of the State Attomeys, has denied that these are poUtical

trials, claiming that those who insist otherwise are merely "imprisoned in the old way of

thinking." Schafgen msists that dopmg was "systematically applied"fromthe top down

in the GDR and this justifies brmging solely East German officials to task, even though

West Germans were also extensively mvolved hi dopmg schemes.

^*"Sachsische Zeitung Umfrage: Dopmg Prozessefindenhn Osten wenig

Verstandnis." Sachsische Zeitung. 18 May 1998.
^'Frank Mertens, "Fur Krenz ist Dopmg-Anklage nur Revanche des Gegners,"
Leipziger Volkszeitung. 19 Mar. 1998, 23.
^*Michael Remsch, "Egon Krenz sieht wieder ehunal westdeutsche Revanche am
WerL" Frankfiuter AUgememe Zeitung. 25 Mar. 1998, 3.
^'Frank Mertens, "Auch Manfred Ewald muss bald vor Gericht," Leipziger
VoUcszeitung. 18 Dec. 1998.
262
 Accordmg to Michael Lehner, an attomey for the athletes, this Historikerstreit has

even fiulher-reachmg poUtical and historical roots than is evident at first glance. The

trials may be conducted to prove that Germans, nowadays, unlUce after World War II, are

able and wUlmg to judge thefr own poUtical and/or moral errors. Lehner has remarked

that:

We want to show what was done hi the totaUtarian system It must be brought to
light, and we hi Germany are hardly ever hiterested m this. We never did much to
uncover information about the Nazis.""

In his report to the Enquete Commission, Wemer Franke draws a parallel to the

role of sports m the GDR and its intemational propaganda value to that of the Hhler

reghne and the hoped-for display of "Aryan" superiorhy durhig the 1936 Olympics."'

East German historians, in turn, claim that the real Nazi sympathizers in sports were the

West Germans. After the Second World War, m 1947, Hitler's General Secretary for the

National Olympic Committee, Carl Diem, became the ffrst ChanceUor of West

Germany's leadhig sports college situated m Cologne. In addhion, Hhler's Reich

SportfUhrer, Karl Ritter von Hah, became President of the Federal Republic's National

Olympic Committee. Articles appear periodically m the East German-based Beitrage zur

Sportgeschichte. a joumal dedicated to the apologetics of the GDR sport system, to

indicate the West Germans' wUlmgness to grant prestigious poshions to former Nazi

sports leaders."^ The Historikerstreit hivolves, then, a concerted effort to prove latent

""Gregory Katz, "A Dose of ReaUty: Dmg disclosures tamt East German glory,
haunt generations of athletes," DaUas Mommg News. 7 Aug. 1998,14B.

"'Franke, 914.

"^BClaus Huhn, "Bemerkungen zu emem Diem-Piadoyer," Beitrage zur

Sportgeschichte. 3, (1997): 113-23. Hehnuth Westphal, 'Thilosophie Wurzeta der
263
Nazi sympathies of the opponent.

Perhaps the Nazi sympathies were latent, or perhaps they were overt. The traU to

this past for botii pre-Wall Germanys is clearly distmguishable. Predatmg tiie Nazi era,

Germany as a whole has, historically speakmg, been the forerunner m sports medicme. In

September 1912, the world's first sports medicme conference took place m Oberhof,

eastem Germany's leadhig ski resort (and fiiture frammg ground for the GDR's wmter

Olympians). Also, for the first thne, as a resuh of this conference, the world's first sports

physicians' association was established. In Gmnewald, then outside of BerUn, m 1913,

the first sports physician was given an ofificial poshion under the auspices of the German

Reich's Committee for the Scientific Research of Physical Exercise. In May 1920, the

fu-st sports college m the world was established m Berlhi and served as the forerunner to

sports coUeges m Leipzig (East) and Cologne (West). Among these ffrsts was also the

estabUshment, m 1924, of the world's first professional sports medical joumal m

Germany."^ Research mvolvmg human reactions to testosterone was pioneered m

Germany prior to World War II."" Sports historian John Hoberman assesses that sports

medicine started ezirUer in Germany than in any other country and was manned by

physicians with largely conservative, "volkisch" values, consistent with those manifested

Theorie und Praxis Carl Diems m den Beziehungen zwischen Krieg und Sport," Beifrage
zur Sportgeschichte. 4 (1998): 29-40. Kleine Enzyklopadie: Korperkultur und Sport.
(Leipzig: German CoUege for Physical Culture and Sports, 1965), 697-8.

"^W. Holhnann, '75 Jahre organisierte deutsche Sportmedizin," hi Rudem:

sportmedizmische und sportwissenschaftUche Aspekte. (Berlin/Heidelberg: Sprmger
Verlag, 1988), 5-6.

""Terry Todd, "AnaboUc Steroids: The Gremlms of the Sport," Joumal of Sport
History. 14, no. 1, (Spring 1987): 93.

264
later by the Nazi reghne."' Dopmg m Germany apparently fraces back to the Nazi era."*

Reportedly the first healthy mdividuals to mgest anaboUc steroids were not athletes, but

Hhler's SS members, the dmgs bemg admmistered to mcrease the SS troops'

aggressiveness."' One physician even speculates that Hitler's volatile mood swmgs could

be attributed to the Ffihrer's practice of usmg testosterone."* The study of human

performance under the GDR reghne became intertwined with medicme all the more and

was elevated to a science, uicorporatmg the skUls of engmeers, physicians,

pharmacologists, biomechanists, nutrhionists, and others."' In the post-WaU years, many

of the East German sports physicians even endeavored to market themselves and ply thefr

skiUs by pubUshmg research resuhs that would have been highly confidential material m

tiie GDR.'"

"'John Hoberman, "The Early Development of Sports Medichie m Germany," m

Jack W. Berryman, Roberta L. Park, eds. Sport and Exercise Science: Essays hi the
History of Sports Medicine. (Chicago: University of IlUnois Press, 1992), 232.

"*D. Reisser, "Uber Doping und Dopmgmittel" in Leibesfibungen und korperUche

Erziehung. (Berlin: Weidmann, 1933), 393-6.

"'Robert E. Wmdsor, MD, "AnaboUc steroid use by athletes," Postgraduate

Medicme. 84, no. 4, (15 Sept 1988): 41. See also: H. Haupt, G. Rovere, "Anabolic
steroids: a review of the Uterature," American Joumal of Sports Medichie, 12, no. 6,
(1984): 469-84.

"*Todd, 93.

"'Carl Hoffman, "Attack! Explode!" Smithsonian. 30, no. 2, (May 1999): 71.

'"Michael Janofeky, "East Germans To SeU Secrets to Mamtam Sports Program,"

New York Thnes. 17 Dec. 1989,1, 30. See also: R. Hacker and H. De Marees, eds.,
Hormonelle Regulation und pschophvsische Belastung im Leistungssport, (Cologne:
Deutsche Arzte Verlag, 1991). One work tiiat was advertised but apparently never
published was S. E. Stauzenberg, et al., Sportmedizfri. Gnmdlagen der
sportmedizmischen Betreuung. (Leipzig: Johann Ambrosius Barth).

265
 In respect to more recent GDR history, because some 680 mdividuals will be

brought to court m Berlm m the dopmg trials before the statute of Ihnhations expfres on

October 2,2000, this ejqjerience could be Ukened to a German-style McCarthyism m

sports, as aUeged dopmg villahis and thefr defenders are rooted out and banned from thefr

professions for Ufe." Outcries of foul play to the (West) German Sports Federation

President, Hehnut Digel compelled hhn to confirm that, yes, prior to the Wende, many

mdividuals in the Federal RepubUc had also engaged extensively m illegal dmg usage.'^

In fact, many such cases m West Germany resuhed m fataUties and attracted mtemational

attention. Such was the case whh shot putter Ralf Reichenbach and the highly dmgged

track star Bfrgh Dressel, whose visage was depicted post mortem on the cover of Der

Spiegel. In a Spiegel interview with the FRG frack and field sports physician. Dr.

Manfred Steinbach, the doctor conceded that he had conducted medical experhnents on

"Professor Dr. Amd Kriiger, a West German sports historiem at GOttingen

University, has been accused by both Dr. Giselher Spitzer and Professor Dr. Hans
Joachhn Teichler for having worked as an "unofficial coUeage" [spy] for the GDR. The
source used for this accusation is a Stasi letter hidicathig that "Hans" (aUeged to be
Krfiger) was enable and willmg of revealmg West German sports mformation to the East
German secret police. [See footnote #5. hi Chapter IX]. A post WaU analysis of this case
clearly debunks this aUegation as revealed by Dr. Hans Sunon, a former DHfK instmctor
m sports history, who writes that aU contacts with West Germans were routmely reported
to the Mhustry for State Security. The depiction of Krfiger as a spy is a case of
McCarthyism, as Shnon asserts, as the relationship of Krfiger to GDR sports officials was
a completely normal one. Hans Shnon, "Oflfener Brief-statt emer Rezension." Beitrage
zur Sportgeschichte. 6 (1998): 80-6.

'^This has become common knowledge and has been published extensively m the
FRG. press. See, for example: "Das Zeug hat mich v^dld gemacht," Der Spiegel 44, no.
13,26 Mar. 1990,236-48; Margot Budzisch, et al., Dopmg m der BRD. (BerUn: Spotless
Verlag, 1999); Berendok, 246-81.

'^Jfirgen Holz, "Anaboles Ende," Neues Deutschland. 17 Feb. 1998. For a

tiiorough analysis of Dressel's death see: Berendok, 255-8; 418-20. "Rutschbahn m den
legalen Drogensump^" Der Spiegel 41, no. 37, 7 Sept. 1987, 228-53.
266
mmors, usmg anaboUc steroids. The Spiegel mterviewer also confronted Stehibach whh

the documented fact that 120 West German athletes m frack and field alone had been

tested poshive for iUegal substances m the few years prior to 1990.'" In the meanthne, a

scientific study was produced at the Federal Institute for Sports Science at the Sports

CoUege m Cologne that mvestigated the use of testosterone on the regenerative abUhies

of athletes after trahiing and compethion. The study was conducted with financing from

the West German federal govemment." Mystifymg to the East German public, such

abuses are less lUcely to be prosecuted than are the GDR cases. Part of this could be

ascribed to the fact that, m the GDR documentation was painstakingly kept, whereas m

the FRG h was not.'* Even the President of the Track and Field Federation m Germany,

Hehnut Digel declared that h was a mamfestation of both a double standard and

hypocrisy to prosecute only GDR instances of dopmg violations."

Indeed, many East Germans perceive the Berlin dophig trials as a type of

generalized denunciation of the GDR as doping is considered to be not a phenomenon

unique to the GDR, but a global problem.'* Other countries' sports officials are conung

'"Stembach justified the doping of mmors by clahning, "It was just a scientific
endeavor done m a thne when anaboUcs played no role m sports and were not to be
declared an illegal substance m sports for some thne." "Schicksalstunde des Sports," Der
Spiegel 50,1990,266-7.

"Robert Hartmann, "AnaboUka-Experimente m West-Deutschland," Frankfiuter

Rundschau. 26 Oct. 1991.

'*"Weitere Tramer und Arzte angeklagt," Neues Deutschland. 6 Apr. 1998.

""Digel: Dopmg-Auflclarung auch hn Westen befreiben," Leipziger

Volkszeitung. 26 Jan. 1998,19.

'*Jens Konig, "Wer hat denn die Medaillen gewonnen? Unsere." Tageszeitung, 19
Mar. 1998, AktueUes 2.
267
out of the closet, professmg to have been equally mvolved m dophig matters. Czech

sports authorhies conceded that a systematic dopmg program was m operation throughout

the 1980s m Czechoslovakia, among track andfieldathletes as well as among

participants of other Olympic disciplmes." Coach CharUe Francis, known most for his

famous charge, Canadian sprmter Ben Johnson, whose ignominy consists of setthig world

records whUe anaboUcaUy "mspfred," decUned to answer whether dophig was ubiquitous

m aUfrackfederations unless his lawyer was present.*" West German athletes who were

active in con:^)ethion before the endmg of the Cold War are also commg forth to confess

to the widespread usage of drugs m thefr disciplme, as did the World Champion hi the

100 meters, FRG swimmer Walter Kusch, who also holds 26 German Championship

thles.*' West German Kusch's successes occurred prior to the WaU falUng.

Yet various athletes who competed agahist East Germans have called for a retum

of thefr medals and a rewriting of sports history. Some have remahied silent on the

matter. One notable athlete, the Olympic marathon Champion of 1972, Frank Shorter,

was defeated at the 1976 Olympics by East German Waldemar Cierphiski, whh Shorter

claiming hi respect to the ongohig investigations via Internet, "Obviously, I am

mterested." Yet Shorter did not caU for recfress. In the absence of evidence to implicate

Cierpinski, American sports journalists accept his record of two Olympic gold medals as

""On Your Marks," Track and Field News. Apr. 2000, 30.
*°"AnabolUca hn Vatflcan besorgt," Der Spiegel 46,1990, 236-7.
*'Hans-Joachim Seppeh, "Mensch, lass uns das doch mal ausprobieren," m Hans-
Joachim Seppeh and Holger Schfick, eds. Anklage Kmderdopmg: Die Doppehnoral
(BerUn: Tenea VerlagfifrMedien, 1990), 279-89.
268
valid.*^ The issue preoccupied the IOC Executive Committee when the trials in Berlhi

first commenced. On the table was the issue of recallmg medals. The Belgian member of

this committee, Jacques Rogge, commented that this was not possible as h has been a

mmhnum often years or more smce any alleged dophig occurred. Providhig proof at this

point would be hnpossible.*^ IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch also stated

pomtedly that there would be no medal returns or rewritmg of sports history due to

fmdmgs on the GDR athletes or trial outcomes. Many national Olympic committees

protested the decision in vain.*" Contributors to newspapers hi the eastem sector of

Germany msist that h would be a mistake to reduce all the GDR's successes to a

sophisticated dopmg methodology. They also assert that h would be unjust to rewrite

histoty, given the prevalence globally of doping in sports.*' The judge of the trials,

Hansgeorg Brautigam, appeared himself to stmggle for clarity as to the whole hitent of

the trials as he prefaced the proceedmgs with the comment that, "Ffrst and foremost h

must be clear here what this all concerns."**

This German-style quasi-McCarthyism has evoked repeated outcries in the new

Federal States of Germany, as the eastem German press prints hs hiterpretation of the

*^Letters: "The East German Problem," Track and Field News. Apr. 2000, 61. See
also Interview with Cierphiski Cierphiski pomtedly states that he did not take Ulich
dopmg substances.

*^"IOC: Kerne Strafe fur DDR-Dopmg," Leipziger VoUcszeitung. 17 Sept. 1998.

*""Last Lap."Track and Field News. Mar. 1998, 74-5. Gfinter Deister, "Kerne
Aberkennung der DDR-Medaillen," Neues Deutschland. 14 Dec. 1998.

*'Thomas Bach, "Geschichte nicht umschreiben," Leipziger Volkszeitung. 15 Jan.

1998, 18.

**"War's der SoziaUsmus?" Tageszeitung. Mar. 19,1998, Aktuelles 2.

269
frials. A journalist hi BerUn proclahns that h is, m fact, "tiie entfre GDR sport [system]

which is sittmg on the defendants' bench."*' One professor m Berlm wrote, "the trials

have a very clear poUtical character," m that dopmg is a global condhion. He went on to

say that "tiie unstated goal here is to not let up on humiliatmg and rendering the people of

the former GDR more hisecure."** In the same issue one reader corrects Spiegel editor

Rudolf Augstem for accusing the one-thne most famous of GDR athletes, cyclist Gustav

("Tave") Schur, of usmg steroids m 1972. The reader found this provocatively misleading

as not only did Schur end his athletic career m 1964, but the cyclist ended his career at a

thne when steroids were not even m use.*' StiU, other East German followers of the trial

assumed a more even-handed poshion, as did the world record holder m the discus from

1988, Jfirgen Schult, who stated: "Whoever is guilty should be punished. But they've

created this picture of the evU East Germans."'"

Former GDR athletes currently competing for united Germany find themselves

pressed to defend pre-or post-Wende successes. The two-thne Olympic Champion in the

javelhi and current member of the FRG parUament, Dr. Ruth Fuchs, has conceded

publicly that during her GDR athletic career she took substances that enabled her body to

recover more readUy and endure the stress of training. Fuchs has publicly expressed

*'Haiisjifrgen Wille, "Moment mal: Bittere PiUen," Berliner Morgenpost. 27 June

1999.

**Prof Dr. Horst Ankermann, "Wenn schon, denn schon: Der gegenwartige
Prozess m Berlm hat emdeutig poUtischen Charakter," Neues Deutschland. 16 Apr. 1998,
16.

*'jo Benjamm, "AUes Ltigen," Neues Deutschland. 16 Apr. 1998, 16.

'""Arzten drohen bemfliche Folgen.'T.eipziger Volkszeitung. 22/23 Aug. 1998.

270
contempt for the entfre BerUn dopmg trials, assessmg them to be "considerable

hypocrisy." The German spfrh of McCarthyism is palpable m that "Anyone can accuse

anyone of anythmg that suits one's own purposes~so long as h is dfrected agahist the

GDR."" Fuchs crypticaUy remarked that anyone from the GDR who purports that the

takmg of performance-enhanchig dmgs is a worldwide problem is automatically accused

of defendmg the GDR's "unjust system." Dagmar Hase, the most successful German

swhnmer smce the Wende, has been asked repeatedly if her success is due to any

substances taken durmg the GDR's existence. Raised m Magdeburg m the GDR, Hase

clahns that she is unaware if any Ulegal substances were given her, but, as the former

GDR swhnming Champion, her success has only escalated smce the Wende, and not

decUned, as one would expect of an athlete who had been subjected to artificial means of

performance enhancement during the GDR's existence.'^ The Olympic and World

Champion m the shotput, Astrid Kumbemuss, believes that GDR athletes are being

stigmatized by the Berlin trials. WhUe most of her world class medals were achieved

after the Wende, she asserts that she is continually pressured to justify her successes from

1987 to 1989. Kumbemuss regrets that the old sports system of the GDR was so quickly

dismantled.'^ Another famous GDR athlete who has succeeded mostly as a post WaU

athlete, and who is a three-time whmer of the Boston marathon, runner Ufe Pippig, was

"Ruth Fuchs, "Die DDR, das Dophig und die Pharisaer," Neues Deutschland.
10/11 Jan. 1998, 1.

'^Wolfgang Richter (hiterview whh Dagmar Hase) "Wer hn Glashaus sitzt..."

Neues Deutschland. 18 Mar. 1998,16.

'^Jfirgen Holz, "Uns wfrd ehi Stempel aufgedrfickt," Neues Deutschland. 7 Oct.
1998.

271
shnilarly branded as 'another East German case' when she tested poshive for high

testosterone levels. Pippig was brought to task hnmediately by the German Track and

Field Association {Deutsche Leichtathletik Verbandes, or DLV). The runner contested the

resuhs, protestmg that not only were the tests maccurate, but tiiat she had recently ceased

takmg bfrth control piUs and her hormonal balance was skewed. Medical documentation

substantiated Pq)pig's claim. Nevertheless, Pippig was suspended for two years, even

though she passed dmg tests before and after the test that had mdicated hormonal changes

of higher than average testosterone levels." While Pippig is contestmg the decision of the

DLV, she is also considermg runiung hi the 2000 Olympic marathon event...as an

American. The US American Track Federation (USTAF) readily accepted her.'* Sprinter

Kafrm Krabbe, an athlete of particular popularhy due to her speed as well as her stunning

beauty, faced a similar conundmm. Krabbe was compelled to deny aU knowledge of

doping and instead placed blame on her trainer when she was caught submittmg precisely

the same urme sample as two other athletes in a dmg test. The Intemational Amateur

Athletics Federation readmitted Krabbe after suspendmg a four-year ban due to a

technicaUty m the proceedhigs."

Germany's most successfiil athlete of both East and West Germanys combmed,

sbc thne Olympic Champion swimmer Kristm Otto, has been caught m the maelstrom of

'""Pippig beantragt Anhorung," Leichtathletik. no. 49,1 Dec. 1998.

""Stattis Quo," Track and Field News. Dec. 1998, 61.

'*"Als US-AmerUcanerm hat Ufa Pippig Olympia-Chance," Leipziger

Volkszeitting. 27 Dec. 1999,27.

""The Steroid Olympics," The Economist. 4 July 1992, 89.

272
dnig use accusations. While medical documentation from the former dophig laboratory of

the GDR, Kreischa, has been brought forth to prove that at least at one pomt Otto had

been a recipient of anaboUc steroids, she has repeatedly denied knowledge of havmg

taken any such supportive means.'* Otto also clahned to have doubts as to the verachy of

"document-decodmg" (le., codes were used to represent athletes) from the dophig test

laboratory m Kreischa. These codes, if tme, indicated her to have tested poshive. Yet her

Stasi files have absolved Otto, as no mention is made of any doping activhy. She has also

claimed to be bereft of the typical physical symptoms, (e.g., an artificiaUy deep voice,

overly masculine muscularity) which serve as indicators of steroid usage. This is at least

a visibly accurate assertion. Confroversy surrounded the case as other swhnmers, such as

Sylvia Schenk, conceded to the presence of "supportive means" among GDR swimmers

of Otto's ranking. Schenk asserted Otto's denials were dishigenuous." Another former

swhn colleague of Otto's, Karfri Konig, clahned, "AU of us took h, and we aU knew what

everyone else was taking. How can Kristm Otto let her Olympic victories be celebrated

and present herself as this grandiose sports reporter when manipulation was the spiel?"

Otto was to have received the prestigious Hans-Heinrich-Sievert prize from the German

Olympic Society, as the united nation's most highly decorated athlete ever, yet, due to the

resuhmg heated discussions, she declmed the honor. Even the President of the German

'*PhiUip Whitten, "Proof of East German Drug Use," Swfrnmmg World and
Junior Swhnmer. Dec. 1994, 51.

"Frank Mertens, "Kristm Otto sieht kerne Hmweise fur Dopmgvergangenheh,"

Leipziger Volkszeitung. 20 Oct. 1997,26. See also Christopher Keil, "Erne Tramer-
Delegation, vielfach belastet," Sfiddeutsche Zehung. 18 Aug. 1997.

*"Robert Hartmann, "Kristm Otto attackiert," Suddeutsche Zeitung. 15 Sept. 1997,

17.
273
Olympic Society, WUdor HoUmann, conceded that Otto was yet agam another pawn m

the conflict between East and West.

I find that m the face of the entfre situation with considerable [support] both for
and agahist [her] that the reaction of Ms. Otto was highly honorable, and above
aU, appropriate to the thmg and the situation.*'

Another famous swfrnmer from the former GDR who is dismayed by the trials is

Franziska van Ahnsick, particularly as she lost her coach, Wmfried Leopold. Leopold, an

East German who served as the head coach of the FRG's national swhn team, had his

accreditation sfripped by FIN A at the World Championships m Australia m 1998 due to

his distribution, years ago, of iUegal substances to GDR swhnmers.*^ As a consequence,

famed swimmer van Almsick not only led the uiuted German team takmg the oath at the

World Championships in Perth, but also m expressmg team soUdarity behind the deposed

coach.*^ Leopold's case is unique as not only did he profess to have been engaged in the

issuance of "supportive means" long before the trials ever commenced, but he has

retained the unmitigated respect of both westem and eastem coUeagues as weU as from

the team itself*" Because of this support, Leopold received his accredhation back from

the German Swhn Federation for the duration of the World Championships whUe his case

*'"Kristhi Otto verzichtet auf Preis und Kandidatur," Leipziger Volkszeitung. 21

Oct. 1997,20.
*^"Leopold: 'Ffihle mich doppeh bestraft,'" Speverer Tagespost. 5 Jan. 1998, 3.
*^"Franziska schwort das Team em," Speverer Tagespost. 5 Jan. 1998, 3.
*""DSV gerat vor WM emeut unter Dopmg-Dmck," Leipziger Volkszeitung. 29
Dec. 1997,21. See also: "Deutsche Schwimmer erkiaren sich mit Leopold soUdarisch,"
Leipziger Volkszeitung. 5 Jan. 1998,19. See also: "Leopold: Man kann mich arbehslos
machen," Leipziger VoUcszeitung. 7 Jan. 1998, 24.
274
was StUl pending.*'

Some former GDR athletes are testifymg agahist thefr coaches. On the 24"" day of

the proceedhigs, resuhs of medical exams were produced that revealed that Uver damage

had been mcurred, whh one recorded case of sterUhy resuhmg presumably from dmg

usage. Oddly enough, while swhnmer Carola Schmidt claimed to have received large

quanthies of piUs, as many as 36 a day, she perceived no physical changes or hijuries and

was convmced that her participation m elhe sports had been good for her.** Former swhn

star Carola Beraktschjan claimed that her coach gave her tablets that had the effect of

tremendous muscle growth and a deepened voice. Not only did Beraktschjan retum her

medals won in hitemational conpethion, but she also hoped for convictions m both cases

of the aforementioned accused coaches, Glaser and Bmus. Noteworthy is that

Beraktschjan beUeves that, desphe this negative experience, there were many admfrable

aspects of the GDR sport and that, now, the tables are tumed. "Now, in contemporary

Germany, one only speaks of dopmg m the former GDR. Before the Wende, one only

spoke [m the GDR] of dopmg m the FRG."*'

Even foreigners who have a casual glimpse into the proceedings are astounded at

the acerbic atmosphere associated with the trials. AustraUa's most famous frack star Ron

Clarke, used the expressions "witch hunt" and "lynch mob mentaUty" to describe West

German hiterference hi the Australian track organization's effort to hfre a former GDR

*'"Teamchef Leopold erhah Akkredhierung zuruck," Leipziger Volkszehung. 9

Jan. 1998,16.

**"Kmderlos wegen Dophigs," Leipziger Volkszeitung. 18 Aug. 1998.

*'Frank Mertens, "Im RfickbUckfiUUeich mich wie eme Marionette," Leipziger

Volkszeitung. 1 July 1998.
275
coach. Dr. Ekkehart Arbeh. Werner Franke, who had submitted a report enthled, "The

Function and InstiiimentaUzation of Sports m the GDR: Pharmacological Manipulation

(Dophig) and tiie Role of Science," to the Enquete Commission m Germany, sent the

dfrector of the AustraUan frack organization a wammg agahist offermg Arbeh a poshion.

Infighthig occurred then even among the West Germans hi resolvmg the situation.

Franke's action m tum prompted the Federal Republic's Vice President, Rita Sfissmuth,

to hiform the dfrector of the Bundestag, the lower house of parUament, that Franke should

cease givmg the unpression that he is employed at the behest of the Federal Republic

government.** The lAAF has also refused to take Franke's word at face value. In the face

of Franke's accusations at a U.K. Sports CouncU meethig m London that aU members of

the GDR 1980 Olympic team were doped, the lAAF PR dfrector, Giorgio Reinerl

differed:

On the basis of our rules, this isn't possible...These athletes went to doping tests;
the tests were not positive. We can only do something if an athlete admits he or
she took dmgs. We cannot use the documents of some spy organization. We are
judghig mdividuals, not the system.

Accusations of "systematic and universal" substance abuse were fueled mhially

by Brigitte Berendok and her husband, Wemer Franke, who set the baU m motion with

the search for dissertations concealed at the MUitary Academy for Medichie of the

People's Army (GDR) m Bad Saarow. These dissertations detaUed the studies of various

**Klaus Huhn, "Ffir Ron Clarke ist es 'LynchmobmentaUtat,'" Neues

Deutschland. 28 Feb. 1998,10.

*'Last Lap: "East German Dophig Machme Crhicized," Track and Field News.
Dec. 1997,66.

276
steroid applications m elhe sports.'" Berendok later wrote the tell-all journalist account of

widespread (hitemational) abuse of performance-enhancmg substances, with 13 of the 20

chapters of her book dedicated specifically to such substance abuse m the former GDR.

Franke also mstigated ZERV's review, to press charges agamst eleven East German

swhnmhig clubs for the distribution of steroids to nunors." According to Berendok's and

Franke's accounts, the spectacular successes smce the 1970s can be ascribed

predominantly, if not solely, to such supportive means as anaboUc steroids and other

muscle growth aids.'^

Such assertions leave many questions unanswered. If dophig were indeed the sole

factor m success and recallmg that systematic dmggmg was purported to have excluded

gymnastics and sailing at the Munich Games in 1972, then why is h that gymnast Karin

Janz was the most successful athlete of the East German Olympic team? If performance-

enhancing dmgs were the crhical mgredients to success, then why did the GDR excel in

sports requfring a high degree of technique, such as whh figure skating or gymnastics, in

which drugs could not improve one's performance? In 1980 at the Lake Placid Whiter

Olympic Games alone, the GDR won three medals m figure skatmg. None of the famous

GDR figure skaters, Gabi Seyfert, Katarina Witt, Jan Hoffmann, Anett Potzsch, the ice

pafr couple Mager and Bewersdorf, is mentioned in Berendok's work as dophig

recipients. AU of them were Olympic medaUsts. The luge was another disciplme m which

'"Berendok, 85.

""Mh frommen Regehi gegen eme fible Vergangenheh," Sfiddeutsche Zeitung.

10/11 Jan. 1998,1. See also: Christopher KeU, "Eme Tramer-Delegation, vielfach
belastet. Sfiddeutsche Zeitung. 18 Aug. 1997.

'^Franke, 920; Berendok, 51-ff.

277
the GDR experienced extraordinary success. From 1972 till 1984, the GDR was the

dominant nation and always an Olympic medal whmer m the luge. Agam, no mention is

made m Berendok's book of this particular sport or any of the whming athletes. Those

disciplmes that Berendok asserts were particularly subjected to dopmg, such as speed-

skatmg, oddly enough are also areas where East German athletes have continued to excel

after the Wall has fallen.'^ World records hi speed skatmg are still behig broken and races

won by the ostensibly former steroid-saturated Fraulems of East Germany such as Gunda

Niemann (3000 meters), Claudia Pechstem (5000 meters), and Monique Garbrecht (1000

meters). In the year 2000, Niemann and Garbrecht broke thefr own world records m

speed-skating, leaving thefr compethors far behind.'"

The argument on behalf of a strictly steroid-powered success story does not bear

up under the Ught of hivestigation when aU factors are considered. The American readmg

audience takes at fece value such statements as journalist Entme's that "...the only 'easily

refuted' explanation is the belief that 'sophisticated selection and fraining' are the

essential mgredients to the GDR success story."" If steroid abuse as well as other

performance-enhanchig dmgs played the significant role that some historians such as

Giselher Sphzer of Potsdam University clahn, then many questions remahi beggmg.'*

Why, for example, does the legacy of the GDR live on, as East German athletes

'^Berendok, 366.

'"Frank Thomas, "Vor-WM-Rekordshow hi Calgary," Neues Deutschland. 1 Feb.

2000.

"Entme, 315.
'*Chief among them, the aforementioned Dr. Wemer Franke, Dr. Giselher Spitzer,
and Dr. Brigitte Berendok. See Chapter I. Infroduction: The Story Behmd tiie Story, 3-fif.
278
predommate m the muted German Olympic teams in all post-WaU Olympic Games?"

The ascent in GDR athletic perfonnance also accelerated rapidly long before

steroids were deemed to be a decisive fector hi any sport. West Germany's leadhig news

magazine, Der Spiegel takes due note of this ascent. Even before the 1972 summer

Olympic Games m Munich when the East Germans won, for the ffrst thne, a higher

number of total medals than the FRG, a clear, dominance of the GDR over the FRG had

been estabUshed in the early 1960s. While accusations are that the alleged "state

sponsored universal" use of Ulegal performance-enhancing dmgs commenced in 1967,

the demarcation point for this is unclear.'* As early as 1960, during the Rome summer

Olympics, GDR athletes made up 42% of the German team. Four years later, m 1964 m

Tokyo, GDR athletes comprised more than half (52%) of the Olympians on the German

team. This was four years before West Germans claim that steroids were a significant

feature m East German performance m the Olympic Games. This high representation

ratio of East Germans on the united German Olympic team occurred when the FRG

population exceeded the GDR's by more than three to one. No records hidicate that

performance-enhancmg dmgs weighed m as a clear factor for German athletes-East or

West-m Olympic Games prior to 1968. [See Figure 25: Der Spiegel chart on foUowmg

page.]

If mdeed the use of steroids and otiier Ulegal performance-enhancmg dmgs was

the primary or sole factor which catapulted the GDR tofremendoussuccess, then crhics

"Hehnut Horatschke, "Atlanta und der deutsche Sport," Beitrage zur

Sportgeschichte. 3, (1997): 65-7.

'*Franke, 919-920.
279
 KLASSENKAMPF IM OLYMPIATEAM
Anteil der BRD und der DDR an den gesamt-
deutschen Olympia-Mannschaften (in Prozent):

BUNDES
REPUBLIK
K

m 1956 • I960 1964

K
U Melbourne Rom Tokio
Figure 25: Source: "Bei uns ist hnmer Olympia; Der Sport der DDR vor den
Sommerspielen m Miinchen," Der Spiegel 26, no. 33, 7 Aug. 1972, 87.

280
must answer as to why East German athletes experienced, durhig these relatively 'dmg

free' periods, i.e., 1960 to 1967 and the post-Wall years, both a huge growth rate hi

medal accumulation as well as a disproportionate number of all German-attamed

Olympic medals won by athletes of GDR birth and upbrmging. Durmg the latter period,

that is, the post-Wall years. East German athletes exceeded the efforts of thefr West

German counterparts while undergoing regular dmg testfrtg as members of united

German teams. Athlete Ronny Weller, for example, is united Germany's most successfiil

weightUfter of all time. In an interview he commented that he is checked for

performance-enhancing dmgs three thnes daily. This East German has also won most of

his successes shice the FaU of the Berlm Wall and not before." Yet Franke comments

that the GDR weightUftmg organization was particularly guihy of msthuting illich means

of enhanchig strength.'*'*'

In the Olympic Games folio whig the GDR's collapse, among all Germans the

East German sportsmen and women gleaned 80% of the medals at the 1992 wmter

Games m Albert vUle, France and 60% of the 1992 summer Olympic medals m

Barcelona. Four years later, m 1996, the East Germans accumulated 60% of the medals

awarded to Germans m the whiter Games at LUlehammer, Norway and 50% of the

medals at the summer Games m Atlanta, Georgia. The former GDR athletes still

outperformed athletes of the FRG as late as 1998 durmg the Nagano Wmter Olympic

Games where East German athletes' medals accounted for over 40% of the total German

"interview with Weller.

'*'*'Franke, 930.

281
medals.'**' The unified German team that attended the Nagano, wmter Olympic Games m

1998 enjoyed the greatest wmter Olympic Games success m the history of German

sports. The relatively high East to West German medal count is even more significant m

consideration of the population ratio: during the final decade of the Cold War the GDR

had a population of a mere 17.2 miUion, whereas the FRG numbered 65 mUlion. In the

1998 Nagano games, with the substantial contribution of the East German athletes, the

FRG won 29 medals, more than twice that of the United States' 13. Nearly ten years after

thefellof the BerUn WaU, the Federal Republic of Germany thus ranked number one

among all nations, stiU largely due to the contributions of sportsmen and women bom and

raised in the GDR. '"^ This is also thefirsttime unhed Germany ranked number one in

any Olympic Games since the poUtically charged Olympic Games hosted under Hhler's

dictatorship m 1936. Only the GDR ranked number one m the wmter Olympic Games

medal count of Lake Placid hi 1980.

Two-thfrds of the wmters 1998 unified German national team consisted of East

German athletes who had been selected either for the GDR's eUte sports program or

sports schools through the talent scout system. Many of these athletes framed for years

under both GDR-framed coaches and GDRframmgmethodology.'*'^ It is curious that,

while the GDR system is branded as havmg been thoroughly tamted by the illegal dopmg

techniques and that despite the exerted efforts to downplay any GDR successes as bemg

'*" Hehnut Horatschke, Zur Emschatzung der Olympischen Wmterspiele 1998 m

Nagano. UnpubUshed Report, 1999.
'*'^Nagano '98, Anchorage DaUv News. 22 Feb. 1998, CI.
'*'^"Mehr Arbeh, Kaum Talente," Suddeutsche Zehung. 7 July 1997.
282
steroid-generated, many components of this system have been mcorporated by the present

-day Federal Republic mto hs own eUte sports system'**^ If the egregious practices such

as issumg steroids to mmors were mdeed a universal practice, why then are East German

coaches some of the most sought after coaches m the world?'*" Why are the techniques

and expertise of East German coaches and sports science stUl effectively marketed

throughout the world, includmg m the United States?'*'* To this date, the critics have not

addressed these credibiUty gaps m thefr arguments agahist the GDR sports system.

Allegations of universal and systematic dmg usage as the sole or predominant

causative agent for the East German athletes' steUar performance neither coincides whh

'*'''See, fiir example, the FRG's emulation of the GDR's sport schools: Rudolf
Ledig and Klaus Wojciechowskl "Von den Kinder- und Jugendsportschulen zu Schulen
mit SportUchen Schwerpunkt," Sportunterricht. 42, no. 9, (1993): 383-9. See also, Rolf
Scherer, et al., eds., Schulen mit sportUchem Schwerpunkt m Berlm. (Berlin: Federal
Ministry for Education, Science, Research and Technology. Undated). See also for
information on the FRG's sponsorship program: Forderkonzept 2000. (Frankfurt am
Mam: Deutscher Sportbund, 1995).

'*"E.g., Der Spiegel newsmagazme recounts how the GDR coaches were one of
the few desfrable exports after the fall of the Berlm Wall enjoymg a world wide
demand."Traum von Medaillenregen," Der Spiegel 47, 1997, 206-8. See also: "Deutsche
gegen Deutsche," Neues Deutschland. 6 Feb. 1998. Boris Henry, West German-bom
javelm thrower, substantially improved his performance levels when he fued his FRG
coach hi favor of an ex-GDR DHfK biomechanist. Dr. Klaus Bartonietz. Since this
change of coaches. Track and Field News ranked Boris Henry as number one javelm
thrower m the world for 1998. Henry fmished number one or two, nhie thnes m
compethion m 1998. "Javelhi: The Plague Strikes," Track and Field News. Jan. 1998, 27.

'*'*In one ad for a track and field "East German Textbook," tiie commentary runs
as follows: 'This famous book, adopted bv the lAAF as hs official textbook, was
compiled at the German CoUege for Physical Culture m Leipzig, the msthution known
for hs cutting-edge research and application of scientific principles to the sport of frack &
field." (UnderUne mme). So popular is this work that h is afready hi hs second edhion m
EngUsh. "Classic East German Textbook" Track and Field News. Oct. 1998, 37. See also
Udo Ludwig, "MedUcamente: Viagra fifr den ganzen Korper," Der Spiegel no. 46,9 Nov.
1998, 242-5.

283
the testhnonies of those athletes mterviewed for this study, nor of those athletes of the

former system not hivolved m the study. Tour de France Champion of 1997 and 1993

World Champion Jan UUrich, a product of the East German sports machine, states that he

was not affected by any doping whatsoever. To counter the negative picture pamted of

the system, Ulfrich offers praise: "I'm saymg this above all as an athlete. Everything, the

school, career, [h] was aU oriented towards enabling one to focus one's concenfration m

an optimal manner on sports."'*" Some athletes called to testify for ZERV believed that

the questioning was rigged to lead the testhnonies to a certam conclusion. Two-time

Olympic Champion Daniela Hunger commented that what she observed in respect to the

questioning procedures she received at the trials was that, "I had the feeling that they

wanted to get me in a certain dfrection...This trial is completely absurd."'*'* The GDR's

most famous male swimmer, Roland Matthes, declared on the other hand that, "[When

one considers] all the dophig that was done m the 80's, h's shockmg. But then one should

justifiably take world wide action, m which everyone throws thefr medals m a sack."

The responses of the various athletes to questioning at the ZERV trials have not

been uniform. Accordmg to press reports of the trials, there is little or no common

pattern to be found among the testhnonies delivered m court. Agahist the case of

swhnmer Christiane Knacke-Sommer, who stated that her coach, Rolf Glaser, requfred

that athletes consume pills m his presence, a contradiction emerges. Free style swimmer

'*""Sport ist fifr UUrich Lebenslust," Sachsische Zeitung. 11/12 Mar. 2000.

'*'*Jifrgen Holz, "Zeugm Daniela Hunger: 'Ich bm kern Opfer,'" Neues

Deutschland. 9 June 1998.
'*"Michael MuUer, "Championat hn Schatten der 'Dopmgdebatte,'" Neues
Deutschland. 8 June 1998.
284
Heike Meyer-Wht clahned that svranmers received unknown substances, presumably

vhamins and protem compounds, but that she experienced no physical aherations

whatsoever. She fiuthermore stated that the relationship with Glaser was very cordial and

that he acted much as a father figure. When asked why her statements stood m such sharp

contrast to those of Knacke-Sommer, Meyer-Witt claimed that Knacke-Sommer had

always "demonsfrated a strong desfre for approbation" and "always wanted to be the

centralfigure.""**Three-time World Champion mfreestyle swhnmmg Bfrgh Heukrodt

declared in court that she indeed did perceive body changes, such as a deepened voice

and acne. Yet the world record holder m the 100 and 200 meter butterfly m 1978,

Andrea Pmske-PoUack, claimed that swimmers received shots and pUls which she is

convinced were merely vitamins, as she experienced no physical aherations whatsoever.

Both of these women stated under oath that Knacke-Sommer had a "personal vmdictive

attitude" towards Glaser.'" Female swimmers Kerstm Kielgass and Katrin Meissner,

who were adoptedfromthe GDR swim team by the unhed national German team,

professed never to have been recipients of Ulegal substances, under duress or

otherwise."^ Former World Champion in the 1500 meterfreestyle Jorg Hofi&nann

testified both for this study and to the press that he mdeed did take an anaboUc steroid,

Oral-Turmabol for a period of three weeks. Hofhnann also claims that he was able to

"**Jifrgen Holz, "Zeugm gibt Medaillen zuriick," Neues Deutschland. 4 June 1998.
See also: "Friss oder Stfrb," Leipziger Volkszehung. 21 April 1998. "Die erste Zeugm
bestatigt die Anklage," Suddeutsche Zehung. 21 AprU 1998.
'""Vhamme als Zauberwort," Leipziger VoUcszehung. 19 May 1998.
' '^Jifrgen Holz, "Zeughmen: Kerne Dopmgopfer," Neues Deutschland. 10 June
1998.
285
refiise the dmg and did so without ehher pressure from his coach, threats of bemg thrown

off the team, or a denial of compethion privileges."^ Hofifinann has also pled for a more

objective treatment of the GDR dophig problem than he is witiiessmg and calls for Uke

freatment of the West German dophig problem''''

Even a cursory survey of the 18 athletes hiterviewed for this study reveals that the

clahn "universal and systematic" distribution of performance-enhanchig dmgs shnply

was not the case. Both Olympic Champion ice skaters Anett Potzsch and Katarina Witt

have stated that they never received any kmd of Ulegal substances.'" Ski jumper Hans

Georg Aschenbach confessed his sm of Ulegal substance consumption and mdicated that

ice skater Witt had also complied with a state-sponsored dmg program, yet no other

testhnony or evidence has been produced to hnpUcate Witt or Potzsch."* In an interview

whh Der Stem, sports physician Dr. Manfred Hoppner claims that Witt's frequent

mjuries caused officials to consider givmg the ice diva steroids to accelerate her abiUty to

withstand the stress of high-level trahung, but that they uhhnately decided agahist h."'

Some view Aschenbach's confession with cynicism as AschenbEich had a personal axe to

"^Jens Wehueich, "Jorg Hoffinann gibt Dopmg zu-aber nur ehi bisschen,"
BerUner Zeitung. 14 Oct. 1997, 31. See also, Interview with Hoffinann.
"^''Kristm Otto diskutiert hn ZDF uber Dophig," Leipziger Volkszeitung. 16 Oct.
1997 21.
"'interview with Potzsch. See also: Interview whh Witt, "Die Weh bleibt
stehen," Der Spiegel, no. 7. 9 Feb. 1998,128. And Jere Longman, "U.S. Seeks Redress
for Dopmg of 22 Years Ago," New York Thnes. 25 Oct. 1998, 33, 35.
"*"Aschenbachs Beichte-auch Witt war gedopt," Sport. Zurich. 26 June 1989.
'"interview with Dr. Manfred Hoppner, "Ich stehe heute noch dazu," Der Stem.
25 Apr. 1991,203C-203D.
286
grmd with the former German Democratic Republic. In 1988, Aschenbach defected from

the GDR. His wife and children consequently were not granted visas to vish hhn."* Yet

of the 18 athletes, only shotputter Udo Beyer confessed that, for his disciplme, "Certainly

what we did bordered on legality.""' WeightUfter Ronny Weller did not deny the

practice. He shnply clahned that in the GDR dophig was medically overseen by sports

physicians, and in the FRG doping was practiced whhout such medical care.'^** Of all 18

athletes, Beyer is the only athlete who claimed he was pressured to take substances he did

not want to take.

Cole: But you never heard, you never heard, "If you don't take these doping
substances, then you're flying out of this system." You never heard this.
Beyer: Ummm. Be careful. It was the case that there were different programs
operating also m the GDR. And I didn't participate m all of them.
Cole: Which ones, for example?
Beyer: That I rejected certahi medications. There were certainly problems whh
tiiat.
Cole: You rejected some of them?
Beyer: Yes, because I didn't want to take them.
Cole: And what did the people say to you?
Beyer: There were angry discussions because of h. But because I was good [at my
sport], I could afford to do this [i.e. reject the dmgs.]

This type of candor was fafrly typical. Other athletes, such as shotputter Hehna

Knorscheidt and bobsledder Dietmar Schauerhammer remained artfiiUy evasive on the

issue.'^^ Wrestler Frank Hartmann clahned on the one hand, without hnplicatmg hhnself.

"*Hans-Peter Seubert, "Wer ist heute eigentUch nicht gedopt,?" Darmstadter

Echo, 29 June 1989.

"'interview with Beyer,

'^"interview with Weller.

'^'interview with Beyer.

'^^Interviews whh Knorscheidt and Schauerhammer.

287
that dmgs were appUed on a "universal and systematic" basis, yet also asserted that there

were certam tiers of athletes who were not affected. Hartmann then insisted that h would

be misleadhig to portray the GDR as bemg "dopmg shmer number one."'" Most of tiie

remammg 14 athletes were certam that they did not receive, m thefr years m the sports

schools, or any other thne m thefr years of frahung m the GDR, any form of illegal

performance-enhancing dmgs. This holds tme for both successful as well as unsuccessful

athletes. Some simply asserted that they were reasonably certahi they had not, some were

adamant that they did not, and some simply professed that they were not certam, but

believed h highly hnprobable.'^'^ Understandably, one could argue that opponents of the

system would claim that this question poses a type of Catch 22: for if an athlete admits to

the usage of Ulegal substances, then h would discredh his/her successes. If he/she denies

h, even though using ilUcit substances was practiced, then one engages in compromising

one's own integrity. If one is unsuccessful and denies h, then opponents of the system

would claim that is why there was no success. The argument here is not that no Ulegal

performance-enhancmg dmgs were taken, or even that dmggmg played only a minhnal

role. In question is the frequent assertion of "systematic and universal" usage when even

a relatively cursory survey of 18 athletes reveals that this simply was not the case. Anti-

dopmg advocate Wemer Franke contradicts himself in this respect, clahning m the same

paragraph that youth and children were m a "universal system" [of dopmg,] yet h was

done 'selectively' at certam KJS's. Franke mamtams, on the one hand, that dophig was

'^^Interview with Hartmann.

'^''interviews with PStzsch, Rosch, Kahlert, WeUer, DaWke, Maas, Knorscheidt,

Grimer, an anonymous female frack athlete, Poy, Czierpmskl Schulz, Zoschke, and
Kamchen.
288
universally applied, but then he later reports that, of tens of thousands of athletes m the

system, between "500 to 1,000 athletes were freated with oral-turinabol."'^' Franke

fiirthermore provides puzzlmg if not contradictory comments by giving credence on the

one hand to eUte athletes' testhnonies, then, hi the same Enquete Commission report,

declarhig that the pubUc freely "accepts the Ues of most of the top athletes of the

GDR."'^* If the public should not accept the top athletes' "lies," then why is h acceptable

for Franke to accept those same top athletes' "testhnonies"? What precisely are the

crheria to discem if an athlete's statements constitute Ues or tmth?

The sources relatmg to GDR dopmg history, i.e., those documents Berendok

refers to in her work Dopmg: from Research to Betrayal or those which Franke used m

his report to the Enquete Commission, are undoubtedly some of the most reUable. These

sources include GDR doctoral candidates' dissertations, scientific documents from the

dopmg research lab in Kreischa, and other sports medical documents from the Research

Institute for Physical Culture and Sport, which was situated in Leipzig as a branch

mstitute of the German CoUege for Physical Culture and Sport.'^' Kreischa was the

laboratory that gave the 'aU-clear' pass to the would-be traveUng athlete who would

joumey beyond GDR borders for hitemational compethion. Should the athlete test

poshive for any illich substances, then the athlete would be forbidden to travel. The

'"Franke, 926, 930-1.

'^*Ibid., 942,968.

'^'Other sources hiclude post-doctoral dissertations, ofificial plans and reports

from sports organizations, sports science, and other research msthutes, correspondence
among the pertment mstitutions, documents from the DTSB and Stasi as weU as
testhnonies of athletes, doctors, coaches, and other mvolved persons. Franke, 990.

289
official reason given for the athlete's absence at compethion was generaUy ilhiess.'^*

While the earUest testhnony of actual dopmg via the system was made clear through the

testhnony of track athlete Renate Neufeld-Spassov, who defected m 1979, "supportive

means" had been in vogue far longer.'^'

The problem, m respect to reconstmctmg a thorough picture of the state of dopmg

m the former GDR, is, as Franke freely admhs, large gaps m the documentary record. In

his report, Franke reUes on some 150 documents. Many documents, particularly dated

after 1976, are deemed missing, and were presumably destroyed to eUmmate any kmd of

mcrhninathig evidence.'^** Another problem is that many of the aforementioned

documents used by Franke and Berendok are m private hands. Because of this, the

assertions of Berendok and Franke, while undoubtedly hi many respects tme, may not be

challenged due to both authors' exclusive access to the sources.'^' Thus, while Franke

and Berendok are quite fastidious in providing an abundance of references to presumably

unimpeachable sources, the authors remain unchallenged. Franke expounds, for example,

on the so-caUed "male-problem" in respect to achieving the same level of performance in

swimming as the women. Yet the GDR male swimmers of 1980 achieved a very

respectable four Olympic medals. Roland Matthes hhnself^ the GDR's most successful

'^*Rudhard Klaus MuUer, Joachim Grosse, "Kreischa als Zentrum der

Dopmgforschung der DDR," Ffresdner Hefte Beitrage zur Kulturgeschichte. 16, no. 55,
(Mar. 1998): 80.

'^'Willi Knecht, "Die Demaskiemng des DDR-Leistungssports," Deutschland

Archiv. 12, no. 2, (1979): 123-6.

'^**Franke, 910, 912.

'^'Ibid. 911.

290
male swfrnmer, claimed vehemently, m an mterview with Der Spiegel that dopmg was

not the key to the GDR's swfrnmhig success. Notably, no attribution of Matthes' success

to Ulich substances is made m Berendok's work.'^^ The tendency of current post WaU

historians appears to be that of issumg generalized statements regardmg the system and

thereby assigning blame to more athletes than was actually the case.

In the course of researching this work, access was granted to part of Franke's

private archive, contaming some of the 150 dissertations and studies ched in both

Franke's Enquete Commission report as weU as Berendok's work. Permission to do so

was extended by Franke via his colleague Spitzer at the Institute for Conten^wrary Sports

History at Potsdam University in the spring of 1997. Some 12 works m particular were

examined, of which nine are mentioned here. The studies speak for themselves and

hidicate extensive, highly scientific, and thorough experhnentation as weU as application

of Ulich substances m elite sports under the auspices of the GDR sports reghne.'^^ In one

non-related document, found in the SAPMO DTSB files, an m-house message from the

then (unnamed) DTSB Vice President to Manfred Ewald reveals that dophig was hideed

mtegral to the system, ahhough h does not confirm Franke's or Spitzer's assertions of

"universal application." The message refers, mstead, to preparations for weightUftmg for

the 1984 Olympic Games,

Medical support must be mcreased for the purpose of mcreashig the performance
levels, for mamtenance of the body weight for a more effective regeneration and
prevention of mjuries as well as a reduction of the rehabilitation period.

'^^"Ihr konnt uns kreuzweise."Der Spiegel. 44, no. 45,5 Nov. 1990, 253.

'^^For a thorough analysis of these sources see both works of Berendok and
Franke.

'^"DTSB In-house message, "Goals, dfrectives and mam tasks m the preparation
291
 The significance of this document reveals hself m that, even after officials most

certahUy took part m purgmg mcrhnmathig evidence from tiie files, madvertently many

other documents make reference to the use of "supportive means." WhUe such statements

are mdfrectly mdicative of performance-enhanchig dmgs, the truly damnmg evidence can

be found hi such studies as Lothar Hmz's on problems with the hutial appUcation of

anaboUc steroids m the throwmg disciplmes m frack and field."'^' In this study, Hmz

brazenly declares hi his openhig sentence that anaboUc steroids are the most effective

supportive means m the experience of elite sports. He also declares that his research

reveals that steroid usage is most effective m the ffrst year of appUcation among junior

class athletes, thus dfrectly hidicatmg that steroids were used on athletes who were stUl

mmors. Charts are provided mdicating the annual dosages issued of anaboUc steroids,

both by week as well as by dosage m miUigrams for males and females, according to

thefr respective sport. Hinz also later did a study in the mid 1980s on the usage of

"supportive means" in the throwing sports m the Olympic cycle of 1980 to 1984.'^' Other

for the Olympic Games 1984," Aug. 24, 1981, DY12 Bl 194/1296, Olympic Games 1984,
Sarajevo and Los Angeles, SAPMO, 21

'^'Lothar Hinz, "Zu ausgewahlten Problemen der Erstanwendung anaboler

Steroide zur Unterstutzung der Trainings- und Leistungsentwicklung in den Wurf-
/Stossdisziplmen der Leichtathletik," in ErgebnisskoUoquim "ZusatzUche
Leistungsreserven," ed. Schaker, W., TeU I, Erhohung der wfrksamkeh bekannter u. M.,"
1981, FKS, Leipzig, Franke's Private Archive, 20-35.

'^*Ibid, 20.

'^'Lothar Hinz and H J. Kuppardt, "Analyse der Wechselbeziehungen von

Trahung, unterstutzenden Mittehi und Leistungsentwicklung m den leichtathletischen
Wurf-Stossdisziplmen hn Olympiazyklus 1980/84," FKS, Leipzig, May 1986, Franke's
Private Archive, 1-36.

292
reports contributh^ to this series overseen by sports physician Dr. W. Schaker mclude a

study by H. Lathan and U. Kampfe, on the effect of anaboUc studies on junior framee

weightUfters, agahi, mdicatmg steroid experhnentation on mmors. Specific measurements

were taken on the athletes, reveaUng such values as mcreases m appethe, abilhy to

recover, unproved adaptation to an hicreased burden of trahimg, as well as appearances

of acne, among other efifects.'^* Addhional studies by doctors Bauersfeld, Hanneman, and

others considered the appUcation of "supportive means" m experhnents on athletes

regardmg the throv^g sports. This study clarified the dosage, time period of use, consent

of the athletes, and the resuhmg psychological effects accorq)anymg the increased

dosages. No fewer than 15 individuals were hivolved in administering and carrying out

this study under the auspices of the GDR's Federation for Track and Field.'^' StUl under

Schaker's watchflil eye, more studies were conducted at the Research Institute for

Physical Culture and Sport. Professor A. Lehnert and Dr. M. Hoppner elaborated to a

discussion group fluther plans to use "supportive means" m competition as well as m

trahung regimens for the 1979 World Championships and the 1980 Olympic Games.'"*"

Various disciplmes were under consideration here, includhig rowmg, weightliftmg, the

'^*H. Lathan and U. Kampfe, "Bericht uber ehie Doppel-Blhid-Studie zur

Wfrkung anaboler Steroide auf die korperUche und sportliche Entwicklung retardierter
und akzelerierter Nachwuchsgewichtheber," Ibid, Franke's Private Archive, 36-60.

'^'K. Bauersfeld, J. Olek, et al., "Analyse des Emsatzes u. M. hi den

leichtathletischen Wurf-/Stoss-disziplhien und Versuch trahungsmethodischer
Abteilungen und VeraUgememgemngen," Ergebnisbericht, Deutscher Verband fur
Leichtathletik (DVfL) der DDR, Wissenschaftszentrum des DVfL., 1973, Franke's
Private Archive, 1-41.

Lehnert and M. Hoppner, RrgebniskoUoauhn. 1981, Forschungsmstitut fifr

''**'A.
KSrperkultur und Sport, Leipzig, Franke's Private Archive, l-106ff:

293
tiirowmg sports, and the endurance sports. Some of the studies focused on the mfluence

of steroids on female rats m consideration of endurance sports and menstrual

hormones.'^' Yet anotiier study reveals the application of supportive means m spruits and

hurdles conducted over a period of many years.'"^ One post-doctorate was awarded for a

sttidy conducted on the effect of anabolic steroids on the development of athletic

performance m jumpmg events."*^ Fmally, m this selection of only nme sources of some

150 located by Franke and Berendok, the most damnmg work is tiiat of S. Israel who

deUberated tiie ethics of the usage of steroid appUcation from a physician's standpomt.''*^

Israel hiadvertently condemns hhnself as he knew precisely what the short and long term

medical effects of steroid appUcation would be on his unwittmg subjects, yet he

proceeded to justify his actions from a physician's standpomt, by clahnmg the advantages

hi performance-enhancement were very clear. This was a physician who had taken the

Hippocratic oath, and was thus swom to protect life and do no harm.

Undoubtedly, distribution of performance-enhancmg dmgs among swimmers did

occur, as coaches Rolf Glaser and Leopold Pansold freely admitted. Glaser is most

H. Gifrtler et al., "Ausdauertrahung und Menstmationsshormone (TeU I.)

Lecture, Internes KoUoquim, Nov. 27,1981, m Dresden, Franke's Private Archive, 1-3.

D. Niklaus, and V. Reumuth, "Zu einigen Fragen der Anwendung u.M. in den
Sprhit-/Hurdendisziplhien des DVfL der DDR hn Olympiazyklus 1980/84,"
Ergebnisbericht, FKS, Leipzig, Franke's Private Archive, 1-33.

Hartmut Riedel Zur Wfrkung anaboler Steroide auf die sportUche

Leistungsentwicklung hi den leichtathletischen Spnmgdisziplmen. Diss.B, Zentralinstitut
des sportmedizhiischen Dienstes Kreischa and Forschungsinstitut fur Korperkultur und
Sport, Leipzig, 1986. Franke's Private Archive.

''^''S. Israel "Unterstutzende Massnahmen hn Sport. Erkenntnistheoretische,

methodologische, ethische und rechtUche Aspekte aus artzUcher Sieht," Internal material,
FKS, Leipzig, 1979, 1-97. Franke's Private Archive.
294
famous for his evasive comment to amused joumaUsts at the Montreal Summer Olympics

m 1976 when he was asked why the female swimmers had such deep voices. He quickly

responded that, "They are here to swhn and not to shig."''" While substantiation of

accusations of imiversal doping or universal coercive dopmg are flimsy at best, there was

undoubtedly disfribution of Ulegal substances for some athletes under coercive

cfrcumstances m some disciplhies. This was apparently the case with swimmer

Beraktschjaen, who identified, on the stand hi the Berlhi trials, the mcrhnmatmg "little

blue pUls" and spoke of shots she received from coach Glaser. Beraktschjaen, a former

world record holder, described her ttemendous weight gain and deepening of voice."**

Yet when another one of Glaser's charges, Bfrgh Matz, clahned that nothing

"disadvantageous" was distributed, the Siiddeutsche Zeitung depicted this as a "watering

down tactic.""*'

Possibly one of the most egregious cases of dophig practices and victhnization by

the system was experienced by Heidi Krieger. Shotputter Krieger, 1986 European

Champion, testified before ZERV that she received doses of androgynous hormones as

high as 2590 milUgrams m one calendar year, 1984. Her shotput throw of 21.10 meters at

the European Championships m Stuttgart was so astoundmg, that, smce 1990, no other

female European Champion has come close to this performance. Current World

"""Schwhnmtramer Glaser gibt Dophig zu," Leipziger VoUcszehung. 25 Aug.

1998.

''**"MedaUlen-Rackgabe angeboten," Siiddeutsche Zeitung. 4 June 1998.

""Thomas Kistner, "Ich hatte kern Misstrauen," Shddeutsche Zehung. 7 May

1998.

295
Champion and Olympic Champion Asfrid Kumbemuss has not touched this record."**

Shotputter Hehna Knorscheidt conceded that the performance levels were so high among

female shot putters m the GDR that h was fer more challengmg for her to compete

nationally than mtemationally. "*' Even more astoundmg, if not horrifymg about Krieger's

story, is that Heidi is no longer Heidi. Because Heidi feh so uncomfortable m her body as

a woman due to the physical aherations mcurred by dmg overload, she underwent a

series of operations. Heidi is now "Andreas" and a transsexual"**

Another horror story concerns javeUn thrower Uwe Hohn, who is the only known

athlete to have thrown a javelm more than 100 meters. During his trahung, Hohn dropped

weights, and severely damagmg his sciatic nerve. The East German doctors did not

possess the technical sophistication to conduct the necessary operation. When a West

German hospital offered to conduct the operation, the offer was decUned by GDR

officials as Hohn would have had to leave the country and would have thus posed the

threat of becoming a defector. It is conceivable that GDR officials worried that any

dopmg past could have been detected by West German physicians. Today, Hohn is

considered to be a 60% hivalid, a condhion that could conceivably have been avoided

had he been aUowed to travel for the operation. StUl, he denies ever having taken

steroids, while Berendok ches in her work the precise dosage he took m the years 1982

''**Robert Hartmann, "Was Doping bei jungen Athlethmen anrichten kann,"

Siiddeutsche Zeitung. 23 Dec. 1997. See also: "Aus der Kugelstosserin Heidi wurde
Andreas," Leipziger Volkszeitung. 24 Dec. 1997, 27.

Interview whh Knorscheidt.

"**Hartniann; Udo Ludvdg, "Die Macht der blauen PUlen," Der Spiegel. 5 Jan.
1998, 105-7.

296
and 1984.'"

Any contention that the basis of the GDR's athletic success lies solely m havmg

imposed steroids must be fortified with reliable documentation. To document this both

before ZERV and m the wrhhigs of historians who are mtent on discredhmg the GDR

athletic system, numerous sources have been considered. Athletes' testhnonies, Stasi

files, and the aforementioned sports medichie dissertations and reports, along with the

very same SAPMO documents used for this study are among the more pertment and most

frequently ched of sources."^ Regardmg the athletes' testhnonies, we have afready seen

that the experiences of the athletes range v^ddely. No wide-scale consistent partem of

usage of Ulich substances emergesfromehher the testimonies of the athletes m the

ZERV proceedhigs orfromthe interviews conducted of athletes for this study. Some

ZERV testimonies damn the system ahogether, some do not. The predominant sentiment

of the 18 athletes mterviewed for this work is highly favorable toward the system."^ Four

athletes—gymnasts Poy and Dahlke, swhnmer GrOner, and cyclist Schulz—were aU

opposed not so much to the GDR sports system as they were opposed to eUte sports as a

whole, believhig such a high level of sports commitment and activhy to be unheahhy. It

seems remarkable that of the approxhnately 89,440 athletes of the fmal decade, that is,

strictly the 1980s, only 1,000 received questionnafres from ZERV regardmg uivolvement

'"Pekka Holopamen, "Betrayed by the System," Track and Field News. July
1994,44. Berendok, 288, 390, Table 3a.
"^Such is the case m more recent works such as those by H. J. Teichler, GiseUier
Spitzer and Klaus Remartz's Schliissel Dokumente zum DDR-Sport. (Aachen: Meyer &
Meyer Verlag, 1998).
"^Interviews witii DahUce, Schulz, Poy, and Grimer.
297
m the state program of dophig, and only 300 retumed thefrs fiUed out."'' This is a

mmuscule number considermg that athletes were aUegedly engaged m dopmg as early as

the mid-to-late 1960s. The total number of athletes then who participated m the GDR

sports system could conceivably consist of at least two and one half thnes 89, 440 the

number from the 1980s. Why is h that so few letters were sent by ZERV to athletes who

were ostensibly subjected to dopmg practices if this phenomenon origmated m the late

1960s?

Esthnates as to what, precisely, GDR govemment department heads were aware

of is StUl subject to speculation. As noted m chapter one, one SAPMO document reported

that athletes usmg illegal substances for national compethion were performmg better than

they were for mtemational compethion. The authorities were bemg mformed that athletes

Anni and Helmut Unger from the Sport Club Dynamo m Klmgenthal had partaken of

performance-enhancing drugs, apparently without higher levels of knowledge or consent

prior to the deed.'" Potsdam researcher Sphzer has, in times past, deductively arrived at

generalized conclusions about key GDR figures' knowledge of doping details whhout

providing concrete evidence."* In another mstance, Spitzer claims to have incriminatmg

"'*This can be broken down as foUows: 70,000 in the first level (selection and
trahimg centers,) 10,000 at the second level (children and youth sports schools), 8,000
Junior athletic team members ("Nachwuchskader"), 900 on the national teams, 400 on the
summer Olympic team, 140 on the whiter Olympic team. Source: Esthnates of Prof Dr.
Gihither Wonneberger m conference whh former GDR sports authorities, 13 AprU 1999.

"'Abt. Sport, "Erste Emschatzung und Schlussfolgerungen von den X.

Olympischen Spielen m Grenoble," NY41821, [Nachlass Waher Ulbricht,] Mar. 29,
1968, SAPMO, 138. [Author unknown.]

"*J6rg Stratmann, "DDR-Fuhmng kannte fi^ alle Dopmg-Details; Der

Sphzensport stand vor dem Niedergang," Frankfiirter AUgememe Zeitung. 22 Apr. 1997.

298
evidence agamst DTSB President Manfred Ewald and Stasi head Erich Mielke, who

apparently had been kept appraised of speed skater's Andreas Dietel's overly-high

testosterone level"' Another document reveals that PoUtbifro member Paul Vemer had

received a report informing him of measures taken to ensure that precautionary doping

tests were admmistered. These would be done to ensure mamtenance of'the status quo'

m both hitemational compethion as weU asframmg."*WhUe Sphzer claims this is proof

of a high level of govemment knowledge, Spitzer's claim appears to be, yet agam,

another mstance where he has read more hito the document than what h actuaUy states.

Another vague reference to state head knowledge derivesfroma report on plans for a

sports physicians' conference m the GDR, with mvitations to be extended to doctors from

other communist nations. The report confirmed that "sport medical problems will be

presented with a guarantee of protective confidentialhy."'" In an mterview with former

State Secretary for Sports, Giinther Erbach, this allusion to at least knowledge of the

dopmg phenomenon is made clear. When asked dfrectly what he knew about the usage of

illich substances, Erbach absolved himself by statmg, "As h is now bemg depicted, m

that respect, I didn't know about h...Every doctor and athlete who practiced this must

answer for them selves."'*** Apparently Erbach wasfiiUyaware of the dophig schemes. It

is the detaUs as to how the situation is depicted that the accusers do not have right.

'""Flfrt mit folgen," Der Spiegel no. 25,1995,172.

"*Thomas Kisttier, "Hormonelle Rosskuren als RichtUnien," Suddeutsche
Zeitung. 19 Apr. 1999.
'"ProtokoU Nr. 100, Oct. 3,1972, DY30 JIV 2/3 1923, SAPMO at Zeitgeschichte
fur Sport, Potsdam University, 3.
'**'lnterview witii Erbach. Underlhied phrase mdicates emphasis given by Erbach.
299
Erbach conveniently evades blame by puttmg the responsibiUty on the shoulders of the

doctors and athletes. The former DTSB President, Manfred Ewald, must now answer m

court to charges that he assisted m the dopmg of some 142 nunors, resuhmg m physical

hijury. The subjects were mostly female mmors, who endured hormonal alterations,

which led to the development of masculme trahs.'*' Both Erbach and Ewald had been

present at early testhnonies of athletes and were consequently banished from the

courfroom as they were not to be privy to the proceedh^s. Judge Brautigam asserted that

he would be calling them to court later to serve as key whnesses, m which capacity both

sports leaders asserted they would not appear.'*^ In the course of the trials, the last DTSB

President, Klaus Eichler, has had charges agahist him suspended due to insufficient

evidence.'*^

In the ZERV frials, the Stasi files have been prominently featured. The credibility

of this source has been challenged. The defense has pled that the Stasi files are a dubious

source and that the majorhy of the witnesses had testified on behalf of the defendants, or

at least not accused them of any wrongdoing.'*^ The hnplementation of Stasi fUes as a

key source of evidence has aroused considerable dissent especially among East

'*'AP, "Die 'Vitaminpraparate' waren anabole Steroide," Suddeutsche Zeitung.

10 Sept. 1999.

'*^"Bei Dopmg-Prozess wfrd Manfred Ewald des Saales verwiesen," Leipziger

Volkszeitting. 20 Oct. 1998.

'*^Klaus Huhn, friterview whh Klaus Eichler, [DTSB President from 1988-89];
"Anklage fellengelassen," Neues Deutschland, 11 May 1998.

'*^Jifrgen Holz, "Nebelstocherei der Anklage," Neues Deutschland. 1 Dec. 1998,

16.

300
Germans.'*' Many of thefilesused are reportsfromthe so-caUed IM's or, Inqffiziellen

Mitarbeitem, that is, unoflBcial coUeagues who worked surrepthiously for the state secret

poUce agency.'** As pomted out previously m Katarina Wht'sfemousalleged "seven

minute quickie" at the Dresden Hotel much mformation m the Stasifilesis bogus.'*' The

motives for false reportmg are not immediately apparent. Reports may have been

embellished or fabricated entfrely, m order to aUow opportunistic "unofficial coUeagues"

to mgratiate themselves with thefr supervisors. One former GDR sports physician. Dr.

Hemz Wuschech, testified that his Stasi file is replete wTth untmths. Reports m his file

assert that he operated on hidividuals whom he never medicallyfreatedand that he

worked as a surgeon at a hospital m Fredrichshain, where he was never employed. Dr.

Wuschech and other East Germans are incensed that suchfilesare used m Berlm as

evidence for both charges and convictions.'** One athlete, swhnmer Ufrike Lebek, clahns

that ZERV had remarkable access to very precise data m respect to who received what

dosages of which substances on any given day. Lebek admits to having received the

mfamous little turquoise blue pUls and that ZERV was fully aware of what she received,

down to the miUilher. Nevertheless, she claims that what is now coming out in the trials

'*'Wmdfried Wachter, "Akten sorgenfifrscharfes KUma," Leipziger

Volkszeitimg. 15 Oct, 1997,30.
'**Jurgen Holz, "MfiS als Kronzeuge der Anklage," Neues Deutschland. 10 Nov.
1999,16.
'*'Wht, 27. See also: "Die Weh bleibt stehen," Der Spiegel 129.
'**Hehiz Wuschech, Hexenkttche DDR? Eme DDR-Snortarzt packt aus. (BerUn:
Spotless Verlag, 1998), 65-6.
301
is only part of the truth. She insists that there were some exfremely competent and

successful coaches, whose achievements were not based on issumg illich substances."**

Significant to note regardmg this type of testhnony is that the material obtamed by ZERV

from Stasi files at thnes may be highly detailed and accurate, yet stiU misleadhig m

respect to the whole story.

In fact, so abundant and misleadmg are the errors of the Stasi reports, that many

prominent hidividuals in Germany have wamed against using them for historical or

judicial evidence. Wrher Daniela Dahn asserts that "the lesson behind the [Stasi] files

must be unmistakable: when too much sovereign knowledge is existent, then misuse is

unavoidable." Dahn hisists that protective measures should be taken concerning such

mcrhnhiathig material as only the concemed person m the file can judge the verachy of

hs contents.'" Another problem Dahn sees whh the use of Stasi files is the fact that, in

keephig with the whole atmosphere of the Cold War, some 40,000 West Germans also

worked for the Stasi as unofficial coUeagues. The tendency of such stories, then, Ues in

the dfrection of "dark assumptions," rather than objective facts. Most grievous is the feet

that, according to Dahn, the majority of East Germans have seen untold falsehoods,

fabrication of events, or misinterpretation of cfrcumstances m thefr files. Even West

'*'Christopher Keil "Das ist jetzt nur em TeU der Wahrheh," Suddeutsche
Zeitung. 19 Aug. 1997,15.

"**Peter Hess, "Wifrde meme Kinder nicht zu den Tramem Frischke und Glaser
schicken," Frankfiirter AUgememe Zeitung, 19 Aug. 1997,28.

"'Daniela Dahn, "Feulleton-BeUage der Siiddeutschen Zeitung." Suddeutsche

Zeittmg. 17/18 Jan. 1998,1. Also appeared as "Der Waschzwang des Staates," Neues
Deutschland. 30 Jan. 1998.

302
Germans who have read Stasi files on themselves have taken note of this fect."^ Another

mdicator that the Stasi files serve as a dubious source for evidence m the BerUn frials is

tiie lack of leghhnacy accorded the files' admmistrator, Joachhn Gauk, by the East

Germans. One survey revealed that only 2.6 percent of East Germans have complete

confidence m the Gauk admmistration. Many perceive the use of these files as a type of

grand hiquishion, with Gauk servmg as the Inquisitor."^ The former and last Mmister of

the Interior for the GDR, Dr. Peter-Michael Diestel commented that, during his period of

time as an attomey in the GDR, he could not recaU one mstance when the Stasi files were

used even then as evidence.'"* Even the Enquete Commission hself has come under

attack. The former Dfrector of the Insthute for Society and Science situated m Numberg,

Professor Efr. Clemens Burrichter, offered the opmion that the Enquete Commission has

been chiefly characterized by an "emotionalized historical-poUtical confrontation

regardhig the consequences of the SED dictatorship." Even ten years after the feet, the

issues addressed by this commission are stiU highly charged poUtically.'"

One of the most promment West German historians, the nation's leading expert

on the former GDR, and also a member on the Enquete Commission, Hermann Weber,

"^Ibid.

"^Helfried Liebsch, "Gauk hat nur die Akten die er bekommen soUte," Neues
Deutschland. 23 June 1998, 13. See also, Jifrgen Holz, "Holprige Lesestunde," Neues
Deutschland. 30 Apr. 1998.

'"•ibid.

"'Daniel Kiichenmeister, "Emaugigkeh kontra Emsehigkeh," Neues

Deutschland. 18 June 1998, 6.

303
encourages a more cautious view of Stasi file usage."* Weber has witnessed first-hand

how problematic is the hnmediate surge of post WaU publications based on such sources

as the Stasi files as weU as the SAPMO documents. They lead, he claims, to rash

judgments and resuh in publications "lackmg in the necessary care, detailed knowledge

and balance.""' In the case of Dr. Gertioid Frohner, mentioned hi CHAPTER VII.: "The

System: the Athletes Speak Out," Franke engages m what Weber refers to as "rapid ffre"

judgments when he accuses Frohner of administermg iUich substances to gynmasts."*

Franke's compatriot, Spitzer, went so far as to msist that Frohner was enmeshed m

human experimentation and thus rendered many young people dependent on certain

substances.'" Frohner hisists that, whUe the substances given out were on the list of

banned substances, they were used solely for acceptable medical and therapeutic reasons,

and not for "supportive means." A strong argument can be made on behalf of Frohner.

One recent study m the United States asserts that gymnasts are highly subject to mjury; m

fact, most do not escape thefr chUdhood without havhig experienced some form of

injury.'*** Gymnasts confirmed that Frohner was hmocent of issumg "supportive means"

"*See his: Die DDR 1945-1986. Munich: Oldenbourg Verlag, 1988 and other
writings.

"'Hermann Weber, "Was beweisen die Akten? Anmerkungen zu

Veroffentlichungen von Archivalien aus der DDR," Internationale WissenschaftUche
Korrespondenz zur Geschichte der deutschen Arbeherbewegung. 33, no. 2, (June 1997):
232.
178
Franke, 946.

'"Robert Hartmann, "Glaubwurdiger Inhah hi verraterischer Schrift,"

Suddeutscher Zehung. 2/3 May 1998.

'**'lan R. Tofier, et al., 'Thysical and Emotional Problems of Elite Female

Gymnasts," New England Joumal of Medichie. 335, no. 4, (25 July 1996): 281-2.
304
 181
for athletes. When Spitzer caUed to have FrShner banned from her profession and

dismissed from her current poshion at the Instittite for Applied Trammg Science (lAT) m

Leipzig, lAT Dfrector Professor Dr. Dietiich Martm clahned the documents used to

accuse Frohner did not lead one to beUeve that Frohner had been hivolved m Ulich

behavior. The whole brouhaha was v^angled out in court, with FrQhner's attomey

unsuccessfiil pleadmg to have Berendok's book removed from the market. The judge

fmally assessed Franke and Spitzer's comments as mere opmion, not as startmg pohits for

legal action. Franke has also been a controversial figure from the very onset, m 1991,

when he first began announchig the fmdings of the Bad Saarow documents and "State-

Plan 14.25," i.e., the so-caUed plan for state-ordered dophig. This was followed by the

publication of his wife Berendok's work Dophig: From Research to Befrayal'*'* Sports

officials, athletes, and sports physicians alike have gone on the defensive in respect to

many of Franke's public statements and publications. Franke has been considered by both

the German press as well as the intemational press as the most authoritative expert on

dopmg matters hi Germany, and particularly on dophig matters pertahiing to the GDR.

Yet authorities and athletes m Germany differ on this view. When Franke asserted that

'*'Frank Mertens, "Leipziger Arztin weist Anschuldigungen von sich," Leipziger

Volkszehung. 15 Oct. 1997, 30.

'*^Frank Mertens, "Bonn fordert Stellungnahme an," Leipziger VoUcszeitung. 30

Dec. 1997,17. Frank Mertens, "Institut sieht Dopmg-Vorwifrfe gegen Frohner
entkraftet," Leipziger Volkszeitung. 8 Jan. 1998, 26.

'*^Fraiik Mertens, "Franke gewhmt Prozess gegen Sportarztm Frohner," Leipziger

Volkszeitimg. 2/3 May 1998.

'*'*Steven Dickman, "East Germany: Science in the Disservice of the State,"

Science. 254, no. 5028, (4 Oct. 1991): 26-7.

305
former Olympic Champion Petra Kmd-Schneider was sufifermg heart and liver problems

as a resuh of doping, the astounded swimmer became mdignant and wanted to know

precisely where he acqufred this mformation.'*' Franke also has appeared to engage m

etiUcally questionable activhies. Franke suggested to Dieter Quartz, a cyclist msider for

Germany's preemment cyclmg team. Team Telekom, tiie possibilhy of a job or financial

remuneration if Quartz were wUling to divulge any dopmg schemes m which Team

Telekom might be mvolved. When Franke mvhed Quartz to Heidelberg m August 1998

for a two-party, strictly-confidential discussion, and two journalists from Der Spiegel

happened to be present, suddenly the mse was out. Neither job nor money was given

Quartz, not even condensation for the costs of the trip, as he had been promised. Instead,

Der Spiegel offered to make a donation to the Deutsche Krebs Forschungs Institut, le.,

the German Cancer Research Insthute, the same mstitute where Franke is employed, m

exchange for any mformation that might hnpUcate the Team Telekom hi dophig matters.

Quartz realized that the initial ofifer was an empty one and departed. Franke then

mformed the police that Quartz was engaged hi Ulegal dophig schemes, which resulted m

the poUce searching Quartz's home, foUowed by a messy lawsuh.'** Team Telekom's

legal battle agahist Der Spiegel resulted m an undisclosed out-of-court settlement, as both

parties were loathe to spend years m court to resolve the dispute. In his defamation case,

Franke won mitiaUy m a lower court agahist Team Telekom This decision was overmled

m a higher court, and Franke was ordered to cease makmg any fiuther defematory

statements respectmg Team Telekom and the Team's alleged usage of dophig

'^^"TTntprgtplhingpn Tiiriirlcgewiesen." Neucs Deutschland. 10/11 Jan. 1998, 10.

'**Ralf Meutgens, "Die grosse Informantenverbrennung," Frankfiuter AUgememe

306
substances.'*'

Many highly quaUfied medical and sports physicians have repudiated the

ostensible expertise of Franke m dopmg matters. Kreischa dophig laboratory dfrector

Professor Klaus MUller commented that Franke was "not a coUeague of his nor the

number one expert on dopmg m the country" when asked his views on Franke's

mvolvement regardmg the dopmg contix)versy surroundmg the GDR athletic system '**

A retfred sports physician from tiie GDR, Dr. Hemz Wuschech, questioned how a

microbiologist was quaUfied to make medical evaluations that only a physician or sports

physician was quaUfied to make.'*' Franke fiwly confradicts assessments of Germany's

leadhig physicians as weU as the federal courts m the ZERV trials, as he did m the case of

some swhnmers whose childrens' bfrth defects were attributed by Franke to the mgestion

of steroids during the mother's framing years. Franke's conclusion was sheer speculation

and confradicted the findings of the judge, who mled that the evidence was mconclusive

whether there was a connection to the steroid consumption of the swhnmers and the

respective bfrth defects of the swimmers' children."" Professor Dr. Norbert H. Rietbrock,

who is servmg as the official (court appomted) special master physician m the ZERV

trials regarding alleged physical injuries caused by doping, has publicly expressed

Zeittmg. 22 Feb. 2000, 56.

'*'Ralf Meutgens, "Dophig vor Gericht," Frankfiirter AUgememe Zeitung. 25 Feb.

2000.

'**Andreas Friedrich, "Dophig Kontrolleur MuUer: Samaranchs Tage smd

gezahlt," Leipziger VoUcszeitung. 29 July 1998.

'*'Wuschech, 80.

"*'Mahnon, "East German Dopmg Left a Cmel Legacy, Mothers Allege."

307
considerable contempt for Franke's engagement m the frials. Rietbrock also profe
lesses
mcredulhy tiiat tiie source of tiie high court's evidence is the Stasi files.'" In a pubUc

statement to tiie judge presidmg over the trials. Dr. Rietbrock asserted m no uncertam

terms that there is no scientific or medical basis whatsoever for the allegations made by

tiie prosecution that the female swimmers' fertilhy was hnpafred."^

In the meanthne, Franke hhnself was the mstigator m behmd-the-scenes activhies

to brmg high level officials from both East and West Germany to court m the ZERV

trials. The pursuh has been perceived as raishig the mvisible waU between East and

West even higher. Franke considers hhnself duty-bound to hunt down all the perpetrators

of dopmg. He claims that the commg-to-terms whh science after the Thfrd Reich was

avoided m the same way as professionals are avoiding this task today, as domg so is

perceived to be damaghig to one's career."'* West German historian Professor Dr.

'"jifrgen Holz, "Die deutschen Sportarzte schweigen," Neues Deutschland. 10

Feb. 1999, 3.

"Die deutschen Sportartzte schweigen: Prof Norbert H. Rietbrock will Runden

Tisch mit Athleten, Tramem, Medizmem," Neues Deutschland. 10 Feb. 1999, 10.

"^Frank Mertens, "Strafanzeige gegen DSB-Prasident Richthofen," Leipziger

Volkszeitung. 15 June 1998. These included the former president of the German Swhn
Federation (GDR), Harm Beyer, and two West Germans, one being the current president
of the German Sports Federation (DSB), Manfred von Richthofen, and the other being
former DSB Attomey General Jochen Kiihl Franke. The three were charged with
"obstmction of justice, fevorable treatment and negUgible aid." Jifrgen Holz, "'Fahnder'
Franke lasst griissen," Neues Deutschland. 19 June 1998.

""Frank Mertens, "Doping-Experte Franke: Es muss zur Vemrteilung kommen,"

Leipziger Volkszehung. 18 Mar. 1998, 31. Even GiseUier Spitzer, Franke's companion m
unearthing the GDR's nefarious sports secrets, has justifiably earned the wrath of many,
as historians and athletes hicreashigly refuse to cooperate vsdth his research. Many assess
Sphzer as over-reaching m his conclusions. See: Robert Hartmann, "Ein komplexes
Vhaminpraparat," Suddeutsche Zeitung. 4 Dec. 1998. The critique of Sphzer by both
West and East German alike has been extensive. See, for example, Hans Simon, "Ofifener
308
Wolfgang Wippermann, of the Free University of BerUn, rejects the correlation of the

crhnes of the SED to the crimes of the Nazis, clahning that this leads to a dhnmishmg of

the hemous nature of the Thfrd Reich. He also asserts that this consthutes a demonizmg

of the GDR and refiises to concede to this new trend hi German history writmg."'

Franke also appears to have a highly selective sense of outrage as to which side of

the Wall the dophig sfrmer comes from. When West German 1992 Olympic Champion

gold medaUst m the 5,000 meter race. Dieter Baumann, tested poshive twice for the

illegal use of nandrolone, suddenly the shoe was on the other foot. Franke's defense of

Baumann was that, under certahi cfrcumstances, such anaboUc steroids can origmate

mtemally, ahhough Baumaim's steroid rates were extraordmarUy high."* The suspension

of Baumann by the German Track and Field Federation (DVL) put Baumaim's good

friend. President Hehnut Digel of the DVL, m the uncomfortable poshion of either

defending a guUty athlete or resigning. Baumaim's sponsoring company, Asic, declared

unwaverhig support for the errant athlete. The Eastem German press referred to

Baumann's lame excuse that someone must have slipped the substance into his toothpaste

as "grotesquc.today h's toothpaste and tomorrow rigged toilet paper." The dfrector of

the (former GDR) Kreischa dophig laboratory. Professor Dr. Klaus Miiller, declared the

Brief statt ehier Rezension," 80-6; and Klaus Huhn, "Schliissel fur Kopenhagen," 87-8;
Behrage zur Sportgeschichte. 6, (1998). Also see: Karsten Schumann and Heinz
Schwidtmann, "Fragwifrdigkeiten ohne Ende," Beitrage zur Sportgeschichte. 7, (1998):
39-44.

'"Hemrich Matzke, "Zielgerichtete Damonisiemng der DDR," Leipziger

VoUcszeitung. 4 Sept. 1997.

"*Ufrike John, "Ist diese Leichtathletik noch zu rechtfertigen?" Neues

Deutschland 22 Nov. 1999,15.

309
West German Cologne dophig lab dfrector of "overstepphig the boundaries of

con^tence" when the West German refiised to recognize as valid the poshive test resuhs

confirmed by both labs.'" The Dfrector of the Institute of Sports Medicme at Potsdam

Univershy, Dr. Gemot Badtke, observed that in keephig whh Berendok's work just the

contents of one tube alone would have been msufificient to have achieved the high doses

of nandrolone found m Baumaim's sample."* Baumann presents himself as a victhn,

possibly of former East German athletes and/or coaches. The distance runner even took a

lie detector test, which he passed. The test, however, is not admissible in a German court,

nor would h be admissible in an American court.'" The Olympic Champion did,

however, eventuaUy submh a thfrd 'loaded' tube of toothpaste to the poUce, albeh with a

strong sense of panic.'^''*' The advisory physician to the ZERV trials. Dr. Norbert

Rietbrock, expressed hicreduUty that Franke would assert that the amount of nandrolone

found m Baumaim's body occurred naturaUy. "The reahn of sports should not grant this

"'Jifrgen Holz, "Nach Zahnpasta kommt Klopapier," Neues Deutschland. 7 Dec.

1999. Jifrgen Holz, "Die Beweislast Uegt beim Ertappten," Neues Deutschland. 15 Dec.
1999. Former sprmter Katrin Krabbe commented that h was a "monstrosity" that a
dophig lab dfrector who was committed to neutralhy would conduct research solely on
behalf of Baumann, whereas she herself was never given the benefit of the doubt.
"Baumann mit TechnUc der Tour-de-France-Doper," Neues Deutschland. 13 Dec. 1999.
"Baumann's Shockmg Poshive," Last Lap, Track and Field News. Feb. 2000, 59.

"*"Baumann Clahn Refuted," Last Lap, Track and Field News. Apr. 2000, 59.

'""Baumann sieht sich m Opfer-roUe," Leipziger VoUcszehung. 24 Jan. 2000, 14.

See also: "Spur m den Osten," Der Spiegel no. 3,17 Jan. 2000,170-2; Udo Ludwig and
Alfred Wemzierl "Zahnpasta ist genial" Der Spiegel, no. 3, 17 Jan. 2000, 172, 174;
Jifrgen DahUcamp and Udo Ludwig, "Wahrheh+10," Der Spiegel no. 19, 8 May 2000,
175.

^*'*'"Die dritte Tube brmgt Baumann hi PanUc," Leipziger Volkszeitung, 28 Feb.

2000, 20.

310
man any room for beUef [m his credibilhy]," Rietbrock msisted.^*"

Franke's assertion of Baumann's hmocence was readily supported by historian

Sphzer with the questionable argument that Baumann has been set up because "...hi the

past, no one could ascertam this dophig mentaUty whh Dieter Baiunann."^**^ No

explanation is given by Spitzer as to what, exactly, a "dophig mentaUty" constitutes, nor

how one goes about detectmg h. This is not the first mstance that GiseUier Spitzer has

made preposterous assumptions on the sports scene. Sphzer has written that, m the GDR,

an average of thirty deaths occurred annually in the elite sports program, and that the tme

nature of these deaths had been concealed from the public. The sport historian attributed

these ostensibly premature deaths as fraceable to the "uninhibited effects of dophig

substances."^**^ Sphzer also concludes that many lethal incidents, particularly those

involvhig young athletes such as 16-year-old elhe ski jumper Jorg S. and 15-year-old

luge athlete Comelia S. were deliberately hushed up by the GDR sports authorities due to

the bad press they would have received.^*'" While the latter appears to be a tme statement,

given that Egon Krenz specifically issued an order not to announce these deaths, the

deaths of most athletes were not attributable to dophig substances at aU, as medical

doctors Sigrid Funk and D. Kabisch revealed, but rather to heart failures for most of the

^*" Jifrgen Holz, "Im Falle Baumann wurde bevmsst manipuUert," Neues
Deutschland. 30 Nov. 1999,15.

^*'^Frank Mertens, "Sphzer sieht Baumann als Opfer ernes Anschl^es," Leipziger
Volkszeitung. 18 Feb. 2000, 20.

^*'^"Angeblich jahrUch etwa 30 Todesfalle hn DDR-Sport," Leipziger

Volkszehung. 27 Dec. 1999, 27; "TodesfeUe hn DDR-Sport manipuUert," BerUner
Zeitung. 27 Dec. 1999,44.

^**""AngeblichjahrUch..."
311
older individuals, and accidents for the younger. The young ski jumper died from mjuries

resuhing from a faU during practice and ComeUa S. diedfroma broken neck when she

sUpped off the luge track and slammed mto a pipe.^*" The physician who was responsible

for studymg the causes of death hi sports, Sigrid Funk, wrote to the Berliner Zeitung that

Sphzer's statements and articles were entfrely misleadhig and unfafr. An extensive article

by Funk and Kabisch in a prominent Ausfrian medical joumal substantiated these

claims.^*'* In the midst of this German-German dispute, revelations of dopii^ research

and extensive doping among West German athletes were pubUshed, yet the trials focused

solely on prosecuting sins of East Germans. Clearly, as East German newspapers'

headlines screamed, two types of justice systems prevaU m Germany.

Indeed, evidence of state-sponsored doping, dopmg substances issued to mmors,

and dophig research may be extensively documented during the GDR regime, but this is

not entfrely an experience unique to the GDR sports system^*'* The East German readmg

audience has clamored to hear the other side of the story.^*" Some suspect that the focus

^*""Die mysteriosen TodesfeUe hn Hochleistungssport der DDR" Historiker hn

Deutschlandfimk. E>okumentation VIII, Nr. 3, 18 Jan. 2000.
^***Sigrid Funk, "GegendarsteUung zum ArtUcel 'TodesfeUe hn DDR-Sport
manipuUert vom 27.12.99,44,'" Berlmer Zeitung. 30 Dec. 1999. See also: D. Kabisch
and S. Funk, "TodesfeUe im organiserten und angeleiteten Sport," Deutsche Zehschrift
fifr Sportmedizm. 42, no. 10, (Oct. 1991): 464-70.
^*"VoUcer Kluge, "Zweierlei Recht hn verehiten Deutschland," Neues
Deutschland. 12 Aug. 1998, 3.
^***In Der Spiegel's three-part series on dophig m sports, one issue revealed how
West German athletes, particularly m track, had been doped "systematically and for
years." "Exfrem viel remgepumpt," Der Spiegel nr. 49,1990, 219-28. See also: "Das
miiss man nehmen," Der Spiegel no. 50,1990,258-63.
^*"Frhz Gememhardt, "Wfr wollen alle schmutzigen Hande sehen," Neues
312
on East German dopmg and tiie confessions of East German coaches to dopmg practices

was encouraged by Westemers, as unemployment worsened m Germany after tiie Wende.

If an East German coach concedes to dopmg practices, he or she loses his job. Thus, an

admission from an East German provides heightened job securhy or job possibUhies for

others. The compethion for jobs is particularly stiff between East and West coaches.^'**

The President of the Gennan Sports Physician Federation, Professor Dr. WUdor HoUman,

clahned not only that "dophig is and was a worldwide problem," but also that, m 1987

alone, 91 West German athletes tested poshive for dopmg.^" In 1998, top West German

athletes Chris-Carol Bremer and Mark Wamecke, a former World Champion m

swhnmmg, have both clahned on Germany's national television sports show, ARD-

Sportschau, that "among Federal (Republic of Germany) athletes, m the sport of

swhnmhig, dopmg is systematic and universal"^'^ In recent years, nine-thne Olympic

gold medaUst m track events Carl Lewis praised the German system of testmg for abusers

and proclauned to an astonished pubhc that dopmg "in the United States is worse than h

was in the former East Germany" though no evidence was supplied by the nine thne gold

medalist. '^ Lewis has disgruntled quhe a few sports observers by commentmg that "The

Deutschland. 4 Jan. 1999.

Christopher Keil "Gespanntes StUlschweigen," Suddeutsche Zeitung. 5/6 July

1997, 60.

Andreas Friedrich, "Fast 100 Sportier m ehiem Jahr: Ja, ich dope," Leipziger
Volkszehung. 22/23 Mar. 1998.

^'^Michael MuUer, "Ganz vom schwimmen die Schlucker und Fbcer," Neues
Deutschland. 20 Oct. 1998.

^'•'"Carl Lewis: Funktionare decken gedopte Athleten," Frankfiirter Allgememe

Zeitung. 10 July 1997, 28. See also: Gerd Holzbach, "In USA schlhnmer als m der Ex-
313
sport is losing credibility because h's dfrty."^''*

Confessions of doping or knowledge thereof by insider American Olympians

dates back over half a century.^" In a congressional hearhig in 1973, Olympic hammer

throw Champion Harold ConnoUy, testified that, m his day of compethion (mid to early

1950s) he and most of his competitors partook of anaboUc steroids "...as an mtegral part

of [his] frainmg." ConnoUy claimed h was so widespread that anyone who did not foUow

suh was branded, in the words of a German athlete, as bemg "a fool." Connolly claimed

that American women were at a disadvantage because eastem European women m track

and field events were heavy users of steroids. American Olympic sprmter Eddie Hart,

Olympic long jumper PhiUip Shinnick and coach Jack Scott Ukewise testified to the

extensive and widespread use of Ulich substances among American Olympic, coUege

level, and even high school athletes.^'* At the 1972 summer Olympic Games m Munich,

American track athlete Jay Sylvester conducted an unofficial poU of aU participathig

track and field athletes and discovered that 68% had used some type of anabolic steroid

to prepare for the games.^" It is highly possible that the real figure was even higher as

East Gennan athletes probably answered "no," given thefr awareness of thefr constant

DDR," Leichtathletik. no. 29,29 July 1997, 25.

^"*"Lewis on the Attack Agam,"Last Lap, Track and Field News. Feb. 2000, 66.

^"John M. Hoberman and Charles E. YesaUs, "The History of Synthetic

Testosterone," Scientific American, 272, no. 2, (Feb. 1995): 77. Wmdsor, 48.

^'*"Proper and Improper Use of Dmgs by AtiUetes," Hearings before the

Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delmquency, Committee of the Judiciary, United
States Senate, 18 June and 12-13 July 1973,150-ff; 285-9.

^"Todd, 97.
314
surveillance by secret poUce as weU as thefr pledge to secrecy as to traming

techniques.^'* From 1987 to 1991,18 young, fit, cycUng atiUetes from Belgium and The

Netherlands died from hie)q)licable causes. The assumption, accordmg to American

sports physician Dr. Randy Eichner, is that the athletes died of enlarged hearts from the

widespread use of erythropoieten, a substance that causes a rapid production of red blood

cells, which, mtum, mcreases the capachy for oxygen mtake.^" Studies of other

American medical practhioners reveal that, as early as 16 years ago, 20% of all

mtercoUegiate athletes used steroids. The assessment of these American experts even ten

years ago, when the Cold War had ended was that steroid usage is "a world-wide

epidemic among athletes at aU levels of compethion."^^** The death of American Olympic

medalist Florence Griffith-Joyner from a heart attack stimulated speculation as to the

cause of this seemingly premature death. One former trahiing partner of Griffith-Joyner,

Loma Boothe, testified that a Los Angeles nurse had admitted that Griffith-Joyner had

been freated on a regular basis with testosterone and other steroids.^^'

The feet that anaboUc steroids and other performance enhancements were used

widely on both sides of the Iron Curtain has become common knowledge. In Ught of this

overview of the sources and the controversy surroundhig the ZERV trials to hnpUcate

^'*See Chapter V: The 1970s: The Grand Debut of a Sports Superpower and
Chapter IX: The Price of Athletic Triumph m the GDR.

^""Schlamm m den Adem," Der Spiegel. 45, no. 24,10 June 1991,191-2,5.

^^"Paul J. Perry et al., "IUich anabolic steroid use m athletes," The American
Joumal of Sports Medicme. 18, no. 4, (July/Aug. 1990): 422.

^^'"Dopmg-Diskussion beglehet Trauer um Griffith-Joyner," Leipziger

VoUcszehung. 23 Sept. 1998.

315
coaches, sports physicians, and others, m the final analysis the real question is not "Were

East German athletes extensive users of ilUch substances?" but, rather, were they more

extensively doped m relation to thefr Westem counterparts? This answer we wUl never

know precisely as the westem athletes did not operate hi a closed, state-sponsored system

where meticulous medical records of the lUce found m the GDR sports system were kept.

It does seem apparent that, at least in some sports, where there is a decided advantage in

using such substances, such use was very widespread. The evidence does support that this

was the case m the West as weU as m the East. It also supports the aUegation that dopmg

m the GDR was systematic. Even among the few sports medical records pemsed for this

study h appears that systematic doping in certahi disciplines appears to have been the

case. Was h "universal," as Franke, Spitzer, and others assert? Because only 300

respondents answered ZERV's survey of the thousands of athletes who participated in the

GDR sports system, and because even among the 18 athletes mterviewed for this study,

the confrary was testified to, h does not appear that dophig was a universal

phenomenon.^^^ In the presence of evidence regardhig the implementation of Ulich

substances m the former West Germany, the United States, and other countries, h does

not appear that the playhig field was level all around. Does the aforementioned

aUegation of Spitzer hold tme that the eUte sports system of the GDR could not have

made h without dophig? Whhout records of the counterparts hi the West, we v^dU never

know precisely whether that was the case or not.^^^ However, the tremendous

^^^The testhnonies of the athletes m the ZERV trials were quite mixed m terms of
absolvmg or condemnmg thefr GDR coaches of administermg illich substances.

^^^Interview whh DSB President, Manfred von Richthoven, Jurgen Holz, "Vom
Spitzensport zum Spritzensport," Neues Deutschland, 8 Dec. 1998,12.
316
contributions and winning performances of "clean" East German athletes m post Wall

Germany seem to hidicate the contrary. That the dophig trials have been Umhed to East

German perpefrators and that the "anti-doph^ standard bearer Franke" has defended a

poshive-tested West German athlete has prompted indignation among the East

Germans.^^'* It is justified mdignation. The processhig of the GDR's sports history has led

only to a heightened polarization of East and West Gennan due to the imceasmg

poUticization of sports. The hnage of sports as an mstrument of polhics hi the GDR has

survived the fell of the BerUn Wall

^^''Jifrgen Holz, "Dopmg West und Ost und zweierlei Mass," Neues Deutschland,
16 Dec. 1999.
317
 CHAPTER IX

THE PRICE OF ATHLETIC TRIUMPH

IN THE GDR

Whh the conclusion of the trials of coaches, sports physicians, and state sport

leaders m the autmnn of 2000, h appears as if the hnage of the GDR sports system has

been inevocably tarnished. The glories of athletic triumphs have evaporated like drops of

water on hot stone hi the desert. Confessions of some sports physicians and coaches to

doping charges settled the matter in public opinion.' The entfre GDR sports success story

appeared to be a charade that had effectively convinced the world, and now the ruse was

out. The specter of the trial of former NOC and DTSB President Manfred Ewald m

particular attracted mtemational attention, while the trial hself was subjected to a stop-

and-go rhythm as concerns of Ewald's fitness to stand trial were continually brought up.^

In post WaU Germany, the debate over the depiction of the system has continued

to rage. An impassioned, if not intensely embittered, dialogue ensued regarding the

presentation of this system as weU as the fafrness of the trials. Professor Dr. H. J. Teichler

and Dr. Klaus Reinartz received a thumbs down critique on thefr work. The EUte Sports

System of the GDR m the 1980s and m the Wende Process, from the Eastem German

'Frank Mertens, "Em wichtiges Urteil" Leipziger Volkszeitung. 23 Dec. 1999,

19. "Gegenstandige PUlenverteUer bestraft,'Tbid. Frank Mertens, "Dopmg-Prozess gegen
Tramer und Funktionar," Leipziger VoUcszeitung. 22 Dec. 1999,20. "DDR-Sportlerhmen
klagen Arzt an," Leipziger VoUcszeitung, 10 Jan. 2000. Frank Mertens, "Schwhnm-Arzt
Kipke akzeptiert UrteU," Leipziger Volkszeitung. 13 Jan. 2000, 20.

^Jifrgen Holz, "Ist Ex-DTSB-Chef Ewald weher verhandlungsfahig?" Neues

Deutschland. 10 May 2000.

318
publication BeitrSge zur Sportgeschichte.^ The DSB Presse (Germans Sports Federation

Press), on the other hand, proclahned this same work as "openmg up an interestmg phase

m the elhe sport system of the GDR."* Especially bitter was the debate between the

historians regardhig the methodological and mterpretive approach used m unveilmg the

GDR's sportmg past. This was the case m a particularly vehement argument between Dr.

GiseUier Spitzer of Potsdam Univershy, whose expose is typically a negative emphasis

on Stasi control and dmg manipulation, and Gottingen University Professors Dr.

Wolfgang Buss, Dr. Sven Guldenpfennig, and Dr. Amd KrUger. The latter group prefers

to consider the more corrq)rehensive aspects enveloping the system as the basis for

analyzing the GDR sports program. This approach appears to have less the aura of a

poUtical vendetta and has a decidedly more objective overtone.' Even the famed "anti-

doping Pope," Wemer Franke, suddenly came under attack m a surprising about-fece tum

by the nation's leadhig newspaper, the Frankfurter AUgemeine Zeitung. This paper found

^Hemz Schwidtmann and Klaus Huhn, "Das Leistungssportsystem der DDR m

den 80er Jahren und hn Prozess der Wende, von H.J. Teichler and K. Remartz," Beitrage
zur Sportgeschichte. 10, (2000): 102-3.

"statement by Hans Hansen, "Wie war das Leistungssportsystem der DDR

wfrklich?" DSB Presse. Dokumentation VIII, no, 38, (1 Sept. 1999).

'Buss, Guldenpfennmg, and Kruger submitted another article refutmg Spitzer to

the Sozial und Zehgeschichte des Sports; h has yet to be published. Because Spitzer
serves as one of the two editors of this publication, he chose not to aUow the article's
appearance. The authors are protestmg this. The decision for publication is pendmg.
GiseUier Sphzer, "Grundsatzpapier zur EntpoUtisierung der Geschichte des DDR-
Sports7' Sozial und Zehgeschichte des Snorts. 13, no. 2, (1999), 64-75. W. Buss, S.
Giildenpfennig, A. Kruger, "'Leistungssport' und Gehehnstruktur der Steuerung des
DDR-Sports, "Grenzen der 'Gnmdannahmen' und 'daraus resuhierender Lehfragen,'"
Sozial und Zehgeschichte des Sports. 13, no. 2, (1999), 77-90; Wolfgang Buss, Sven
Guldenpfennig, Amd Kriiger, "Geschichte-, kulttu--, sport(poUtik) und wissenschafts-
theoretische Grundannahmen sowie daraus resuhierende Lehfragen fUr die Forschung,"
Sozial und Zehgeschichte des Sports. 13, no. 1, (1999): 65-74.
319
h quite suspicious that, m the fece of the aforementioned scandal regarding poshive-

tested distance runner Baumann, Franke abmptly clahned to know nothmg about the

dophig procedures of the East Germans. Der Spiegel had msisted hi Baumann's case that

aU doping traUs led to the GDR, specificaUy the technique of ingesting Ulich substances

sublingually.* EarUer, Franke had secretly photographed hundreds of pages of documents

shortly after the Wende and claimed to have discovered precise detaUs as to the doping

tactics of the GDR. In the fece of the Baumann story, suddenly he knew none of these

detaUs. "He has disappointed us~or we've overesthnated him. We state quhe freely and

openly that Franke knows more than he cares to mform us."' Franke's mystifyhig silence

portends behind-the-scenes' activity, similar to the case of Dieter Quartz and Der Spiegel.

This case ended up with a defemation court trial with the judge ordering restraint by

Franke.*

The hnage of the system seemed to hinge upon the verdicts m the trials. Attomeys

and judges presidhig over the trials deliberated allegations that birth defects and other

heahh problems conelated dfrectly to dophig of athletes, yet the issue of dfrect causaUty

was never resolved.' The presidhig medical physicians m the trials. Professor Dr.

Rietbrock and Dr. Liibbert, assessed health problems of women athletes to be apparently

due to a combmation of mgestion of birth control pills whh steroids. The physicians

*"Spur m den Osten," Der Spiegel no. 3,17 Jan. 2000,170-2.

'Hans-Joachhn Waldbrol "Der unwissende Dophig Professor," Frankfiuter

AUgemehie Zeitung, 14 Mar. 2000.

*See Chapter Vlff: Stasi Steroids and Vergangenhehsbewahigung.

'Michael Kohnel, "Die Verjahmngsfrist driickt auf den Ewald-Prozess,"

sachsische Zeittmg. 16 May 2000,2.
320
msisted, however, that this assumption could not be proved! The physicians themselves

were disturbed that federal judges were doUng out ruUngs based on speculation rather

tiian medically proven facts. When asked why he was disappohited whh the outcome of

the trials, Rietbrock stated "My disappomtment rests above aU on the fact that coaches

and physicians were judged guilty of physical mjury, which is absolutely unprovable."'**

Rietbrock hi particular was aghast that the records used for the court hearmgs were Stasi

fUes, whose credibilhy is deemed highly questionable." Rietbrock, a West German

physician with impeccable medical credentials, also expressed undisguised contempt for

Franke's role hi his relentless pursuh of revealhig East German dopers and his statements

regardhig the trials:

For me, the biologist Franke is a gum of eUte sports who unthinkhigly and
fooUshly has misled the broader pubUc with his scientific and medical half tmths.
He has only been successfiil because the medical community has tolerated this
and remained sUent.

Throughout this very pubUc brouhaha over the credibilhy of the GDR system,

other, perhaps surprismg, frends were evident. East German athletes stiU comprised, as

late as sprmg 2000, nearly half of aU the top German athletes, whereas East Germans

consthute only slightly more than one quarter of the population. If the athletes from the

GDR who had left united Germany smce 1990 were to be hicluded m this figure, then

they would have factored m as high as two-thfrds of the combmed leadhig German

'*'HO1Z, "Die deutschen Sportartzte schweigen," Neues Deutschland. 10 Feb.

1999,3.

"ibid. See also: Klaus Huhn, "Nicht viel Phantasie n6tig," Junge Weh, 2 May
2000, 15.

'^Holz, "Im Falle Baumann wurde bewusst manipuUert," Neues Deutschland, 30

Nov. 1999,15.
321
athletes.'^ East German athletes mspfred compethion while former GDR coaches were

stUl highly esteemed, as the nation's best, whh GDR coaching know-how remaming m

demand.''* West German sport historian Dr. Martin-Peter Buch found himself pleadmg to

his coUeagues, both West and East alUce, to guard against adhering to the Cold War

dichotomy of "evil-doers on the one side and angels on the other. After all the room for

action on behalf of (each of) the actors (m the GDR) was by all means distmctly

different.""

Thus, m the analysis of this system a number of paradoxes emerge. Prior to the

GDR's demise, the sport system was presented as a very overt symbol of the vfrtues of a

"socialist" society, albeh under a dictatorship. WhUe gratefiil for the opportunity to fiilfiU

thefr athletic aspfrations, the athletes feiled to beUeve m GDR propaganda or see

themselves as "embodymg the sociaUst personaUty."'* Yet, after the Wall the system

was decried as bemg merely a resuh of opportunist poUticos out to exploh the athletes to

bolster thefr own poUtical and ideological convictions. To accomplish this, aU means

were allowed. This dark portrah, however, is not consistent with the testhnonies of this

study's athletes who gave a largely poshive assessment of the sports system A close look

at official state files on athletes who disagreed with this rosy account, however, reveals a

'^Michael MuUer, "Alte DDR-Schule: Sieger und Letzter," Neues Deutschland,

16Mar. 2000, 15.
'"Frank Thomas, "Erfolgssaison dank 'Ost-Power,'" Neues Deutschland, 25/26
Mar. 2000; Eckhard GaUey, "Vaterlicher barter Hund," Neues Deutschland, 29 Mar.
2000.
"Dr. Martm-Peter Buch, "Begriissung," Workshop "Geschichte des DDR-Sports,
18 Apr. 1997, Bundesmstittit fifr Sportwissenschaft, Cologne, 1997.

'*See: Chapter VII: The System: the Athletes Speak Out.

322
different story altogether. Even among the athletes hiterviewed for this study who express

praise for the sports program as a whole, revelations of oppressive freatment are manifest.

Beyond the medals and the glories of bemg counted among the world's best, a heavy

price was paid by many, tfnot aU, athletes. The price was typically a curtaUment of some

of the most basic civU liberties.

The Mhustry for State Security had much to do with this curtaUment of civil

liberties. When ice queen Katarina Witt first pemsed her Stasi files after the Wende, she

discovered that she had been observed and her actions and words recorded since the

tender age of seven. Twenty-seven bmders containing 3,103 pages of both ficthious and

non-ficthious statements and mcidents had been written up on Witt." Junior athletes who

entered hito the lower tiers of the elhe athletic program via the sports clubs aU underwent

a State Security Mmistry investigation which would then be conducted again and again

throughout the athlete's sportmg career. The hivestigation was not a high-profile

exercise. It was typically done whhout the knowledge of those concemed.'* As powerful

and ubiquitous as this state branch was, many athletes claim h played a minor role in

thefr Ufestyles, at least whUe they were hi the physical boundaries of the GDR hself

Former eUte athlete Anke Delow hisists that h is a mistake to Ihnh discussions of the

GDR sports system to the emotionally charged issue of Stasi mfiltration without first

confenhig with the actors themselves. Only the actors themselves can put the situation

described m the Stasi files m hs conect context. To reduce aU of GDR sports to 'Stasi

"Witt, 26-30.
'*Anke Delow, "CharakteristUca der Arbehsweise ernes DDR-Sportclubs
hmerhalb des Funktionsgefiiges des DDR-Leistungssports," Workshop "Geschichte des
DDR-Sports". Bundesmstituts fifr Sportwissenschaft, Cologne, 18 Apr. 1997,6.
323
and steroids,' Delow asserts, does a great disservice to an accurate historical overview of

the system Swhnmer Jorg HofiBnann recalls how the athletes knew they were bemg

monitored: they discovered that, m thefr absence, thefr possessions were periodicaUy

rifled through m thefr Uvmg quarters. Yet more evidence of Stasi observation was not

mentioned by Hofifinann.^** Ice skater Anett Potzsch, on the other hand, recoUects how h

was apparent that phones and mail were closely screened.^' Wrestler Frank Hartmann

relates that he had to write up reports on the conversations he held whh his westem

relatives when they attended a family weddmg m East Germany as a possible condhion

for contmuing with sports. To keep hhn from defectmg when he participated m the

Munich Games of 1972, none of his immediate femily members, not even his mother,

was aUowed to attend the Games. Hartmann states of his mother at that moment: "She did

not understand the world anymore."^^ When Anett Potzsch, Olympic figure skating

Champion of 1980, was to marry the brother of two-time Olympic figure skathig

Champion Katarina Witt, both the Witt family and the PStzsch family mtended to invhe

family members from West Germany to the weddmg. DTSB District Dfrector Rolf

Wagner mformed POtzsch that h was highly undesfrable for top athletes to have contact

with chizens of "non-socialist economic territories." Witt explams that this was expressed

in such a maimer as to be completely understood as a threat. The weddhig took place

"Ibid., 6-7.

^"interview whh Hofifinann.

^'interview whh Potzsch.

^^Interview with Hartmann.

324
witiiout the presence of any West German relatives.^^

The GDR's last Mmister-President, Lothar de Maiziere, clahns the post WaU

depiction of Stasi confrol m the GDR is overplayed. The reaUty, de Maiziere msists, is

that "hi the East, there were perhaps three percent who participated and three percent who

were victhns, the rest of the people did not want to be mvolved."^" Other estimates are

even lower. East German Joachim Gauk, federally commissioned overseer of the

processmg of Stasi files after the Wende, concludes that only 2% of GDR chizens worked

actively for the Stasi. ^'

The surveillance of GDR chLzens by the Stasi was not unique to athletes, who

did, however, represent a higher capital mvestment of the State than did other citizens.

Mmisters, artists, teachers, were aU enmeshed in the service of espionage. Some people,

such as Vera Wollenberger, discovered that thefr husbands or wives had befrayed them.

WoUenberger, who had been imprisoned for her human rights activhies and became

suspicious after readmg her dossier, confronted her reluctantly-concedmg husband with

the ugly truth that he had written her up. Her fUe, she states, was "a dangerous mixture of

fiction and truth."^* Dissidents in the GDR would oftenthnes be mcarcerated in msane

^Vitt, 126.

^'*"Das Recht auf Bequemlichkeh," Sachsische Zehung. 19 May 1998,4.

^'Gauk's ofificial thle hi Germany is "Bundesbeauftragter fifr die Unterlagen des

Staatssicherhehsdienstes der ehemaligen DDR," (FederaUy Commissioner for the
Documents of the State Security Service of tiie former GDR) Barth, p. 212. "Hmrichten,
notfaUs ohne Urteil" Der Spiegel 49, no. 19, 8 May 1995, 56.

^*Wollenberger's hnmediate reaction was to run to the bathroom and vomh. She
later filed for divorce. James O. Jackson, et al., "Fear and Betrayal In the Stasi State,"
Tune. 3 Feb. 1992, 32-3.

325
asylums. Those who even merely applied to fravel to the caphahst West would be

considered enemies of the State. These potential defectors might have been subjected to

arbhrary beatmgs or searches by the poUce.^' Yet athletes appear to have been more

routinely and frequently monitored by the State espionage service, given the high value

that the GDR placed on the public hnage of hs sportsmen and women, and the capital

investment made m them. Cyclist Marc Dennis Schulz clahns he was put under pressure

to stay in the eUte sport program when he no longer wanted to. He was continually

reminded by the KJS authorities that "the state has mvested a lot of money m you." Only

when his mother caUed and requested permission for her son to leave the program was he

able to do so. When h was made clear that there was an UI family member and that Marc

Dennis was needed at home, he was finaUy allowed to leave.^* One ice skater, Sonja

Morgenstem, clahns to have feh "massacred" upon discovermg how detaUed were the

Stasi personnel reports on her. Even more shockhig to Morgenstem was how the Stasi

had mfilfrated and even influenced her Ufe. The 350 pages she read m her file were

recorded more graphicaUy than the events she herself remembered.^'

The post WaU consequences of these new revelations of betrayals of family and

friends have most certainly had long-term consequences. Some victhns do not have the

emotional or psychological capachy to come to terms whh such explosive informatioiL

The aforementioned woman who was betrayed by her husband. Vera WoUenberger,

""Makmg Dissenters Pay the Price," Thne. 20 Dec. 1976, 35-6.

^*Interview with Schulz.

^'"Waren doch alle bei der Stasi" Der Spiegel 23 Nov. 1992,222-3.

326
hisists that h is a "Pandora's box of beti^yal" which may be best left unopened.^*' Many

shnply choose to ignore h and spare themselves the turmoU. Shotput Olympic Champion

Udo Beyer simply dismisses the notion of readmg his file, claimmg he has no mterest m

hs contents. He claims he knows how he Uved his Ufe and he expects that there are no

surprises there for hhn.^' One female frack athlete recaUs that a close family friend

repeatedly wrote reports on the athlete's entfre femily. When this scandal was revealed

after the Wende, the family members reconciled themselves to the friend, recognizhig that

he was operatmg under coercive cfrcumstances.^^ One German psychotherapist, Hans-

Joachim Maaz, believes that the routine outbreaks of violence m the new federal states of

Germany after the Wende, particularly at soccer games, were due to an outburst of pent-

up emotions after decades of Uvmg in a tightly-controUed police state.^^

Some athletes did not take the Stasi control issue quhe so hard. Olympic wrestler

Frank Hartmann laughmgly remembers how, whenever the athletes would fly to a

compethion or would be sitting in a stadium hi a foreign country, the same unknown men

would always be present. When the athletes would ask thefr coaches who these men

were, they were sunply told bmsquely, "they're there for your security!" even though the

athletes never perceived themselves to be even sUghtly threatened.^'* Bobsled Olympic

^*'Jackson, 33.

^'interview with Beyer.

^^Interview with a female frack athlete.

^^Joachim Rogge, "Jetzt entladt sich der Gefuhlsstau aus 40 Jahren

Sicherhehsstaat," Gottmger Tageblatt 22 Mar. 1991.

^'*Interview with Hartmann.

327
Champion Dietmar Schauerhammer also took the strictures of Stasi presence Ughtly, as

he relays how GDR athletes would violate orders and frequently meet with westem

athletes at compethion m foreign countries. He claims to have made many friends with

athletes from the West, friendships he has retamed.^' World shotput record-holder Udo

Beyer proudly states that the EngUsh he acqufred he learned from his American and

Brhish friends from his years in compethion. Athletes of opposmg ideologies would

oftentimes meet secretly in a pub and have friendly exchanges over a beer, desphe orders

to the confrary. Such was the case whh Beyer and Schauerhammer.^*

Yet the close proxhnity of the Stasi presence to and within the athletic community

in the GDR was clear. Potsdam was simultaneously the she of a GDR frammg center for

athletes which since the Wende has become an Olympic Trahiing Center, and also the site

of a speciahy school for the state poUce.^' Erich Mielke, Mmister of State Security, was

granted the highest medal of honor in the reahn of sports, the Verdienten Meister des

Sports, for his establishment of the sport club Dynamo in Berlin. Dynamo would become

a critical traming center for such athletic disciplhies as hockey, figure skatmg, voUeyball,

handball, soccer, judo, the pentathlon, shootmg, boxmg, wrestUng, and other sports. It

would be one of the largest trahung centers m the GDR.^* MieUce, m addhion to bemg

^'interview with Schauerhammer.

^*Interviews whh Beyer and Schauerhammer.

^'Generaloberst Mielke, Stand der Voraussetzungen fifr die Zuerkennung des

Status emer Hochschule fifr die Fachschule des Mmisteriums fe Staatssicherheh m
Potsdam-Eiche, Anlage Nr. 10 zum ProtokoU Nr. 11, Feb. 3,1965, SAPMO at
Zehgeschichte fur Sport, Potsdam Univershy, 1-4.

^*Situated m eastem BerUn, Dynamo has the appearance of a densely buih coUege
campus.
328
honored with this sports award, was the chief of the secret poUce and also a member of

the Board of Dfrectors of the DTSB as weU as a member of the State Committee for

Physical Culture and Sports.^' MieUce was a hands-on-sports-enthusiast Mmister of State

Securhy, even though overseemg athletic activhies was not within the parameters of his

official duties. As mentioned in CHAPTER VI: The Final Decade, Mielke took h upon

hhnself to sponsor the GDR ice hockey teamfromthe State Security budget when the

state sports branch would not.'**'

Desphe this apparent close involvement of the Stasi m eUte sports m the GDR,

one must exert great caution in considering the matter of state relations vis-a-vis the

athletes when using Stasifiles.As noted m Chapter VIII: Stasi Steroids and

Vergangenhehsbewahigung, thesefilesare considered to be highly dubious sources for

trials, medical records, or historical writmg. Much of the mformation contahied in the

fUes is anecdotal of dubious reliabUity, and has glarmg mconsistencies.'*' The

mformation discovered m the SAPMO documents, on the other hand, appears to have

greater reliability, as accounts of hicidents reported therem have not been proven to be

embellished withficthiousor anecdotal material as is the case vvnth the Stasi files.

In the SAPMO documents one can fmd relatively early m the developmental stage

of the GDR sports system how Walter Ulbricht, former General Secretary, le., the

GDR's leadmgfigure,hnposed restrictive condhions on athletic activhies long before the

^'SED HausmitteUung, Rudi Helhnann to Erich Honecker, Abt. Sport, May 3,

1966, Anlage, ZK der SED Sport IV A2/18/3-4, SAPMO, 1-3.

'**'Remartz, 4.
'*'See Chapter VIE: Stasi Steroids and Vergangenheitsbewahigung.

329
WaU existed. This was most particularly the case with elhe sports. PoUtically oppressive

from the earUest beghmmgs, Ulbricht expressly stated m 1958 that.

This wide-reachmg liberaUsm evident hi elhe sports m the last [several] months,
must be stopped...The coaches should not be determmmg the development of
sport, but rather the selected adnunistrators of the German Gymnastics and Sport
Federation and thefr [respective] sections...One has to separate one's self from
coaches after a correspondhig ideological clarification [has been made
determinmg the lack of Party loyahy].'*^

Above all Ulbricht wanted understood that the "perspective of our socialist constmction

in the sports organization is clearly made."'*^

Intensive effort was to be extended to guarantee that the top athletes would be

weU grounded m fundamental issues that the Party considered important. At this stage,

Ulbricht was hoping that West German athletes could be won over to the Party's views as

GDR athletes were then actuaUy encouraged to cultivate "sfronger contacts and

relationships" with West Germans. Engaging themselves as missionaries. East German

athletes were even to distribute written materials and newspapers to enUghten West

German sportsmen and women, especially those who belonged to workers' sport

organizations, about the Party's "socialist" prhiciples.'*'* Ulbricht's paranoia at losmg

grasp over, or even attahung ahogether, the loyahy of athletes was clearly evident. Not

only were the West Germans to be proselytized, but the "active enemy forces [among us

''^Niederschrift aus Aussprachen mit Genossen Waher Ulbricht anlasslich der

Wmtersportwoche m Oberhof m der Zeh vom 14.-16.2.58, BerUn, Feb. 19,1958, DY30
IV 2/18/2, SAPMO at Zehgeschichte fifr Sport, Potsdam University, 2-3.

"^Ibid., 3.

'"*Ibid.

330
m HaUe at the Institute for Physical Education] must be exposed."*' Ulbricht furthermore

estabUshed the pecking order for the principal sports coUege located m Leipzig, the

DHffC. The DHfK was to subordinate hself in educational matters to the State Secretariat

for Univershy Education, but was to be dfrected m poUtical and course subject matters by

the State Committee hself The DHfK was also to undergo an hivestigation as to the

causes for thefrequencyof defections as well as the "enemy activhies" found there."**

The State's stmggle for confrol only mtensified. When words alone did not

suffice to curtaU sport students' and athletes' dissent or thefr movement, as many millions

of East Germans voted with thefr feet and departed the GDR, the mfamous Wall was

buih. Between 1949, when the GDR was called mto existence with hs own cmrency and

hs own constitution, and August 13, 1961, when the Berlm Wall was buUt, 2,686,942

refiigees were registered with the Federal Republic's Emergency Asshnilation System

(Notaufiiahmeverfehren).'*' Many hundred thousand more were conceivably dfrectly

asshnilated without registering. Incredibly, the DTSB reported that students, by and

large, behaved poshively to the government's draconian actions of August 13, 1961. The

assent of these students was probably a manifestation of fear, as those whh fewer

mhibhions made "provocative comments and took openly enemy poshions." These

provocateurs were UteraUy dfrected to "get m the closet"!'** DTSB leaders were clearly

*'lbid.
46T
^bid., 5.
'*'Tabelle 1: Registrierte FliichtUnge bzw. AnfragsteUer m Notaufiiameverfahren,
m Hans-Adolf Jacobsen, et al, Drei .Tahrzente AussenpoUtik der DDR, (Munich: R.
Oldenbourg Verlag, 1979), 415.
'*Ehischatzung des Standes der poUtischen Arbeh hn DTSB BerUn nach dem
331
anxious as to how they would go about poUticizmg sports aU tiie more to vmdicate tiie

new system. This must be done from the top down. Leadhig sport fimctionaries would

have to prove thefr ability to convmcmgly defend the poUtics of the Party and the

govemment m order to wm over the athletes."' Somehow, strong convictions expressed

by coaches and adnunistrators m support of the govemment oftenthnes had an uncanny

abilhy to stUl tiie voices of dissent. This was particularly the case m sport clubs where

eUte athletes were concentrated.'" This "educational" process somehow had, m some

sports clubs, the desfred effect of dairqjenhig crhicism Even so, the fight for loyahy was

on, as brave episodic outbursts of critique could not be suppressed. One ei^hieer, Willi

Kluwener of Kopenick, then a youth leader m sports, refused to sign the letter of support

for UUbricht cfrculated at each sports club. Another leader of a cyclmg club rejected the

government's ideological force-feedmg, pronouncing, "I'm an athlete and nothing else!

Among us there are three kmds of people: 1. SED-members, 2. non-Party members, and

3. border crossers."" It was disconcerthig to the DTSB leaders that whhm sports clubs,

factory clubs and other organizations, many members had defected and disapproval of the

regime was pronounced. The instance of Kluwener was not an isolated one. Many

sports organizations were seething whh conflict and provocations, such as was the case at

the fectory clubs. Motor Treptow and Motor Friecfrichstadt. Sharp disputes occurred in

13.08.61, BerUn, Sept. 16, 1961, DY30 FV 2/18/8, SAPMO at Zeitgeschichte fifr Sport,
Potsdam Univershy, 4-5.

"'Ibid., 5.

'*'lbid., 6.

"Ibid., 8.

332
sport organizations m Grimau and Kopenick when the members were requfred to sign

letters of approval for the erection of tiie Wall. So mtense was this hostUhy tiiat DTSB

leaders even feared that the sports organizations would be used as platforms for

organizmg opposhion to the government.'^ Possibly to avoid the fray, many athletes

shnply distanced themselves from the signmg of letters of approval to the govemment.

The unnamed DTSB reporter wrote that, m essence, the athletes were declarmg, "We

weren't asked about these measures. This is not freedom, the measures are mhumane and

we do not agree with these poUtics." DTSB leaders were astonished that many athletes hi

such sport organizations as Empor Pankow and Grimau had the msolence even to refuse

to play sports or attend meetmgs.'^ The dissident athletes' newest defense was to plead

indifference to poUtical matters. This presented a new conundrum for the reghne, as

dismterest was perceived as indicative of disloyalty. Indifference to pohtics in the

movement was known as "Nur-Sportlertums" (only athleticism) and was very threatenmg

to the authorities, as it was regarded as an aggressive act of protest.

This so-called 'political neutrality' is not merely a lack of poUtical clarity, h is a

firmly established ideological dfrection, under [the guise of] which aU these
vacillating and enemy elements gather. This can be seen in almost aU sections of
rowing and sailmg.''*

While angry undertones of sports organization members appear quhe paljiable in

the report, the writer endeavored to put a poshive spm on the situation, declarhig that

efforts should be made to guarantee "systematic poUtical educational work of the sports

'^Ibid.

'^Ibid., 9.

'"Ibid.

333
officials and the athletes."" Non-poUtical coaches were to be replaced whh those who

imbibed the Party's teachings.'*

Party members were encouraged to be on the lookout for non-mdoctrinated types

m leadership poshions. This was particularly the case at the premier sports coUege m

Leipzig, the DHflC. Comrades Schwidtmann and Zimpel (first names are unstated) were

reported to be displaymg "unpartylUce behavior as leadmg comrades." Rudi HeUmann,

Dfrector of the Department of Physical Culture and Sports for the Cenfral Comnuttee of

the SED, sensed that there was disquiet among the comrades at the DHfK. Because these

underlings had no say in the course of long-term plannhig in thefr departments, or even

hiformation as to how the planning had proceeded, these restrictive measures evoked

negative comment. HeUmaim characterized these comrades as "subjective, presumptuous

and over-estimatmg of thefr own abilhies."" Schwidtmann had complained openly to

comrade Kfrchner that there was an alleged dearth of support for the development of

sports science, among other faUhigs. When Zimpel stood by Schwidtmann and both

conplamed of this "situation of uncertainty," the Party members informed them that h is

not necessary to discuss these matters. These, h was said, are issues for the Party
CO

organization and its members.

Dissent at the DHfK, the seat of sports education and science, was not an

"Ibid., 10.

'*Ibid. 11.

"ProtokoU der Beratung mit dem Vertretem der DHfK am 30.04.65, May 5,
1965, ZK der SED Sport IV A2/18/3-4, SAPMO, 1.

'*Ibid., 2-3, 5.
334
uncommon phenomenon. There is much evidence that the SED's Gleichschaltung (the

Nazi term for coordmation of ideals and loyahy m organizations) hi the univershies,

colleges, and technical-vocational colleges was hicomplete. It was the task of aU those m

leadership poshions, startmg whh those m the Free German Youth (FDJ) sports group, to

promote the message of the Party. LUce good nussionaries, these leaders were to

propagate SED ideology at every opportunity."

Why was this necessary? The appearance of "klembifrgerlichen (petty

bourgeousie) im-Marxist attitudes" m all univershies, colleges, and vocational schools

was manifest. An entfre laundry list of these "un-Marxist attitudes" was presented: a lack

of unreserved dedication to the poUtics of the SED, a tolerance towards the "spreading of

imperiaUstic ideology" [of the US and West Germany presumably], and listening to the

"heckling of the deadly enemy of Socialism," hi particular, by giving an ear (such as at

the Martin Luther University in Halle) to westem radio and television. Some students had

become so "arrogant" they even had the nerve to "demand the 'right' to voice criticism of

everythmg and to doubt everything!" Student attitudes shown at all msthutions of higher

education were assessed as not in keeping with those of a "Worker and Farmer State."

Students were engagmg m "unclean relations" whh the opposhe sex and in excessive

drmkhig. Physics majors at the Karl Marx Univershy m Leipzig were hisistmg that a

modern theory of quantum physics could not be proven while adhermg to a Party-

poshion. These same physics students were also irritatmg the school authorities because.

"SED Hausmitteilung, Arbehsgmppe Sport, Abt. Leher Homig an Weber, Feb. 2,

1966, betr. Beschluss des Sekretariats des Zentral Rats der FDJ vom 21.12.65 uber
"Massnahmen zur weheren poUtisch-ideologischen und poUtisch-organizatorischen
Festigung des FDJ-Aktivs an den Univershaten, Hoch- und Fachschulen," ZK der SED
Sport DY30IV A2/18/13, SAPMO, 8.
335
histead of deUberathig the fimdamental works of Marxism-Lenmism, they were

pondermg such questions as "What does an atheist do when his soul is troubled?'**'

The chief complamt of students at the sports coUege m Leipzig was that thefr

sociaUst education seemed quhe superficial. A blatant manifestation of this was the

profiision of "impudent" comments and questions posed by students to the DHfK

Chancellor m assembly. To the authorities' chagrhi, student comments were laden with

sarcasm. Many students reacted with laughter hi one assembly when Comrade Meurer's

discussion revolved around concerns for the (1968) situation (invasion) of

Czechoslovakia and how this affected changes in mtemal plannmg.*' Students at the

DHfiC were reluctant even to show symbolic soUdarity whh the FDJ (Free German

Youth) sport organization. The students were to wear the blue shirt of the FDJ m order to

show ideological unity, yet only 40% actuaUy did. Excuses were abundant: 'It's out of

style." "They're makmg too much of this." "It's not exactly a shirt of honor." "I can't

wear this for eight days." Even more disconcerting to univershy authorities was the more

overtly crhical remarks made by the students: "The comrades bolster themselves [i.e.

thefr hnage] solely through the press and blhidly tmst the leadership just like a chicken."

"One can have demonstrations here against administrative measures of the DHfK. The

Poles have shown us how to do this." One student mentioned only by his fust name,

Dietrich, proclahned that, at the DHfK, there was no democracy.*^

**'lbid., 1-4.
*'Bericht von Prof Dr. Gimther Erbach, Versammlung des Ubungs Verbandes der
Sportstudenten und der DHfK m Leipzig, BerUn, Oct. 17,1968, ZK der SED Sport,
DY30IV A2/18/6, SAPMO, 4.

*^Auszug: Informationsbericht DHflK (femmundliche MitteUungen durch

336
 Other than the aforementioned mandatory poUtical education, disciplmary

measures taken agamst these dissident students at the leadhig sports coUege m Leipzig

were not mentioned. The hand of disciplme wielded over the athletes, however, was an

fron fist. Heresy among these steUar examples of "socialism" was not tolerated. When the

West German sports shoe company. Puma, offered SED member and top athlete Jifrgen

May $100 to mfluence Jifrgen Haase, a 5,000 meter distance runner and also a

"comrade," to wear Puma shoes in the final race at the 1966 European track and field

Championships in Budapest, GDR sports authorities were incensed. Haase was to receive

$500 as his part of the bargahi.*^ The two Jifrgens had agreed to the terms of the deal.

Here was one of thefr lead athletes, a Party member at that, promoting a West German

product in an intemational race! This defiant act meant that, despite a thorough

indoctrination in "sociaUst' values, some athletes stUl welcomed capitalist currency.

When the Track Athlete Association of the GDR heard of this transaction, a confrontation

unmediately franspfred regarding this act of "bribery." It was a stmg operation on behalf

of the West Germans, who had secretly tape-recorded the discussions siuroundmg the

terms of the shoe deal and had delivered the tape to the team leader of the GDR. The

documents provide no clue as to why the West Germans would stage this set-up. Perhaps

h was an endeavor to encourage one or both of the Jurgens to defect. The consequences

of this entfre situation were dfre, at least for Jifrgen May. May was assessed as bemg a

Genossen Prof Erbach am 3.4.68, 9.05 Uhr) ZK der SED DY30IV A2/18/2 SAPMO, 1-
2.

*^Information uber die VorfeUe (versuchte Bestechung emer west deutschen

Schuhfirma) anlasslich der Europameisterschaften Leichtathletick m Budapest, undated,
ZK der SED Sport DY30IV A2/18/5, SAPMO, 1.

337
dangerous case, as his brother had defected and also because he had been receptive to the

overtures of the West Germans.*" Not only was May, the older of the two Jurgens,

forbidden to travel to the West for any fiirther compethion, but he was to be banned for

life from any compethion whatsoever, nationaUy or anywhere m the communist East. As

a fiirther punitive measure. May was to make a public statement to the effect that,

because of heahh reasons, his active career as an athlete had come to an end.*' Haase, on

the other hand, was evaluated as bemg truly penitential; therefore he was forgiven and

allowed to continue competmg.**

In contrast to Ulbricht's origmal hitent of East German athletes contacting West

German athletes in order to proselytize the Westemers, the condhions of a physically

divided German nation changed the cfrcumstances entfrely. An undesfrable reverse effect

had franspfred. West Germans were perceived as wielding too much infiuence on the

Eastemers. When GDR ice skater Ralph Borghard contacted a West German ice skater,

Schonmetzler (no ffrst name is mentioned), he was kicked out of the elhe sport club

Dynamo m BerUn. Borghard mamtamed that he was assigned the task of contactmg the

West German, but was now being reproached for doing so. Rudi HeUmann, Dfrector of

the Physical Culture and Sport Department of the Central Committee, notified Erich

Honecker that what one can gather from cases such as that of Borghard, is that eUte

athletes make agreements [whh Westemers] that are out-of-Une, or, as in the case of

Borghard, the athlete merely wrongfully succumbed to weakness by even communicatmg

64
Ibid., 2.

*'lbid., 3-4.

**Ibid., 2.
338
so closely whh the westem athlete.*'

The fear of westem influences became mcreasingly pronounced through the years

as the Wall could not deflect radio or television waves, nor could h block youthful

energetic athletes' natural hiterest m the new ideas, sights, and sounds of the West. DTSB

Vice President HeU (first name is not given) apologetically wrote Rudi HeUmann that

"poUtically unsustamable music" [westem music] was used February 9, 1971, for the

performance of ice skater Sonja Morgenstem at the European Championships m Zurich,

Switzerland. The solution to this dUemma was to prevent any such future mishaps from

reoccurring by intensify mg the poUtical education of the coaches and sport club dfrectors.

The dfrector of the ice skating organization, comrade Griinwald (no ffrst name is given),

conceded, after an altercation with the DTSB authorities, that he hhnself would

personaUy assume the responsibility of screening all music accompanying the ice-skaters'

performances.** Authorities thus censored westem mfluences which were considered

enticing to the young, impressionable sports audiences.

ReUgious sensibilhies of the athletes and other individuals who were sports-

engaged were also perceived as a threat to the estabUshed order. When Anna-Marie

MuUer, a luge specialist, was disqualified along with her other team members m

Grenoble, what raised eyebrows among the Party elhe was not so much the

disquaUfication, as h was MuUer's open comments to an East German journalist from

Neues Deutschland. This student majormg m phannacy at the Karl Marx Univershy m

*'Letter from Rudi Helhnann to Erich Honecker, Apr. 8,1965, Abt. Sport, ZK der
SED Sport, DY30 FV A2/18/3-4, SAPMO.

**Letter from Heil DTSB Vice President, to Rudi HeUmann, Feb. 10, 1971, ZK
der SED Sport, DY30 TV A2/18/11, SAPMO, 1-2.
339
Leipzig had professed quhe freely that she would give a "yes" m an upcoming

confirmation vote regardhig the consthution. Yet when the joumaUst presented her with

the text regardhig the church, MuUer professed that she was Catholic and had

reservations m respect to certain paragraphs m the constitution regardmg the church. She

claimed she could not say whether she would vote "yes" m the upcoming election for the

constitution, addmg that h would be hnpossible for her to make public statements

endorsmg h. Central Committee member Rudi HeUmann concluded that her reluctance

derived from forces of the church working against the govemment, taking advantage of

young athletes' vuhierability.*' No punitive measures seem to have been taken, but

HeUmann saw fit to draw the matter to Honecker's attention. In another shnilar mstance,

a foreign conespondent (and Party member) for Neues Deutschland. D. Pries, was nearly

fired as he faUed to report to the proper authorities that his wife had secretly had thefr

children baptized. When Pries was confronted with the matter and tried to dismiss the

entfre situation as trifling, the Edhor-m-Chief of Neues Deutschland. Giinter Schabowski

did not buy Pries's explanation. To save his job. Pries submitted a written statement that

he would distance himself from this type of behavior exhibhed by his wife and that he

would also, "as he was ordered to do so, exert influence on her." Despite Pries's

subservient poshion, Schabowski msisted that he no longer be aUowed to work as a

foreign conespondent. He would be allowed to contmue to work at the newspaper

locally, on a strictly probationary basis. After one year, his record would come up for

*'Letter from Rudi HeUmann to Erich Honecker, Mar. 28, 1968, ZK d. SED Sport
DY30IV A2/18/2, SAPMO.

340
review agam.'*'

Honecker was kept appraised frequently of athletes' misdeeds. When seven

swhnmers from the eUte sports level Junior league in Magdeburg were caught shopliftmg

while m Sweden for compethion, HeUmann immediately mformed Honecker. Upon an

mvestigation of the teenagers, aged 13 to 18, who had pilfered such hems as pens,

(music) records, post cards, and nylon blouses, among other hems, h was revealed tiiat aU

of the athletes on the team had stolen somethmg. Helhnann believed that the reputation of

the GDR was at stake. While the DTSB leaders could not agree on how to resolve the

matter among them selves, the antidote Helhnann proposed was, again, the intensification

of poUtical education, in order to prevent such incidents from reoccurring."

It appears as if the Central Committee oftentimes stmggled with ambivalence

regarding the parameters of athletes' poUtical behavior. Should a highly successful

athlete be publicly honored if this athlete was not a demonstrably tme-blue Party loyaUst?

Two dissident athletes actuaUy were awarded honors. One of these, gold medalist in the

1964 Whiter Olympic Games hi the women's smgle luge category, Ortrun Enderlein,

headed DTSB President Manfred Ewald's list of suggested honorees that he submitted to

Central Committee Sport dfrector Rudi HeUmann. Ewald proposed that Enderlem receive

one of the nation's second highest honors, the Vaterldndischen Verdienstorden in Silber,

i.e., the Fatherland Disthiguished Medal of Honor m Silver. The aforementioned Anna-

Marie MuUer, another luger, who would be the eventual whmer of a gold medal m 1972

'*'lnfo. Schabowski (Chefred. ND) to Hemnann (PoUtbifro), May 4, 1984, DY30

FV 2/2.037/50, SAPMO at Zehgeschichte fifr Sport, Potsdam Univershy.

"SED HausmitteUung, Rudi Helhnann to Erich Honecker, Aug. 6,1968, ZK der

SED Sport DY30IV A2/18/6, SAPMO, 1-2.
341
at the Whiter Olympic Games, was Ukewise honored with the Medal of Honor m Bronze,

that is, one rankhig below the silver. These two women were placed at the top of DTSB

President Manfred Ewald's Ust with the quaUfymg notation tiiat, even though they had

publicly made poUtically provocative statements, they deserved the awards.'^

The lines to Honecker were kept burning m regards to any renegade behavior

among those mvolved m sports, whether they were athletes or someone who worked m

sports m some other capachy. But the greatest attention was given to the defector cases,

or Republikflucht cases, of thefr prized, showcase athletes. The aforementioned ice skater.

Bombard, who had been reprimanded for havhig contacted a West German ice-skater,

eventuaUy did defect to West Germany. He was not alone. From the buildhig of the Wall

m August 1961, to March 1966, a period of four-and-one-half years, eleven athletes from

Bombard's sport club Dynamo defected to the West. Five of them were ice-skaters and

most of these defections had occuned in less than two years. The high popularhy of ice-

skatmg and the curious phenomenon of defectors concentrated in one sport club,

generated attention at the highest levels. Besides the usual suggested upgradmg of

poUtical education to strengthen ties to the GDR, Helhnann proposed that an extensive

background check should be done of the children's parents, as weU as a thorough analysis

of the athletes' degree of attachment to thefr homeland.'^

A comprehensive overview of athletes was conducted, mcluding mformation

regardmg thefr home lives, thefr parents, and the nature of the relationships they

'^Letter from Manfred Ewald, DTSB Pres. to Rudi HeUman, Zentralkomittee der
SED, May 24, 1968, ZK der SED Sport DY30IV A2/18/6, SAPMO, 1-2.

'^Rudi Helhnann letter to Erich Honecker, Mar. 2,1966, ZK der SED Sport,
DY30IV A2/18/3-4, SAPMO, 1-2.
342
cuhivated, or did not cuhivate, whh West Gennan relatives.'" One 1968 Olympic team

members' Ust was compiled just from the Dynamo sport club alone. [See: Figure 26 on

foUowhig p ^ e . ] The Ust contained mformation on the team members, such as thefr

respective athletic disciplhie, name, age, number of years m training, marhal status. Party

membership—or lack thereof, relatives in the West, and whether the athletes had contact

with these relatives. Most intrigumg about this Ust, is that the type of contact the athletes

had with the westem relatives was also Usted. This hidicates that either the athletes were

to keep the sport club appraised of possibly "dangerous" Uaisons with family members,

or the athletes' maU and phone lines were continually monitored. Accordmg to

testhnonies of athletes, aU of this occuned. What the athlete did not "voluntarUy" reveal

was discovered through careful, if not clandestine, state observation.

Athletes competmg abroad were acconqjanied by a support froupe of coaches and

other sports personnel. These hidividuals were under close scmtmy as well. When Dr.

Amold, the DHQC's President of the Office for Documentation and Information, was to

travel to Munich for a conference of the World Council for Sport and Physical Education,

he had to clear security as weU as justify the value of the trip for the university. As tiie

conference was to be held m French and English, his accompanyhig translator, Kurt

Sfraube, also had to undergo security clearance. Smce nehher of the men had relatives of

'"interview with Hartmann, DahUce, and Potzsch.

"Ibid. Figure 26: Source: Anlage II, Nommierte Olympia Kader der
Sportverehugung Dynamo 1968, DYl2/364/6186, SAPMO.

343
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344
the "ffrst degree or grade," that is, hnmediate family members hi the FRG, the risk of

thefr defectmg was considered to be low.'* A soccer coach, Hemz Wemer, had to have

the GDR's German Soccer Organization write up a "Judgment of Hemz Wemer,"

mdicating his loyalty to the country and the Party, an assessment of his competence as a

coach, and an evaluation of his overaU character, as a condhion to fravel abroad. Yet the

securhy clearance to travel to the caphahst West was not merely resolved with that. To

further prove his loyalty to the State iiber AUes, Werner also submitted a written

statement indicatmg that he had broken all contacts with his eighty-three year old mother-

m-law who resided m Braunschweig, West Germany. The declaration went on to justify

why his wife contmued to have contacts with her own mother!"

Even card-carrying, fiercely loyal Party members were put hi thefr place. This

was the case whh Gunter Schabowski the Edhor-m-Chief of the GDR's most widely

read newspaper, Neues Deutschland. Schabowski wanted to johi Hermann Axen, a

PoUtburo member, m a protest against the Russians, who had planned to have the mitial

three stages of the prestigious cycling race, the Friedensfahrt, in Moscow. This was

apparently to be a discrete, backstage protest. Higher authority, however, vetoed

Schabowski's protest, m that h might be mterpreted both by the public as weU as by the

'*A.B. Neumann, Vorshzender der StaatUchen Komitee fur Korperkultur u. Sport

an Rudi Helhnann, Leiter d. Arbehsgmppe AussenpoUtUc, Aug. 23, 1962, ZK d. SED
Sport FV A2/18/3-4, SAPMO, 1-2.

"Erklamng: Hemz Wemer, Jan. 30, 1989, Berhn, DR5 1431, SAPMO at
Zehgeschichte fur Sport, Potsdam Univershy. Also: Deutscher Fussball-Verband der
DDR: Beurteilung Hemz Wemer, Jan. 27, 1989, DR5 1431, SAPMO at Zehgeschichte
fur Sport, Potsdam Univershy.

345
Russian PoUtbifro as a lack of solidarhy with the Russians.'*

On occasion the GDR reghne would mistakenly allow an mdividual who seemed

a no-risk case to fravel mtemationally to sports functions m some official capachy, only

to defect. Typically, security was premised on how strong family ties were, and whether

the departmg mdividual would be wUlhig to leave family members for the greener, more

commercially-advanced pastures of the West. The lesson as to who consthuted a high risk

and who did not was never an easy one to leam. When Olympic Attache Horst Hubner

defected m 1968 hi Mexico City prior to the Olympic Games, the authorities had failed to

see the writhig on the waU. Hiibner was divorced, muhi-lingual as he had a poshion at the

Insthute for Language Intensive Education and, he "lived m difficuh cfrcumstances in the

GDR."" He also had mamtained a long-distance relationship whh a "gfrl in Cuba."

Hubner was clever enough to be entmsted with $2,000 of GDR NOC funds, as well as

numerous gifts, with which he absconded, along with all of his personal effects. The

"gfrl" Maria Luise Luci Araisa, also just so happened to be in Mexico at the same time

and had been m contact with Hubner and DTSB President Manfred Ewald. Her

responsibilities entaUed organizing equestrian sports. The entfre situation was a perfect

set-up for the weU-prepared Hubner. When he departed August 14, 1968~fraveling to

Avendero under the pretext of making anangements for other compethive events-he

failed to retum that evenmg as promised. Frantic phone calls and reports reveal how

'^Vorschlag der sowjetischen Sportleitung iiber die Embeziehung von drei

Etappen m Moskau m die Friedensfahrt 1985, Zum ProtokoU Nr. 113/84, DY30 JIV 2/3
3722, SAPMO at Zehgeschichte fur Sport, Potsdam Univershy.

"information: Olympia-Attache des NOK der DDR m MexUco-Stadt, Horst

HUbner, BerUn Aug. 21,1968, ZK der SED Sport, DY30 FV A2/18/6, SAPMO, 1-2.

346
Ewald and other sport autiiorities were caught by surprise. Nothmg fiuther was reported

about Araisa nor were there any mdications that HUbner ever resurfaced.**'

Another mstance of the feilure to discern who was a safe bet to allow travel

abroad was that of Beate Kunzel Kunzel was the Uleghhnate daughter of a woman who

had given her up shortly after bfrth to an orphanage somethne m ehher 1950 or 1951, and

who had then tied the GDR to West Germany. The mother eventuaUy settled m West

BerUn. The mother and daughter had had little contact throughout Beate's upbrmgmg. On

November 13, 1970, while attendmg a sporthig event m West Germany's chy of

Nifrnberg as part of the Sport PubUcity Group of the DHfK, Kunzel managed to meet

with her mother and step-father, handily escapmg the careful scmtmy and clutches of tiie

sport delegation. When she was spotted at the airport with her parents, sunounded by

police and securhy agents, the East Germans stUl tried to approach her, shouthig at her m

an endeavor to get Beate to "reconsider her atthude." The defection was attributed to

mistakes made by the DHffC's stand-m for the Dfrector of Sports Relations, Ursula

Fessenbecker, the Dfrector himself, Hemz Koch, bemg on vacation.*' Beate Kimzel had

the clear profUe of a potential defector. She had hnmediate femily members m the West

with neither spouse nor chilcfren in the East. Kiinzel lacked any resfraining forces from

abmptly departing the GDR. This was coupled with the secure support system of

immediate family members awahing her in the West. Once Kunzel anived in the West, h

**'Nationales Olympisches Komitee der Deutschen Demokratischen RepublUc,

Aktennotiz, Betr. Anmf aus MexUco Stadt, Aug. 21, 1968, BerUn, ZK der SED Sport,
DY30 FV A2/18/6, SAPMO,. 1-2.

*'DTSB President Manfred Ewald, Bericht uber die Republikflucht v. Beate

Kunzel Berlm, Nov. 17,1970, DY30IV A2/18/12, SAPMO, 1-3.

347
was a fait accompli. The GDR authorhies had lacked the necessary vigilance to see the

writing on the waU.

Yet h was the athletes who endured the most stiictures, as they were the ones who

traveled abroad on a regular basis, had the highest visibilhy, and represented the highest

caphal mvestment of the State. The Stasi never let up on patroUmg the personal Uves of

the athletes. The sport club leaders, coaches, district dfrectors, and countless other

bureaucrats were also hivolved hi this process of supervision and control. Kiinzel (ffrst

name unstated) mformed the Central Committee of a sport club dfrector. Comrade

MichUk, who had refused to hiform the proper authorities of the case of a male athlete,

Pohland, who had refiised to acknowledge paternity "in a well known case." Kiinzel

learned about this from the secret poUce. The apparent concem here was, apart from the

blighted image of a "socialist personaUty," that the sport club dfrector, MichUk, was

displayhig "presumptuous behavior," ostensibly because MichUk ehher did not force the

issue of Pohland owning up to paternity, or because he did not report Pohland's

recalcitrance to the proper authorities. A Stasi agent had had a discussion regardhig the

matter with MichlUc and blamed this sport club dfrector for not exercismg sufificient

damage control*^

At Olympic Games, athletes' behavior had to be aU the more chcumspect,

although, as afready noted, athletes regularly defied orders to be reserved and distant to

foreigners. StUl, the athletes could not be aUowed shnply to run unfettered m a foreign

country. Specific activhies were planned m which the Olympians would be accompanied

*^Letter from Kiuizel to the Central Committee, Abt. Sport, Mar. 19, 1968,
Anlage, ZK der SED, DY30 A2/18/15, SAPMO.

348
on "organized cultural excursions." DTSB Vice President Gimther Hemze suggested to

Comrade Heil that there was no need for the athletes to stay until the closmg ceremonies.

Two days of daUymg after the Olympians' respective events was considered sufficient

thne allowed abroad. After tiiat, the athletes could retum to the GDR.*^ The sport heads

were obUvious to tiie feet that the athletes had framed hard aU theh lives to be m the

Olympics. They deserved to stay and enjoy the closing ceremonies. Conceivably what the

sport heads had m mind was reducmg defection rates, cutting expenses, and mmimizmg

the tantalizing (and cormptmg) infiuences of a foreign country on the prized "socialist

personaUties."

These tantalizing mfluences were oftenthnes hresistible to a GDR chizen

unaccustomed to such a dazzling display of consumer goods. Many goods, and especially

high quaUty goods, were shnply unavailable for the average GDR chizen. Westem wares

were off Umits to ordinary GDR citizens. Some athletes, however, would bring home an

aUowed amount of westem-made items, and relatives hi the West, of course, would also

send packages to thefr poorer relatives in the East. One female track athlete related how

her family received packages from West German family members on a regular basis,

usuaUy around hoUdays. Because the packages were mvariably opened by GDR customs

or postal agents before reaching thefr destmation, the Westem relatives would send an

itenuzed Ust of the package's contents. At least this one famUy never noticed anythmg

missing.*"

*^Gunther Hemze, Vizeprazident, Sekretariatsmformation, Anmf von Spfr. HeU

am 12.10. 1966,23,30 Uhr BerUner Zeh (16,30 Uhr MexUcanscher Zeit) aus Mexiko
City, ZK der SED Sport, IV A2/18/3-4, SAPMO, 1-2.

*"lnteryiew with a female track athlete.

349
 One cyclist, the son of Georg Bauer, the Vice President of the German Cyclmg

Sport Association, and his friend Gerald Heise, saw fit to obtam more westem goods than

were aUowed. In fact, m partnership with Dutch cyclists van der Lans, de Graf, and Lute

(ffrst names were not mentioned), an Ulegal tradhig pact was carried out.*' It was because

of Bauer's fether's lofty poshion that the two had developed the relationship to begm

with, as foreign athletes would often overnight at the Bauer home when attendhig athletic

events m the GDR. The East German tradhig partners, Bauer and Heise, had bragged

openly about thefr lucrative, albeh Ulegal transaction m a pub m Fliesenthal** Upon

overhearmg this, some unnamed "chizen" reported the two perpetrators, who then

confessed to authorities that the Dutchmen were on thefr way whh even more goods. The

Dutch cyclists were apprehended at Bauer's house, taken to an office elsewhere,

questioned, and sent on thefr way. The goods included cofifee, watches, cigarettes, Nivea

hand cream and other toilet articles, ladies stockings, and a nylon coat with a total value

of 6,000 Deutsch Marks (West). The previous loot had hicluded even more clothing

items, although the value was hiesthnable, and the entfre amount was not confiscated as

the two Gennan cyclists had afready disposed of much of h. WhUe Customs

Commissioner Endesfelder carefully noted m his report precisely all the goods his agents

confiscated, there is no mdication as to what happened whh the wares thereafter.

85r
'ZoUverwaltung der DDR, Hauptverwaltung, Abt. ZoUfahndung an das Zentral
Komitee der Sozialistischen Emhehspartei Deutschlands, z. H. d. Gen. Horst Schmidt,
Bericht uber Schmuggeltatigkeh hoUandischer Radrennfahrer, Feb. 25, 1963, BerUn,
DY30IV A2/18/13, SAPMO.

**Ibid., 2-3.

*'lbid.

350
 Very possibly, the goods ended up m the westem wares shop reserved sfrictly for

the hmermost cfrcles of the SED m the exclusive walled and guarded compound known

as Waldsiedlung near the vUlage of Wandlitz. Here, m this secluded area enclosed by

high waUs topped by barbed wfre, and surveyed by watchtowers and armed guardsmen,

the Party elhe enjoyed luxurious cfrcumstances. These hicluded a large hidoor swhnmhig

pool private transports for teenage children to discos hi the chies, large spacious homes,

and a huge underground bunker. No apparent Umhs were set hi the Waldsiedlung as to

what or how many westem-made items could be purchased by the Party eUte.**

Some athletes gave the appearance of bemg stalwart Party members, or would-be

Party members, and yet Uved lives, which belied the "socialist personaUties", they

ostensibly represented. When the famed muhi-medalist hi swimming, Komelia Ender,

participated in the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympic Games, she was treated to a quick

forty-five minute visit with her grandmother, Rosalie Lehmann, whom she had not seen

in 17 years. Mrs. Lehmann had left the GDR before the buUdmg of the Wall in 1959 and

had moved to the United States. A publication. Midnight Magazme. had become aware of

the difficuh situation and offered to pay for Lehmann's trip to see her granddaughter.

Ender did not even know until a few days before the meethig that her grandmother was

StUl aUve. The meethig was arranged the mommg of Ender's swhnming event through

the appropriate GDR authorities. To keep up appearances of being a GDR loyalist, the

conversation was chcumspect, but quite emotional. Accompanymg Ender was her then

fiance, Roland Matthes, also an Olympic Champion swhnmer whom Ender mtroduced to

**Wildforschungsgebiet. Betreten verboten! Die Waldsiedlung: Wohnshz des

PoUtburos der SED. brochure at SAPMO Bundesarchiv Bibliothek, BerUn, undated.

351
her grandmother. Yet her grandmother, fearmg electronic buggmg by the Stasi

surveillance system, did not even dare ask when the two would marry nor did she mqufre

closely about family matters.*' Even such relationships as these rare private femUy

moments between Ender and her grandmother were not considered too sacrosanct for

State mtmsion. After the fall of the Wall Ender conceded that she had been given

mjections quhe frequently durhig her compethion years without bemg mformed what

they were.'*' When Wulf Remicke abmptly abandoned his canoe team at the World

Championships m Meran, Italy on June 20, 1971, and sought poUtical asylum, DTSB

Vice President Bemhard Orzechowski hnmediately mformed the Dfrector of the Sport

Division that, at least from superficial appearances, the defection case had not been

predictable. Remicke had, after aU, demonstrated

...exemplary behavior out of the country, took a clear poshion in questions

regardmg the delimitation of West Germany, and m general showed acceptable
behavior and appearances. There were no mdicators of his intended Republic
defection."

A closer look at Reinicke's personal Ufe might have proved revealing enough to

give the sports authorities pause. As Reinicke achieved the gold medal at the World

Championships in canoeing, this could possibly have secured him a professional poshion

in sports in the West or made it possible to get on the West Gennan national team. The

usual family ties which were normally sufficient to keep most GDR athletes from making

*'"Time of Joy, Tears: Miss Ender Reunited Whh Grandmother," New York
liines,26Julyl976, 17.

'*'David WaUechmsky, Sports lUustrated Presents: the Complete Book of the

Summer Olympics. (Boston: Little, Brown and Co. 1996), 657-8.

"Letter from Bemhard Orzechowski to Rudi HeUmann, BerUn, June 22, 1971,
ZK der SED, DY30 FV A2/18/10, SAPMO, 1-2.
352
eitiier rash or well-planned departures were weakened m Remicke's case. Remicke's

parents were divorced and only his mother was a Party member. Although the mother

was reportedly near a state of coUapse upon news of her son's unexpected defection,

Remicke's wife received news of the mcident with greater cahn. The Champion athlete's

relationship whh his wife was anythmg but what the Germans refer to as "Friede, Freude,

Eierkuchen" (peace, joy, and sweet cakes). Remicke would brhig home trinkets for his

wife when competing abroad, but he would also repeatedly provoke her by showhig her

photos he had taken of other women while traveUng. The relationship was tempestuous

and conflicts arose over relatively msignificant matters. These observations and more

"Comrades Wishofsky and Seibt" gleaned from Reinicke's wife. Yet the informers were

eager for more information and doubted the estranged wife's abUhy to speak freely in

front of her mother-in-law. Thus, an addhional information-gathering session was

planned in Leipzig, away from the older woman's ears.'^ The documents do not indicate

what franspfred at this meethig. Another oversight-defection-case was that of rower

Hartmut Wenzel who was on the national rowing team. Wenzel, like Remicke, also

parted company while m Italy (Milan) and sought poUtical asylum whh the poUce.

Undoubtedly, Wenzel Rehiicke, and other defectors must have weighed carefully

the hnpact that defection would have on hnmediate family members, as weU as

deliberated with some apprehension what opportunities would exist hi the West. The key

high risk hidicators GDR authorities overlooked for Wenzel were that he was smgle, he

had no children, and his parents were afready retfred and eammg a respectable pension.

'^Letter from Bemhard Orzechowski to Rudi HeUmann, BerUn, June 23, 1971,
ZK der SED, DY30IV A2/18/12, SAPMO, 1-3.

353
Thus, no conceivable harm could be done m terms of limitmg career opportunities for his

father. Wenzel's siblmgs were all grown and had good poshions. Even if they did not

advance professionally, thefr professional track record was good enough that they were

set for Ufe and would not be harmed by thefr brother's treasonous behavior. Furthermore,

Wenzel had "second degree" relatives m the Federal Republic of Germany, i.e., an uncle

and an aunt m West BerUn. Thus, a support system was Ukely wahmg for hhn. The rower

had also been abroad numerous thnes, so he was familiar whh the "capitalist West." Yet

the authorities were stUl caught off-guard by this defection, the clear mdicators

notwithstandmg. The rower's behavior abroad was even naively assessed by DTSB

President Manfred Ewald as havhig been "frreproachable."'^

Not aU relatives of defectors acquiesced to the harsh terms established by securhy

and sport authorities. When athlete Ralph Pohland defected, his father penned a very

courageous and bitter letter to the Mmistry of the Interior, Division of Passports and

Registration, revealhig his anger that he would be forbidden from seeing his son untU he

tumed 65:

Just as Waher Ulbricht quoted Friedrich Engels on the occasion of the new
constitution: "To be able to Uve with my neighbors in a humane relationship, and
to have nothing [drastically] emotionally upsettmg Ufe-long of which I need to be
afraid." I hope that this unmistakable quote on freedom, love of neighbor and
humane treatment does not go into effect untU one turns 65. Furthermore, I would
like to request that you spare me any preaching as I am, after aU, 53 years old. I
would rather not have to be told when I am allowed to finally fulfill Walter
Ulbricht's declaration of freedom and humane togethemess whh my son.'"

'^Manfred Ewald letter to Rudi HeUmann, BerUn, July 6, 1971, ZK der SED,
DY30IV A2/18/12, SAPMO, 1-2.

'"Abschrift an das Inneiunmisterium, AbteUung Pass-und Meldewesen, from Willi

Pohland, Feb. 19,1968, ZK der SED, DY30IV A2/18/6, SAPMO.

354
The fact that this section of the letter was copied to other offices suggests a networkmg

effort to keep frack of dissidents and malcontents.

Although GDR youth, especially atiUetes, had the best chance to defect, the

elderly also had opportunities. The elderly and retfred were readUy allowed to travel to

the capitaUst West as, should these hidividuals fail to return, the GDR State would then

pay out fewer pensions. Yet the elderly were not Ukely to defect. For some of the young

athletes, the oppressive measures of the State were too much to bear, as they had tasted of

the freedom m the West and were not as rooted as were the elderly. Discus thrower

Wolfgang Schmidt, son of the Thfrd Reich German decathlete Ernst Schmidt, made the

mistake of conceding confidentially (so he thought) to an American m a hotel m

Stockholm his desfre to leave the GDR. Every detail was recorded by unknown means by

the Secret Police. Three thnes he planned to escape, planning each time the entfre details.

Each thne he aborted his plans. Schmidt spent fifteen months m jaU for conspfrmg to

defect due to contacts with westem athletes and also due to his decidedly "unsocialist"

behavior at competition. The GDR Secret Service files Ust over thfrty instances of such

unlawflil transgressions. To Schmidt's astonishment, the authorities knew the details of

all three of his aborted defections."

In the summer of 1989 DTSB authorities took note that the athletes curiously

watched poUtical developments transpfrmg m other countries. On June 6, Chinese

students protestmg for freedom in Tianamen Square were shot dovra m cold blood by

thefr own reghne. By mid-summer, thousands of the GDR's athletes' fellow young

"Robert Hartmann, "Der Sieger, der nicht schweigen konnte," Die Weltwoche.
Zifrich, 17 Dec. 1987,3-4.

355
citizens were swarming the embassies of the Federal Republic of Germany m Prague,

Budapest, and other east European capitals, or they were sunepthiously crossing the

borders of Hungary into Austria. The Secretariat of the Federal Board of the DTSB

helplessly recommended conducthig "educational meetmgs to frnpart poUtical and sport-

polhical knowledge...to mfluence the athletes' atthudes towards Socialism."'* Desperate

propaganda measures were suggested to combat interest m the West. Particular emphasis

was to be placed on the GDR's own "process of contmuity and renewal," a euphemism

for tolerance. The DTSB report readUy conceded that the lauded development of the

sociaUst countries and the SED's carefiilly cuhivated socialist picture of the GDR were

widely doubted by both athletes and coaches." Many athletes even openly voiced

skepticism, doubts, and amazement regardhig the developments franspfrmg m the USSR

hself When such doubts and scepticism could no longer be contahied, the GDR's sport

capital Leipzig became the seat of protest m East Germany. Surely, many athletes

marched, first m the streets of Leipzig and then Berlm, whh the throngs of other young

people.'*

The protest became an unstayed force which physical baniers could no longer

contahi. Public rejection of the leghhnacy of the GDR government and the refiisal of

Russian Premier MUchail Gorbachev to use Soviet milhary force on behalf of the GDR

'*DTSB, AbteUung Propaganda, Vorlage fifr das Sekretariat des

Bundesvorstandes des DTSB der DDR, July 12, 1989, DRS 1429, SAPMO at
Zehgeschichte fifr Sport, 3.
97
Ibid, 4.
'*Sender Freies BerUn, Ode to Jov and Freedom: the Fall of the BerUn Wall,
(BerUn: NDR-Intemational Video, 1990).

356
leadership broke the will of the reghne. The GDR's polhical system collapsed whh the

dismantling of the Berlin Wall. The East German sports system, on the other hand,

ahhough decried and defamed m the post WaU years as false advertising, would debunk

hs crhics by bearmg fruh for years to come.

357
 CHAPTER X:

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

Many casual observers flunk of the sports system of the German Democratic

RepubUc as a phenomenon, which suddenly emerged on the global scene m the 1970s.

That was the decade when East German athletes made thefr grand debut, as they bore

medals for the ffrst thne while thefr own fiag was raised to the sti-ams of the GDR

national anthem CertahUy this was the decade when the GDR athletes emerged as a tour

deforce, overpowering sportsmen and women from countries ten and twelve thnes

greater m population In tmth, this much-heralded and much-maligned system has a far

longer history, tracmg back 150 years to the thne of the French Revolution whh Johann

GutsMuths. This physical education teacher endeavored to defy the bourgeoisie by

encouragmg children to become engaged m sports, thus hnprovhig thefr heahh and

thereby facilitathig thefr abiUty to break through the firmly entrenched social and

economic baniers of the late eighteenth century. The torch of this youth exercise

movement was home m the nineteenth century by Johann Friedrich Jahn, who captured

the political momentum of the movement and transformed h. Organized exercise groups

for young men, caUed Turnerschaften, were to promote defense readmess m an uprising

agamst France's Napoleonic froops as well as encourage a sense of Gennan nationhood.

The Turnerschaften, or Turner movement, was eyed with suspicion by the Austrian

nobility as a subversive force tryhig to imdemune Gennan duchies' and kingdoms'

aUegiances to the hnperial crown m Vienna. Eventually, the very sports organizations

which were held m favor for behig mstmmental m drivmg French troops from German

soU were eventuaUy regarded whh suspicion, as they took on a new poUtical significance
358
during the mdustiial revolution. The new workers' sports movements of the latter part of

the nmeteenth century were designed not only to provide a reprieve from tiie dmdgery of

factory work, but also to create a base for worker solidarhy. It was m part the physical

preparedness of these men, which enabled Pmssia to wm three successive wars agahist

Denmark, Austria, and France, and to unify the country. Yet the post-war years (1871-)

found German Turner groups at odds with the architect of German unification.

Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. Many of the Turner groups were regarded as a threat to

Bismarck's constitutional monarchy, as the poUtical senthnents of these groups gravitated

toward the Socialist Party he opposed. Bismarck's outlawmg of the Socialist Party from

1878 to 1890 also led to the outlawmg of the Tumerschqften, causmg these sport

organizations to go underground and serve as covert bases for the sociaUst movement.

PoUticized sports in Germany towards the end of the nineteenth century and mto

the twentieth century mfluenced the country's foreign sportmg relations as well. Whh the

birth of the Olympic movement under Frenchman Piene de Coubertin, the German

Tumerschqften were reluctant to send athletes to participate in the ffrst Olympic Games

hi 1896, as resentments were stUl rife from the Franco-Prussian War. In addhion, the

leader of the Deutsche Turnerschaften feared the cultural and racial influence of

foreigners on Germans. Upon the outbreak of World War I, German authorities perceived

the advantages of an athletically trahied soldier, and accordmgly granted recognition to

the Tumerschqften. A humiliatmg defeat for Germany in 1918 was then exacerbated by

the harsh terms of the VersaUles Treaty. Whh the old order discredited, mterest was

spawned hi the workers' sports movement, which canied on hs pre-War message of

sociaUsm as an alternative to "...the old nationalist-capitaUst culture."

359
 The advent of National Socialism m the mter-war years led to an unprecedented

forceful poUticization of sports m Germany. This commenced whh the dissolution of

various workers' sports groups, whose members were then absorbed through the process

of Gleichschaltung (coordmation) mto Nazi sports programs known as Kraft durch

Freude, le., sfrength through joy. The programs and athletic organizations established

under the Hhlerian reghne were also exclusionary, as Jews and mdividuals of "mixed

racial purity" {Mischlinge) were forbidden to jom. Germany had been granted the honor

of hosthig the 1936 Olympic Games prior to Hhler's ascension to power. Interestmgly,

the new leader had to be convmced of both the poUtical capital and the hnage

enhancement to be accmed from hosthig the games. The Olympiad, to be held m the

summer m Berlm and the whiter m Garmisch-Partenkfrchen, was to be transformed hito a

magnificent display of the alleged superiority of the Aryan race, while simultaneously

heightening Germany's prestige in the hitemational arena. The loss of civil rights of Jews

with the Nifremberg laws of 1935, along with the enactment of other Nazi racist poUcies,

mspfred organized protests m the United States caUing for the IOC to revoke Germany's

privUege of hosting the Games. The Games proceeded in Germany desphe the protests,

and the clear poUtical explohation of the Olympic Games by the Nazis proceeded as weU.

The racism of the Hhlerian reghne also contmued unabated. German-Jewish high jumper

Gretl Bergmann was not even granted the right to compete, even though her performance

at the Olympic trials clearly qualified her for the national German team. To the Fiihrer's

dismay, American frack star Jesse Owens' whmmg of four gold medals dispeUed the

myth of the superiorhy of the Aryan "master race." Even more disconcerthig to Nazi

stalwarts, Owens proved to be a big crowd-pleaser, especially among the German

360
chizenry, as the Germans would chant his name at the stadium with the German

pronunciation: "Yessi, Yessl Yessi!" Despite Owen's great medal wm, Germany stUl

placed first among nations for the most medals won m the summer Olympic Games. This

newly-won prestige would be quickly shattered when World War II brought sporthig

relations to an abmpt hah, as young men were engaged m warfare rather than a civUized

contest of athletic abilhies.

The theme of poUticLzed sports m Germany did not end with the destmction of the

Nazi reghne m 1945. The subsequent division of Germany rendered not only the eastem

sector of Germany under the control of the Russians m the Soviet Occupied Zone

{Sovietische Besatzungszone or SBZ), but BerUn hself became a segmented chy. Sport

organizations m the eastem Soviet Occupied Zone were immediately determined by the

Russians. Here, the chief concern was to permeate sport organizations with poUtical

("socialist") ideology in order to root out fascism and fight agahist poUtical indifference.

In respect to sports, along with all other German mstitutions, the Americans, Brhish and

French were concemed chiefly whh the processes of demilharization, democratization,

and, above aU, de-Nazification. As rivafry between the US and the USSR sharpened, the

occupied sectors increasingly became a reflection of this super-power competition. While

the Russians endeavored to politicize sports m thefr sector, the reverse could be said of

the American sector, where de-poUticization of sports was viewed as desfrable. The West

Germans wanted sports without poUtics, whereas the East German sport leaders wanted

no sports without politics.

Whh the establishment of the Deutsche Sportausschuss, or DSA (German Sports

Committee) m 1948, the ffrst over-archmg, umbreUa organization for sports m the Soviet

361
Zone was created. This mdimentary stmcture served as the basis for aU sports to come m

East Germany. It was supplanted, m 1957, bytiieDeutsche Turn und Sports Bund or

DTSB (Gennan Gymnastics and Sports Federation), andtiieDSA then became a branch

of this organization responsible for sporthig relations with other countries, mcludhig

westem countries. This sfrongly-centraUzed order was to characterize sports m the GDR

untU the DTSB was dissolved after the Wende. A primary emphasis of this Socialist

Unity Party of Germany (SED)-controUed mstitution was that h was to be specifically a

"socialist" organization. The undergfrdhig Soviet Marxist-Leninist prmciples were to be

made unmistakably clear to hs members. Thefron-cladcontrol of the SED over the DSA

(and later the DTSB) became even stronger as various poUtical crises occuned to

challenge the Soviet and communist reign over the eastem sector of Germany.

On October 7,1949, the GDR became a country with hs own cunency and

constitution, as a reaction to the estabUshment of the Federal Republic of Germany in the

West. Whh no actual physical baniers in existence at the thne segregatmg East from

West, the steadyflowof defections started to mcrease. The East German uprising of June

17,1953, posed a chaUenge to DSA leaders, who had shnuhaneously to quell the voices

of dissent among the sportsmen and women as weU as provide sophisticated arguments

for the unrest, blanung "fascist" forces from the West. The arguments proved to be

unconvmcmg, as the flow of defectors hicreased, year by year.

Because the two sectors, East and West, mfrrored the poUtical and economic

systems of the respective occupymg super-powers, therivafrym sports between East and

West Germans mcreasmgly became a poUtical pawn m this game of athletic one-up-man-

ship. East German sportsmen and women were encouraged to best thefr westem brethren

362
as a verification of the superiorhy of the "socialist" system The formulation of the

HaUstem Doctrine m 1955, named for the FRG's Foreign Mmister Waher HaUstem,

stipulated that any recognition of the GDR by foreign countries would be considered a

hostUe act agahist the FRG. This mcluded athletic compethion and was designed to

effectively isolate the GDR. Yet m the reahn of sports, this never happened to the degree

that the FRG would have Uked. The pecuUarhy, if not the value, of the relationship of

West to East Germany in athletics was that, ahhough vfrtuaUy all contacts in other reahns

were severed between the two countries throughout the Cold War, the contmuity of

sporthig relations remahied mtact. National symbols, such as the GDR anthem Morgenrot

and the raising of the GDR'sflag,took on increasing significance at sport events as a

means for the beleaguered East Germany to assert hs identity. EUte sports became a focal

point for the Party leaders as a means of not only asserthig the GDR's place m the

mtemational community, but also of provmg the superiority of "socialism" and the more

"humane" character of a Marxist-Leninist system, especially vis-a-vis the polhical and

economic system of the FRG.

The 1960s proved to be a decade of cataclysmic change m the history of

Germany. The message the elite athletes were to bear as "sociaUst personaUties"

representhig vfrtues of GDR "socialism" as a more humane system was never believed by

the majorhy of the people. Over 2,700,000 Germans m the GDR abandoned stable jobs,

homes,friends,and even family for the capitalist and democratic West. Sports and

poUtical authorities were desperate to prevent thefr prized athletesfromdepartmg, as they

were to be mstruments of the State m furthermg SED propaganda. Many athletes

committed Republikflucht (flight from the RepubUc) nevertheless, despite mtensive

363
polhical education designed to persuade them otherwise. While the buildhig of the Wall

on August 13,1961, stemmed the tide of general public defections, athletes who

competed m the capitaUst West came under augmented secret poUce surveillance to

discem if any of these steUar "socialist personaUties" constituted a defection risk.

Athletes who wanted to continue in high performance sports did not necessarily have to

become Party members, but they did undergo thorough hidoctrination in Marxist-Leninist

philosophy and in Party-approved behavior for ti^vel m the West. The mvasion of

Czechoslovakia by Russian and East German tanks and troops m August of 1968

exacerbated the embittered relationship between not only East and West Germany, but

also between the GDR and Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakian sports ofificials were curt

and coolly distant to overtures made by sports leaders hi the GDR. The East German

sports leaders had more success in thefr bid with the IOC for a team independent of the

FRG Olympic team at the Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City in 1968. A

compromise was forthcoming on the national symbols used by both the FRG and GDR

Olympic teams. The members of both teams saluted the German fiag with the Olympic

rmgs to the sframs of Beethoven's lunth Symphony.

In light of the tumultuous polhical events of the 1960s, the need to validate hs

poUtical system was never greater for the GDR. At the 1968 Olympic Games m Mexico

City, the GDR came mto hs own as a leadmg sports nation. Whh 25 total medals,

mcludhig nme gold medals, the GDR ranked sbcth in the world. East Germany only had

one medal fewer than the FRG's 26. The GDR also had five more gold medals than did

West Germany. The GDR's athletic and poUtically strategic goal of making a greater

Olympic showhig than did the FRG was achieved. This was certahUy tiie case on a per

364
capha basis, as the GDR never had a population more than one thfrd that of the FGR.

Seemg an advantage in accming intemational prestige through sportmg victories, the

SED placed even greater value on the system of eUte sports and sought to expand and

advance high performance sports through more systematic and thoroughframingof

athletes and also a greater appUcation of science to sports.

A repeated theme found throughout the SAPMO documents is the emphasis on

mcreasmg the athletes' abUhy to withstand more mtensive training. Another frequently

found theme is the polhical value placed on the Olympic Games by the SED. Each of the

Olympic Games was to be assessed poUtically, with a comparison made of the medal

results on not only a country-by-country basis, but more particularly on a East Bloc-West

Bloc basis. The Deutsche Hochschule fiir Korperkultur und Sport, DHfK (German

CoUege for Physical Culture and Sport) increasingly became the center of the sports

system with its sophisticated trahimg of coaches, sports teachers, and the whole cadre of

attending personnel of the athletes.

The 1970s saw the end of the practical application of the HaUstem Doctrine, as

the IOC's condhion for the Federal Republic of Germany's hosthig of the summer

Olympic Games hi 1972 was to grant the GDR the use of all national symbols. This

victory was coupled with the GDR's great harvest of medals. This thne the medal wms

were higher not only on a per capita basis, but also m raw numbers with the GDR taking

home 66 medals and the FRG only 40. SED leaders were deUghted that, for the 20 gold

medals East German athletes won, the FRG military band was compeUed to play the

GDR national anthem and raise the GDR's hammer and sickle flag.

Even more poUtical and historical significance was granted the 1972 Munich

365
Games as, with the massacre of Israeli athletes, the world recalled an earlier time when

Jews had been murdered m cold blood on German soU. East Gennan athletes witnessed

the tenorists holdmg IsraeUs hostage, as thefr dorm was dfrectly across the sfreet. One

GDR athlete, wrestler Frank Hartmann, sunepthiously photographed the event. This act

was kept secret lest DTSB President Manfred Ewald send the athlete home.

Throughout the 1970s, East German medal wms remahied high, as the GDR

consistently ranked among the top three nations m the world for the greatest number of

medals accmed. A phenomenal feat was achieved m the 1976 Monfreal Summer Olympic

Games as the GDR accumulated not only more medals than hs West German counterpart,

but more even than the Unhed States. This remarkable feat would be repeated at the

Winter Olympic Games on American soU in 1980 m Lake Placid where the GDR ranked

number one among all nations for the most medals won. The world wondered over this

seemingly overnight debut of a sport super-power. In reality the small country had

painstakingly planned the overaU stmctures of its elite athletic program over a period of

many decades. While m 1976 at the Monfreal Games suspicions rose hi the face of

baritone-voiced Fraulehi swimmers that foul play whh pharmaceutical manipulation was

at hand, no GDR athlete tested poshive at any Olympic Games.

The final decade of the GDR witnessed contmual dommation of the sportmg

scene by East German athletes. In the absence of Americans and other westemers hi

Moscow at the summer Olympic Games m 1980, as a protest agahist Russian troops in

Afghanistan, the GDR ranked number two among all competmg nations for most medals

won. The Americans' boycott was depicted to the GDR national team by the East

German propaganda leaders as a deUberate misuse of the Olympic tradhion. Startmg at

366
the Lake Placid Wmter Olympic Games m 1980, East Germans held an unshakable

donunance m certahi sports, a dommance which no other nation was able to break. This

was the case m ladies' figure skatmg, as aU whiter Olympic gold medals for the 1980s

were awarded to East German women. In 1980 the gold went to Anett POtzsch and m

1984 and 1988 to Katarina Witt. Even more spectacular was tiie numbers of medals

awarded to East Germans, and especially East German women, m the luge. From 1980 to

1988, East German women lugers were awarded seven of nine medals distributed,

mcludhig aU of the gold medals. The male GDR lugers won four golds, one sUver, and

one bronze for the smgle and double teams m the last decade.

Much effort was made by the spm-doctors of the GDR press to couch these

victories m terms of victories for "socialism." Likewise, the Soviet Bloc was presented

by GDR ideologues as a pack of comrades-m-arms fighthig against the West's abuses of

the Olympic spfrh. Extensive measures were taken to persuade the GDR pubUc of the

rightness of the "socialist" cause as weU as to advertise the athletes as Uvhig proof of this.

The athletes themselves were thoroughly indoctrinated to believe this, although many

harbored doubts. Yet behind the scenes, the GDR athletes themselves took as much glee

in defeating thefr Russian comrades as they did the Americans. East German sports

authorhies chaffed at the mandate from Moscow that no Eastem Bloc teams were to be m

attendance at the Los Angeles Summer Games. Athletes on the eastem side of the Iron

Curtam were as disappohited at bemg deprived of the experience of competmg m the

1984 Los Angeles Games as westem athletes had been for the 1980 Moscow Games.

As the 1980s came to a close, the GDR Olympians would conthiue to retum home

as heroes from compethion abroad and enjoy a higher standard of livmg than afforded

367
most East German chizens; resentment among the populace began to mount towards the

govemment and even the athletes. A stagnant GDR economy spawned protests

previously forcefully muted. As the economy worsened, the reghne's leghhnacy-never

very profound-evaporated. The forces of change mfluenced the sports system as weU, as

resources allocated for various sportsfecilhiesand athletic disciplmes were abmptly

shifted to other reahns or cut off ahogether. DTSB officials wondered how, given

financial restrictions, they could keep pace athletically with the mtemational tempo.

Fittmgly, youth and student protests agamst the reghne started ffrst m the GDR's sports

capital, Leipzig, and then spread to East Berim. Not to be queUed m the summer of 1989,

demonstration marches through the streets of Leipzig and Berlm sweUed to several

hundred thousand at a thne. In the meanthne, thousands of mostly young East Germans

were seeking escape routes by overwhelmmg FRG embassies m the Eastem Bloc. They

were also escaping the East by suneptitiously trekking through Hungarian farmfieldsand

wooded areas to Austria, as the Hungarians had removed thefr barbed wfre fencmg on the

Austrian border. Finally, the GDR govemment capitulated to the inevitable. The one-time

privUege of travel abroad, which athletes had experienced on a regular and near-exclusive

basis, was extended by the reghne on November 9,1989, to aU GDR chizens, without

restrictions. A dictatorship of 41 years came to an end, as less than one year later, on

October 3,1990, the GDR reghne was dissolved and merged mto the Federal Republic of

Germany.

In the aftermath of the Cold War and the GDR regime, many questions arose as to

the tme nature of the success story of the East Gennan sports system Accusations

abounded hi Germany that the entfre success of the GDR sports program could be

368
ascribed to an ostensible "state-ordered, systematic and universal" usage of Ulegal

performance-enhancmg dmgs. East German coaches, athletes, sports physicians, and

historians, on the other hand, rose to defend the system, claiming h was a well-conceived

highly scientific one and that the athletes werefreated,by and large, very well. Reflective

of this East-West dispute were trials held m Berlm by ZERV (the Central Investigation

Office for Govemment and Unification Criminality) for the ostensible dopmg of minors

hi thefr training years, without either athletes' or parents' knowledge or consent. The

debate sharpened m the mitial decade after the Berlhi Wall fell as the West German press

unceasmgly vilified the system. The press of the new federal states m the East would

publish both pro and confra accounts of the trials, often with viewpomts expressed by

former athletes.

In the meanthne. East German athletes were absorbed mto the unhed German

Olympic teams. Coaches and framing methodsfromthe former GDR were m demand

world-wide. WhUe East Germans account for only about one-fifth the population of

united Germany, the ex-GDR athletes are still reaping a harvest of medals

disproportionate to thefr representation of the population as a whole. From the time the

Berlhi Wall fell to the spring of 2000, East Germans consistently led united Germany to

high-rankmg status among the world's sports powers. In 1992, Germany ranked thfrd m

the Barcelona Summer Olympics. Eighty percent of German-won medals m the Olympic

Winter Games m AlbertvUle and 60% of medals won by Germans m the Summer Games

hi Barcelona were achieved by East German athletes who had been selected as talent and

framed m the GDR. Even m Nagano, Japan, nearly ten years after the Wende when united

Germany achieved more than twice as many medals at the Wmter Olympic Games as the

369
United States (29 vs. 13), the East German athletes surpassed the US performance,

brmgmg home 41%, or 16, of the German medals. Little has been mentioned m the West

German press m regards to the source of the country's medal bounty, while hypocriticaUy

the press continues to denounce the system.

While the polhical character of the system was an mdelible feature of GDR

sports, hi the aftermath of the Wall this poUtical character remahied, as the depiction of

the system via denunciations of historian GiseUier Sphzer and microbiologist Wemer

Franke took on decidedly poUtical overtones. The entfre shift of westernizing the sports

system took on polhical overtones as well. West Germans replaced East Germans hi

coaching positions, as former GDR coaches were ousted upon testifying in court to

havhig distributed doping substances to nunors. Some athletes stood by these coaches, as

did Franziska von Almsick along with her teammates on the national German swhn team

for thefr coach, Winfried Leopold. Historians, sports scientists, and coaches at the former

DHfiC, now the University of Leipzig, were frequently replaced by West Germans. While

the athletes hiterviewed for this study for the most part do not believe that they embodied

the "socialist personaUty" or even that socialism was a superior system to caphaUsm, they

do believe that the sports system was an excellent one and worthy of emulation. Many of

the former GDR athletes who are stiU active and cunently trahung hi the FRG as weU as

many retfred athletes express a preference for the East German system, believhig h to be

a more thorough and comprehensive system This is the case whh weightUfter Ronny

Weller, bobsledder Dietmar Schauerhammer, shotputters Udo Beyer and Helma

Knorscheidt, swhnmer Jorg Hofifinann, ice skater Anett Potzsch, marathon runner

Waldemar Cierphiski and discus thrower Wolfgang Schmidt, among many others. Critics

370
of tile system remahi oddly silent on this widespread approval many former and cunently

active athletes express for the GDR sports system

Another curious factor which the critics of the system fell to address is the feet

that tiiere were substantial medal gahis m athletic disciplmes where the use of anabolic

steroids would have had no appreciable value whatsoever m performance enhancement,

due to the degree of difficuhy of skUl development and precision of technique. This was

the case m gymnastics and figure skathig. Gymnast Karhi Janz brought home two silver,

one bronze, and two gold medals from the 1972 Munich Olympics. The women's team

gynmasts reaped a harvest of four bronze and two silver medals from four different

Olympic Games: 1972,1976, 1980, and 1988. In tiie same four Olympic Games, GDR

men brought home, mdividually, two gold, one silver, and seven bronze. As a team, they

won two sUver and two bronze. All the gold medals awarded for shigle women's

performances m figure skating m the 1980s went to East German women. Numerous

other medals m figure skating were awarded to East Germans as weU. In the

aforementioned luge, the East Germans were so dominant that h was nearly a foregone

conclusion as to who would reap the most medals. No mention has been made by the

crhics of GDR sports of Ulich dmg use in these sports, nor has evidence been supplied to

debunk such steUar successes.

Remarkable about the Berlhi trials m which athletes brought thefr coaches to task

for the distribution of performance-enhancmg dmgs is not how many testified, but how

few. Only 1,000 athletes received letters from ZERV to testify m court. Of these 1,000,

only 300 responded. The testhnonies of these athletes were decidedly mixed m terms of

damning or praising the system, or of accusing or absolvmg thefr former coaches of

371
dophig. Three hundred is a remarkably low figure, given that there were an esthnated

89,440 athletes at aU tiers of the elhe sports system hierarchy from the 1980s alone. This

does not even take mto account the hundreds of thousands of participants mvolved m

eUte sports durhig the other three decades of the GDR's existence. Also remarkable about

the trials is the fact that evidence used to support accusations agahist GDR coaches and

sports physicians was based on Stasi files. The Stasi files not only lack credibilhy among

East Gennan chizens, athletes, and many prominent West German mteUectuals and other

FRG chizens, but they are also considered to be a highly maccurate source by the trial's

own court-appointed physicians. West German court-appomted physician Dr. Norbert

Rietbrock even states that he disagrees with the conviction mlings of numerous coaches

by the presidmg judge in the trials, Hansgeorg Brautigam. Rietbrock asserts that, while h

is possible that the ingestion of steroids in conjunction with birth control pUls by the

female swimmers during thefr training years might have led either to bfrth defects of the

women's chilcfren or to other health hijuries, these assertions are not medically proven.

Rietbrock expresses dismay that the verdicts of the trials were based on medical

speculation as weU as the dubious Stasi files.

Post Wall endeavors to lUcen the GDR sport system to the Nazi reghne by crhic

Wemer Franke and others are inappropriate. While m both thne periods sports had a very

clear poUtical value, under Hhler's reghne, sport was employed as a tool to prove the

superiorhy of the Aryan race. WhUe this tactic feiled, GDR leaders took a dififerent

approach. In the GDR, leaders wanted to validate thefr version of socialism albeh under a

dictatorship. The hitemational community was also never convmced of this, neither were

the GDR athletes. The Hhler-to-Honecker contrast is, at least m sports, an Ul-suited

372
comparison. Usmg sports to justify racism and anti-Semitism is not the same as utUizmg

sports to vaUdate one's poUtical system. Nevertheless, both dictators failed m thefr

propaganda efforts to misuse athletes as champions of an ideological cause.

An overview of the system hself and the athletes' views on that system leave one

with a decidedly different unpression than what is bemg relayed m the German press or

by the typically negative wrhmgs of historian Giselher Spitzer of Potsdam Univershy. All

but three of the eighteen mterviewed athletes, a mix of successful and unsuccessful ones

from a wide variety of disciplmes and age groups, both male and female, believe h was

an excellent system and regret hs demise. Only one athlete, Udo Beyer, clahns he was

pressured to take substances he did not want to take, and, yet, he was able to refuse to

take them without relinquishing high performance sports altogether. Of eighteen athletes

interviewed, only four appear to have received substances. This stands m dfrect contrast

to accusations of "universal" application. While only a few of the athletes genumely

believed in the superiority of socialism over caphaUsm, most claim h was not for the

glories of socialism that they were motivated to perform They were athletes Uke all other

athletes elsewhere. They loved sports for the sake of sports. The stadium, not the state,

was thefr raison d' etre. Yet the vilification of the GDR sports system after the Wall by

the media, the courts, and a few historians, stands hi stark contrast to the views of the

athletes themselves. The stunning post WaU successes of East German athletes debunk

crhique of the system, as the legacy lives on. The most compeUhigfindhigto emerge

from the research of this system is that the hnage of sports m the GDR, both before and

after the Wende, has never been refiective of reality. One illusion has merely replaced

another.

373
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406
 APPENDIX A
INTERVIEW WITH
PROFESSOR DR. KLAUS BARTONIETZ

407
 Interview with Professor Dr. Klaus Bartonietz
Biomechanic for the GDR and post Wende FRG
Neustadt, July 5,1997
Interviewed, Translated and Transcribed by
Barbara Cole

K=Klaus; B=Barbara

B-Ok, teU me first your name, education and the role you played m the GDR sports
system.
K-My name is Klaus Bartonietz. Education: Abitur (high school diploma). Master's,
Doctorate, post Doctorate.
B-In which area is your Doctorate?
K-Biomechanics, sports.
B-Sports science.
K-Yes, sports science.
B-And the post Doctorate was done in Russia or Germany?
K-Germany...thro wmg sports m track and field.
B-In Leipzig?
K-At the FKS (Research Institute for Physical Culture and Sports.)
B-And your dissertation was done in?
K-In Moscow.
B-In which area?
K-In biomechanics: soccer, tennis and boxing...biomechanical problems.
B-Why did you change to biomechanical problems in the throwing sports?
K-No reason, it just happened.
B-No specific reason?
K-No.
B-And what kind of a role did you play later m the GDR sports system?
K-Why a role? I was a scientific worker, assistant at the Research Institute.
B-Did you then conduct research there also without much contact to the athletes or were
you more separated from them?
K-Certamly, we had very close contact [with the athletes] but through the trahiers...not so
much dfrectly as we did through the trainer. The trahier was the middle man there.
B-Then you filmed the athletes and then analyzed the fihns and then told them...
K-Yes, exactly. And then, I'd do the analyses for the trahier.
B-Ok. On the two works you showed me h stated "Only for those m service" or
"confidential material" and on occasion, "Strictly confidential material." Those were the
varymg degrees of security then. Isn't that right?
K-Yes, of course. Those were the various stages.
B-What kind of significance did these stages have?
K-Ok, the significance was that the research results were to stay with those for whom they

408
were mtended. We didn't research hi GDR eUte sports so that Americans or West
Germans would improve. It was to stay whhm this closely confined cfrcle of people.
B-"Confidential service material" was for those strictly m your oflBce, or what was that?
The papers could only stay in the oflSce.
K-Yes, of course. They'd also have to have an identification to get them..as to who could
work on h. That was precisely indicated It said so on the top page, m which reahn, how
many copies...
B-And what is with "Strictly Confidential Material"?
K-No. "Confidential Material." I don't even know what that is. I never had anything to do
with that. That was one rank higher.
B-And Secret Material?
K-State secrets or what?
B-No. There were three rankings:
VerfrauUche Schlusssache (Confidential Matter to be Secured)
VertrauUch, nur fur Dienstgebrauch (Confidential only for Service
Use)
and then there was GehehnUche Schlusssache (Highly Confidential Security Matters)
K-Ok, yes, the VDGB, that was just Uke a fax. It wasn't anything special. It only had a
stamp on h: only for service usage so that I couldn't pubUsh any of h.
B-But you weren't aUowed to take it home either...
K-VDGB? Yeah sure.
B-Which hems could you not take home?
K-VertrauUch Dienstgebrauch. VertrauUche Dientsgebrauch.
B-You were not aUowed to take these home?
K-Of course not. That would have been a big risk.
B-What would have happened to you if you would have taken them home?
K-WeU...a reprimand.
B-What kind of a reprimand?
K-You get a mgga. Don't you know what a mgga is?
B-No.
K-You get a notice from the boss that he does not ^ r e e with you and you're not gomg to
get a raise next year, perhaps, and you'U have to wah two years or something Uke that, as
a consequence.
B-But you don't get kkked out, you don't get kicked out unless you do h several
thnes...you won't get kicked out.
K-Exactly, exactly. Or unless they find the material m the streets somewhere and h can be
clearly proven that I dragged h out. That could happen then.
B-And if h landed m the hands of a foreigner?
K-And they noticed h? The Stasi noticed h?
B-Yes. What would happen to you?
K-[hidicates that one goes flymg out]
B-Is that right? You go flymg out?
K-Yes, that's logical.

409
B-ReaUy?
K-Of course. That's why they caU h VerfrauUche Dienstsache.
B-Ok, so sport methods were regarded more or less Uke mUitary secrets...in what respect?
K-What was that?
B-The sports science methods were regarded more or less Uke mUitary service secrets or
Uke miUtary secrets, m what respect?
K-Yes, weU, this confidentiaUty ranking of the work...
B-Did you have to sign anythmg to mdicate that you wouldn't release any of this material?
K-No, I was surprised that there never was any such thing, but no, I never did sign
anythhig.
B-It was smqjly common knowledge that you weren't aUowed to pass this information on.
K-Certamly.
B-Did that ever happen that such materials came mto some foreigner's hands?
K-ActuaUy, no.
B-And why not? Were the people afraid or what?
K-Ok, goocl somethnes there are things that happened. One guy I heard of, in the Stasi
had put the papers on top of his car, and forgot then to put them m the car and he drove
off and the papers flew aU over.
B-What happened to him?
K-I don't know. They certamly didn't shoot him, but...
B-At what pomt cUd the confidentiaUty start, with what you were aUowed to say, what you
were not aUowed to say?
K-You can't reaUy say, say what to whom? Who, for exanple?
B-Foreigners for example.
K-You weren't supposed to have any contacts with foreigners anyway.
B-And normal GDR chizens?
K-Normal chizens. What I did (for work) I could actuaUy talk about, but no one was
really mterested m how one worked with the trainer and the athlete. So, ok we weren't
supposed to teU the normal chizen, that's tme, any detaUs as to what kind of research we
were domg or what kmd of frammg exercises or such shnUar thmgs, or how systematicaUy
we worked. Such thmgs we weren't aUowed to taUc about. The work, everythmg about
work, that's tme.
B-The GDR mvested a good deal of effort and money hito this sports system Was that
more on average than what was done m other countries m your opmion, at least at that
time period?
K-Exfremely, exfremely above average.
B-Extremely above average.
K-Yes, of course.
B-How can you measure that? Or how do you esthnate that?
K-On the financial outlay for the eUte sports.
B-As a percentage, perhaps, of the GNP, for example?
K-I don't know, I don't know. But many firms would have been happy to have gotten the
kmd of subsidies tiiat sports got, [as would have] many industrial branches or many

410
mmistries. And h wasn't just our research mstitute [that received govemment fimdmg]. It
was thefraiiungfeciUties,the sports clubs, h was enormous...
B-But at any rate, sports received more preferential freatment than many social service
sectors and not just popular sports, primarily (h mostly was for) the eUte sports.
K-I wouldn't compare h to the social service sectors. I wouldn't compare h to the social
service sectors. What happened, for example m the health care sector you couldn't
con^lam about ehher. But m comparison, let us say, to mdustry, which actuaUy produces
goods, the mdustry, the economy you know, and they were only m a second rankmg, you
know. But they wanted poUtical recognition and they noted that wasn't happenmg via the
economy due to the insufificient workers' productivity. And m sports h was easier [to gain
this recognition.]
B-What was the mtention here? That the people would be placated? That the people
would have a pomt of mutual pride because in other reahns there wasn't much...
K-WeU yes, of course, to (create) this national feeUng. But I think first and foremost to
obtain the poUtical recognition as a state.
B-Not just for external matters m the mtemational reahn, but also mtemaUy, or no?
DomesticaUy.
K-Yes, ok, so that there'd be pride in the sports' successes.
B-And that was extremely above average hi terms of the efforts made by other countries.
K-WeU, when you compare h to other socialist countries, Uke the Soviet Union, they also
had a fremendous showing m sports, or the Poles and the Czechs then. But in comparing h
to the FRG or America, I thmk h would have been relatively high.
B-You hardly had any contacts with foreigners or what?
K-Very, very Uttle. Yes.
B-Unless they were from sociaUst countries.
K-Yes, and then there was coUaborative work with the Soviet Union and the Poles,
Hungarians, Czechs...
B-But there was also a certain degree of secrecy there which could not be imparted even
to the socialist countries m the reahn of sports science, wasn't there?
K-Yes.
B-What were the Umits then, on what you could or could not say?
K-It was never so specificaUy stated, "this is what you can or cannot say." You just noted
m each country that there were different condhions. And the Czechs and the Poles didn't
work as consistently on sport issues because they didn't have to come to terms v^th the
Federal RepubUc of Germany Uke we did. That's why they were so, that's why h was
always a Uttle more diHuse...not so concenfrated or concrete.
B-But above aU, the primary compethor was first and foremost the FRG and then the
Soviet Union.
K-WeU yes, but at another level. They weren't our poUtical opponents, the Russians. Or
the Soviets, better said. In the first rankmg h was our poUtical opponents: the FRG and
the USA.
B-Yes, but what were the people's personal opmion? Were they to defeat the FRG or the
Soviets primarUy?

411
K-The athletes? Ok, what they wanted to do or what they were supposed to do? As a top
priority they were to defeat the Federal RepubUc.
B-And what they wanted to do?
K-They probably wanted to do that, of course.
B-And what about the Russians?
K-That depends. Seen as a whole, from achievement levels, h wouldn't have been possible
for them to defeat the Russians because they were shnply too strong from thefr standpomt
of thefr potential also from the standpoint of thefr athletic discipUnes and the people and
the talent.
B-But getthig back to the issue of what one was aUowed to say and what one was not
aUowed to say, m respect to the Russians. There were most certamly things that the East
Germans did not hnpart to the Russians, or no, m the area of sports science?
K-Yes, yes. But then you'd have to look at h concretely always hi some certain area. No
East German trainer would go to a Russian tramer and say, "Hey we tram Uke this, what
do you thmk of that?" or other such things, say fraining methods, for example.
B-Were Russians aUowed to go to Kienbaum?
K-Were they? I don't know. I thmk at some thne they were. The last time that I was there,
that was m Berlin at the Sports Club and they weren't in Kienbaum. But I don't know if
they'd ever been there or not. I thmk they were there at some thne.
B-Did they know about the high altitude chamber?
K-I don't even know when h was buUt. It was buUt pretty late, wasn't h? Whether they
knew about it...?
B-No, h was buUt no later than '72.
K-'72?
B-Yes.
K-The underground high altitude chamber?
B-They guy who won the speed walkmg in Munich [20 km; Peter Frenkel], he trained m
this chamber right before that and then he won. He got the gold medal and was the champ.
K-See I didn't even know that. I didn't even know that. I thought h was buUt later, you
know. I didn't know that. Ok, your question was whether the Russians were m Kienbaum
or not, right?
B-Yes.
K-I never saw any there. I can't swear by h, but I can hnagme that at the beghinmg of the,
say 60's or 70's, that they were there. Later, teachhig seminars were in BerUn and not m
Kienbaum.
B-Did the sports doctors have any mteraction whh the Russians?
K-The GDR sports doctors?
B-Yes.
K-I can imaghie when they were at any competition and someone got mjured, in that
respect, yes.
B-And m the reahn of research, did they share anythmg with the Russians?
K-Ok, good, there was a bUateral cooperation between the GDR and the USSR in eUte
sports m the reahn of biomechanics, development of sports equipment and at the

412
beghmmg, sports medicine m electro sthnulation. EssentiaUy we learned that from the
Russians, the Soviets. There was a Professor Kotz from Moscow, he showed h. I was
there and leamed about it. Thus, hi that respect, there was cooperation m sports medicme.
B-I know that the East Germans once caught a few Russian athletes as testmg poshive
[for dopmg] at some compethion, that was at a domestic (GDR) compethion. And then
the Russians had to keep thefr mouths shut at the 1980 Olympic Games because they had
these results from the Russians.
K-They more or less blackmaUed them? Yes?
B-Yes. This is already weU-known. Did you know this?
K-No, no.
B-Ok, what else...when I was m HaUe at the compethion, you told me then that I would
have been hicarcerated for entering mto the training rooms.
K-At that thne (GDR).
B-Yes, then.
K-Yes, that's tme. You would have certamly been mcarcerated as an American if you
would have entered hito those traming rooms.
B-...as someone from a capitaUstic country?
K-Yes. NaturaUy they'd explam that to you. They weren't going to send you to Siberia,
naturaUy.
B-And if I would have taken pictures of h? Then they would have most certamly
mcarcerated me, or no?
K-Yes, ok. WeU, what do you mean hicarcerated? The film would have been destroyed at
any rate, or they would have developed it to see what was on it. You wouldn't even have
been aUowed mto such a room to begm with, naturaUy. You wouldn't have even gone in
there, normaUy.
B-What were foreigners aUowed to see and what were they not aUowed to see? Did
Americans come to some events here?
K-What for? What kind of events do you mean?
B-Athletic events m HaUe, for example.
K-In '72 there was a track and field competition m Chemnitz (Karl Marx Stadt then)
against the USA. They trahied and prepared for this competition. But there were special
security measures that were taken. Of course. That was for track and field. There were
certain days, of course.
B-What did you mean when you said to me there are certain things the West Germans
must appropriate from the East Germans if they want to be as successful? Give me a few
examples.
K-Ok good...that they shnply tram as much and as hard. They had a shnple expression:
"Trahung, achievement, trahung." That means, I have to do a certam amount of trammg to
get a certam achievement. Here they thmk, "We'U just invite a few good athletes and then
we'U have the desfred performance." That kmd of thmkmg that trahung is the central
issue, h sounds vcty primitive and shnple, but you better beUeve that h does not prevaU
among aU sports officials.
B-Very difficult goals estabUshed m the trammg plans for the athletes might be one thmg.

413
for example.
K-This clear cut goal settmg would be one [example], yes...and also this comprehensive
support system for the athlete...aU these service areas.
B-State support.
K-Yes. Or where ever h comes from, maybe private sponsors. It doesn't matter where h
comes from.
B-And what else? Is tiiere somethmg else the West Germans should appropriate from the
East Germans? Perhaps a comprehensive program such as the talent scouting and the KJS,
for example?
K-Good, that's what I meant by this bemg conq)reheiisive...yes, of course.
B-And that the chUdren Uve there at the school and thefr schooUng would be extended so
that they could frain more per day.
K-Yes, yes. I wouldn't say what they should or must appropriate. You have to clearly see
that those are whoUy created and different cfrcumstances. That was a state that was
completely fixated on the goal of sports. And that's not the way h is here. Everyone can
do what they want here, what they deem to be right and the state does not strive here to
have athletic achievements. They don't reaUy have the appropriate atthude. I don't thmk h
would work to set up the KJS m keepmg with the GDR experience or principles because
no one would participate/cooperate with h. And then h just woulchi't work. It's too
authoritative [for the West Germans' taste.]
B-It was too strict of a program? Too strict?
K-Strict? Yes. Perhaps, that doesn't work anymore tocfey, m these thnes.
B-Do you think that the chUcfren were over-worked?
K-Seldom. Clearly, if they had overtrained some gymnast so that she didn't grow properly
and such things, then of course she'd be overtrained. But, for exeimple, in the track and
field discipUnes where they'd have multifaceted fraiiung in thefr growmg years with games
and gymnastics and in a wide range of track events (unclear), then I would exclude the
notion that they were over worked.
B-What are some other things that the West Germans should appropriate from the East
Germans?
K-Ok, the whole speciaUzation of the professionals m the busmess of traming. That was
naturaUy then, weU here h operates oftenthnes shnply under volunteer coaches, who do h
m thefr free thne. That's only good m some cfrcumstances.
B-They were more professional (m the GDR)?
K-Sure. They were paid by the state to be fuU thne coaches.
B-Could one reason...ok, this is another fram of thought, but could the reason for the
success be that the amateurs of the US or other caphaUstic countries competed agamst the
professionals of the GDR? Those were the cream of the crop (creme de la creme) and our
second rankmg athletes competed agahist your best.
K-Why second rankmg? Those were your best then, and that was always the case at the
thne.
B-Our best became professionals.
K-Good, there was Mark Spitz....that was, at that thne, somethmg, for example. He got

414
moneyfixjmhis parents or somethmg or they were rich m and of themseh'es (unclear.)
B-And tennis and soccer?
K-Tennis did not play a role in the GDR.
B-I see.
K-Soccer didn't play a role either because of the 11 men that you needed or from the same
system that you had you could develop some good track athletes: runners, sprinters,
middle distance runners. Or from a basketbaU team, you could get some good high
j u n ^ r s where everyone could have won a medal. That was also a consideration. For a
basketbaU team, you need a good playmg system, a league system
B-What other ideas or methods could the West Germans leam from the East Germans?
K-The whole service system, the sports medical care. There's stUl no speciaUst here (m the
FRG) for sports medicine.
B-...or aU the precautionary preventive medichie methods.
K-Yes. That should be there anyway. And another thmg is what they do here very weU,
and that is the social management, comprehensive management. They did that very weU
there too [in the GDR], so that career plannhig was aU vcty weU planned for, for the eUte
athlete so that everythmg was set up for the athlete when his career studies were finished,
h was aU set up. And that's also attempted here, so that when thefr studies are done that
they have some assistance when it came to looking for work or an apartment or that they
help them unprove tiiefr grades in high school so if thefr grades are suffering because
they're framing so hard, that they can eventuaUy be advanced.
B-...SO that they can advance. There were no problems with day-to-day concerns for the
athletes. That is, they didn't have to worry whether there'd be an apartment avaUable for
them or if there'd be a job or how thhigs would work out hi getting a career. That was, for
them, a path that would be estabUshed for them.
K-With the goal of self sufficiency. We'd end up with self reUant athletes as an end
product-or at least those are the ones whofinaUycame out of the program, who had the
highest degree of self sufficiency... who could organize aU these things for themselves. It
used to be [m the GDR] that h was the system hself that organized aU that for the athletes.
Now, the athletes have to do that aU themselves.
B-That's better or worse?
K-It's mhced, there's two sides to that. For the people, h's certahUy not good when
eveiythmg is done for them and they don't have to do anythmg for themselves.
B-Was the sports medicme particularly good?
K-Particularly good? I don't thmk so. One m four [doctors] was reaUy speciaUzed because
they'd contmuaUy operate on knees, then he'd be good. But they had those in the West
too, sports physicians.
B-And behmd every athlete in the GDR, there probably were 4 or 5 personnel as a support
team..tramer, sports physician, masseuse, biomechanic. Ummm what else was there?
Sports therapist...
K-No, I wouldn't see h Uke that. It was more or less the system with the athlete and his
frainer or his framing group.
B-Yes, they had a comprehensive system where aU possible problems...

415
K-No one had a physiotherapist just for themselves, but rather it was m the club, the
^jorts club. There was a department mcluded m the sports club for physiotherapy and
after trammg they'd make an appomtment and they knew what they were supposed to do.
There is today, most certainly, I think (unclear)...
B-It's just not as strictly done now as then.
K-Not as consistently.
B-Not as consistently.
K-Yes.
B-...and Dietmar Schauerhammer told me that at every shigle athletic event, a sports
physician (of the GDR) was always there,
K-There were usuaUy several. CertahUy. Of course. But ok, they do that here too....at
every event a sports physician has to be there m case something happens.
B-Did they do that also with trainmg? That a sports physician was always there?
K-Yes, yes in the department at the sports club there was always a sports physician and if
he wasn't there, then there was a service physician system. There'd be a nurse there who
knew precisely which physician could be reached. It was thoroughly organized.
B-Ok, m your opmion, were the scientific methods, such as m biomechanics, smce that's
your speciaUty, more advanced than m other countries, or at least more advanced than in
caphahst countries?
K-I think you can't reaUy say that either. You have to reaUze that we got video equipment
very late, we had very poor conputers. The real issue is, what did we do with what we
had? The question isn't were we more advanced or not, h was more an issue of work
methods. What wiU I achieve with my work? How closely connected am I to the traming
methods? And that was what was decisive m the GDR. I thmk that h was vety closely
oriented around traming. Here, I think, I gather that the sports scientist is indififerent as to
how it wiU be put into action m trahimg. He thmks that's not his responsibUity.
B-So they were very pragmatic as to how h would work out in trahung.
K-Yes, yes. There was this saying of Karl Marx m his thesis on Feuerbach, who wrote,
"The issue is not how one mterprets the world, but rather, to change h." That is, don't just
have a great description, 'blah, blah, blah...'there always has to be resuhmg consequences
for improving training.
B-The sports science then, was not more advancecl but rather, h was more oriented
toward putting h into action?
K-Ok, how would you know that? What are you comparing h to...the developmental level
of sports science?
B-WeU, m the history of sports, the Germans were thefirstones, the veryfirst,to have
sports medicme. They developed hfirst.So m that respect, the East Germans took h even
fiirther.
K-Soviets had hfirst.We got many of these ideasfromthe Soviets...many of the frainers,
sports methods, sports medichie...
B-...the sports medicme too?
K-Yes, I thmk so. WeU, I don't even know what was gomg on in tiie 1930's, but m the
1930's, they had sports medical doctors here that got mto biomechanics. Bemstehi, for

416
example, Nflcolai Bemstem. He was a neuro-physiologist. He is then regarded as the fether
of biomechanics.
B-Nflcolai Bemstem? He was a Russian?
K-Yes.
B-A Jew?
K-Yes. A Soviet from a long Une of a famUy of doctors.
B-What then are some very specific reasons, in your opinion, as to why the GDR was so
successfiU in the realm of sports? Vety specific reasons...
K-The most hnportant reasons? Ok good...that would be the goal orientation by which the
best performance was prepared and developed. It was the systematic and everythh^
sunounding this: the sports science, sports medicine, the sports science care.
BREAK HERE
B-The question was again, why was the GDR specificaUy so successfiil?
K-I'd say agahi, from my understandhig, [that h was] the entfre system. They did not have
more athletes avaUable, more human potential There were only 17 milUon people. So, due
to the system, they could evaluate people's traits, abiUty frahs.
B-...the scouting system where absolutely every chUd was evaluated.
K-There were only 17 million people so this was self evident. You had some good
trainers. They, the athletes, were not doped more and they were not doped less...one says
here, "They were aU doped and couldn't help but win." But what one now knows is that
that was less the case, in keeping v^ith the motto: much [doping] doesn't always help
much.
B-You said to me once, appropo doping, that you were told that if the Americans are
domg this (dophig) what should we do hi order to keep pace with them? Did the trainers
dope more m some areas [athletic discipUnes] than they did m others?
K-I can imaghie that m some areas nothing was done, say for example hi an athletic
discipUne Uke fencmg, where maybe medical manipulation could not have helped.
B-...or figure skatmg or gymnastics...
K-WeU gymnastics for strength development, I thmk so. But more, what do you mean
more? Are you speaking of quantity?
B-...or imiversaUy appUed...
K-...UniversaUy appUed? What do you mean universal? [It was] m aU the sports clubs
among the sports medical centers and among the conesponding cadres (leaders) in
achievement.
B-In aU areas where h could have been advantageous, the athletes were doped?
K-WeU, ok, maybe to a certahi degree of achievement, I'm assuming.
B-Cadre A?
K-WeU maybe A or B. It was probably dependent upon age.
B-But with utmost certainty, m the short power burst sports?
K-Short power burst sports? Yesss...weightUftmg.
B-Bobsleddmg, throwmg sports?
K-Yes.
B-Track and field, 100 meters, 200 meters, 400 meters.

417
K-Yes, yes. Quick power burst sports.
B-Universal?
K-Ok, what do you mean by universal?
B-Comprehensive, m aU these different areas.
K-WeU then, I'd say that for evety athlete the concept was there. In that respect,
universal sure. Ms. Berendok afready discovered how h was done. She evaluated this
thoroughly. She wrote this up very weU. If anyone didn't know h then, they know h now,
from her book. That's rather an mfroduction as to how one can act out on this [proceed
with dopmg.]
B-Did you ever witness athletes receivmg anything?
K-See h? How are you gomg to see h? You'd actuaUy have to see them takmg the pUls.
No I never saw h. At first we didn't know, h was just suspected. And after the Wende,
then we found out.
B-How did they [GDR sports ofificials] know that the "Americans were domg this" and to
what extent were the Americans doing h?
K-Oh, how? I'd say through mtemational contacts, at any rate, that the leadhig athletes
were exchangmg [ideas and/or substances]. For example, the Americans [would do so]
with the West Germans and then the West Germans [would do so] with the East Germans,
even if they weren't aUowed to, have contact with the West Germans, that is. There were
contacts among the athletes. And then, you could just perceive how the athletes were
developing.
B-Did the GDR athletes dope more m some areas than in others?
K-Ok, how do you mean that? More miUigrams or even better or...?
B-Yes, let's say, more than the foreigners, let us say more than the Americans, say, for
example, m the area of swhnming for women.
K-WeU that comes back to the universal [issue].
B-In Monfreal for example, they [GDR female swhnmers] got somethmg Uke 14 of the 16
medals, or 15.
K-You can't just say that m the GDR, 100% of the female swhnmers were doped. Then
you'd have to assume that from other countries, say country X, there were 99% of the
swimmers who were just as doped. However...
B-They didn't have the deep voice.
K-Yeah weU, maybe they took somethmg else. However, I just want to say somethmg,
what the others took, they didn't take h as systematicaUy or as medicaUy monitored...
B-...or not so thoroughly or frequently or...
K-No, that's not the question, "How much," but rather, when and how, you know? What
I gathered is that they did way too much and took way too much, so much that h had
negative consequences.
B-In the GDR?
K-No, in the West. They were never systematicaUy monitored or checked up on to see
how h works. That's how they did h and then they said we'U only do h for strength
trammg so that the burden of strength can be more easUy overcome or processed
easier..,hi keepmg with the motto: much does not always help much. But m the West the

418
concept was, "Much helps much."
B-You mean then that the West Germans doped more than the East Germans?
K-Yes, sure.
B-And how do you know that?
K-I don't know h. I just surmise h from what I've heard. Because they don't know how
much you shoiUd take. If I know that, say, 2 milligrams per week is sufificient, then m the
GDR they'd only take 2 mUUgrams. But the West German would take then 5x2 milligrams
because he beUeves h wiU help hhn more. The systematic [wasn't there.]
B-Were you aware that the minors were being doped?
K-Now we know that, yes. But diuing the GDR period we didn't, no. You know, they
operated on this assunq)tion, as I told you, m the GDR, of bemg systematic. Whereas, m
the West h was [aU based on the concept of) "much helps much."
B-But m the 80's there were rumors that they (the mmors) were bemg doped and the
athletes who came out on TV hi the GDR to testify that "No, we haven't doped..." as if
they feh compeUed to come out and testify. Why them? Why exactly did they m particular
feel compeUed to come out and make a statement that they're clean?
K-Maybe attack is the best defense, Uke the motto says. That's the only explanation.
There's another saymg m Latm, that whoever accuses others and defends themselves,
thereby accuses themselves.
B-Was that the justification that because the Americans are doing this, we've got to do h
too, to keep pace with them? Would that justify h for you?
K-I wasn't told h Uke that. It was said that the GDR did everything possible m the
mtemational agreements to fight dopmg, and also to get some kind of an agreement with
the IOC to ban h, and h never worked. That came out with Ewald's agreement. But I
heard that before...before that book came out. (Unclear.) ActuaUy that doesn't justify the
thmg. YoufinaUyhave to say, "Ok, dophig goes on, then everyone is doing h."
B-Then Ewald knew and he arranged thhigs? He knew and regulated h? The whole dophig
history, he knew and regulated h?
K-He claims "no" he didn't know. But I can hardly imagine that as the highest sports
official that he didn't know, you know.
B-Did you ever have any close connections to doctors such as Riedel HOppner or Israel
or work with them?
K-No, not at aU.
B-And aU these trammg plans, not so much the plans, but those sketches that you did, was
that never m connection to the doping histoty there?
K-No.
B-You just did the physical analyses?
K-It (the dophig) was an area of confidentiaUty which was a tier higher. Our level of
confidentiaUty stopped at VertrauUche Dienstsache (confidential service material). That
was our level That (matter) characterized as Schluss (to be kept locked up) was thefr
area, another step higher.
B-Is there somethmg else you'd Uke to say?
K-Yes, we could taUc a long thne about this, that's clear. How this system is porti^yed is.

419
to me, as done by outsiders, vety deceptive as to what reaUy happened. And that has
changed vety Uttle, vety Uttle.
B-Do you mean that m the area of dopmg?
K-Yes, as to what's gomg on mtemationaUy. Now the Germans are laughed at by
foreigners, [they are] probably the forerunners because they're saying "We're free to carry
o a " This is our chance now.
B-In the Federal RepubUc, the system of the GDR is scomed.
K-Which system, the sports system?
B-Yes, they say h was the GDR sports system. They say h was thoroughly amoral due to
the dophig history, not only the dopmg history, but also m general but also the history of
dophig of nunors. And due to this then they're also makmg a big production of the Stasi
reports and how the athletes were controUed and whatever. But they do try to incorporate
some of the (GDR) system, but they do h m a lame manner.
K-Ok then, you have to consider who is doing such evaluations.
B-WeU, I talked to the Dfrector, for example, of the BerUn Olympic Training Center. And
he cUdn't want to have any association with the former GDR sports system and he was
shocked and looked rather puzzled and angty as if he didn't want to make any concessions
in that respect...say, the concept (the West Germans adopted) of the most medals for the
least amount of money, that was a concept coopted from the East Germans., .or how the
money would oiJy be invested where there was potential for success and other athletic
disciplines were scantUy sponsored, or not at aU. And that is another principle of the GDR
sports system which they coopted.
K-Of course.
B-Or the sports schools.
K-That's what I noticed too. Here when I first started, the sponsorship was oriented
towards what I caU "the watering can principle."
B-Whh the watering can principle you say?
K-That means that resources were dhided fafrly equally to aU the athletic discipUnes. And
m addhion to that, h was done according to achieyement...certain placement at the
German championships and m order to get a medal at intemational events. But a rock and
roU dancer could have gotten h (state support) just as easUy as a track athlete. And if you
didn't get h, as I said, it was because h was Umited to the Olympic discipUnes.
B-And if there were a couple of good ones hi, let us say, pmg pong, then they didn't stand
a chance because there were only two of them, or how do you mean that?
K-No, they'd be supported too.
B-No, you're saymg the "watering can principle" is a bad one because h should be more
goal oriented.
K-Of course, that's evident. That's happened Uke that m the last five years or so. Now h's
the watering can principle, so h doesn't work anymore.
B-Ok, the East Gennan coaches, accordmg to the Merkurische Tagesblatt, are gettmg job
offers from aU over the world. They count as the world's best, tiie East German coachess.
Why are they havmg such difficulties getthig jobs m the FRG? Is h the bad reputation
which they have m connection with dophig or...why is h that they don't get a poshion m

420
West Germany?
K-Ok, good, that conesponds actuaUy just to the top trainers...to the people who were
contmuously producmg Olympic medalists...who reaUy had the know how, mcluding
traming methods, whether that's Jutta MtiUer or whoever...
B-Or Michael Regner who is now m AustraUa the coach of the Albatross, Michael Gross.
K-WeU, he was a West Gennan.
B-Of course! [laughs] Michael Regner was whose coach?
K-I don't know, I'm not that familiar with the swhnmmg scene. Good, if they were
successfiil then somehow they'd be more accessible for another system. That's evident.
Sometimes they'd have dfrect contact to Manfred Ewald because they'd have to take a
stand for something m order to frain properly, frainmg condhions would have to be
created and such. Somethnes I'd help to estabUsh that dfrect contact. It was a big system,
and that is something that is not supported so much in the West. Then coaches aren't
reaUy sought out here. You have to effect a change...UsuaUy what happens is a bad coach
has to be kicked out and that's not easy either.
B-The system of the GDR was also vety much centraUy confroUed. Was that a good thmg
or a bad thing or...? Or did you think h ran better that way, or should h be more
democratic or should there be more opportunhies to make decisions independently? Or
what?
K-They tty to do that m West Germany now with the Federal Committee for EUte Sports
(Bundes Ausschuss fur Leistimgssport) with a Chafrman for aU of Germany. But every
state has hs EUte Committee for EUte Sports and they're pretty autonomous.
B-Is that contmgent upon the finances which the state has or is the parUament responsible
for the distribution of finances to each area?
K-Ok, weU everyone who gets mto the cadre, then that has to be decided by the Federal
Committee m Frankfiut.
B-Frankfiut, why not Bonn?
K-Because Frankfurt is where the German Sports Federation is situated. That's why.
Frankfiut is where the Mhustty is located, and Cologne is where the Federal Institute for
Sports Science is.
B-Yes, at the University there, the Sports CoUege.
K-Sure, h would be good and inportant to have this system done more centraUy, on the
one hand, however, that just doesn't work with this federal stmcture. That's somethmg
that the aUies decreed after the Second Work! War, this state system So tiiat a Germany
such as existed prior to this, wiU never occur again.
B-A dictatorship.
F-An overly powerful...tlmt everythhig operates on a federal basis. To do otherwise,
they'd have to change the constitution, if they wanted to reign so dfrectly Uke that (system
mthe GDR.)
B-What kmd of connection did you have, or did you even have one, to Manfred Ewald?
K-I had none. He visited us once at the institiite and evctyone stood there and shook his
hand. He shook my hand too. But I had no other personal contact. As just a noraial
employee there wasn't much of a connection to a Party leader.

421
B-And what kind of a connection did you have to your supervisor?
K-Who, where, how?
B-AttiieFKS.
K-My boss?
B-Yes.
K-Good, close,fiiendly,comradely...
B-The atmosphere was good?
K-Vety good. Vety good working atinosphere. Because evctyone could identify with the
goal. It reaUy wasn't Uke h is now...but of course you have to thmk of yourself and your
famUy.
B-Did you ever have any problems or any...was there any kmd of palpable presence from
the Stasis?
K-Anythmg palpable? WeU, where I worked there was nothmg palpable. But later one
looked back m retrospect and noted that, 'Aha!' There was one person who seemed to
keep an eye on thmgs. But as you phrased h, there was nothmg reaUy palpable. If there
were visitors for the admmisfrators, then particular security measures such as with this
VertrauUche Dienstsache histoty, were seen as normal.
B-Were you ever outside of the countty before the Wende?
K-Yes, I was at a biomechanist conference m Greece and then at a training camp m
Greece.
B-Were you accompanied by anyone or did youfravelalone?
K-Yes, no, I went to the conference with my boss and then to theframmgcamp whh
frainers and others.
B-Did anyone travel with you that you didn't know?
K-No.
B-You knew everyone?
K-Yes, certainly.
B-Did you have to write reports on what you saw and heard?
K-You mean at the conference? Yes, that was always the case, that was the norm. For
foreign travel say to the Soviet Union for work related purposes there would be
delegation goals whh preordained delineations, and a report would be written Jifterwards.
I don't remember what aU h entaUed.
B-Were you ever in the West?
K-WeU, that was m Greece.
B-Oh, that's right, m Greece, And you never noticed if some unknown person was with
your party?
K-No, there never was an unknown person, but afterwards there would always be one of
our group who would have worked for the Stasi.
B-One would have always worked for the Stasi?
K-One or two or I don't know how many, but for certam some did. But h's unknown who
they were and I don't know h.
BREAK HERE
B-You said to me once that if the East Germans did do iUegal substances, then h was only

422
5 or 10% of the final resuhs.
K-What was reaUy decisive was the systematic, and everyone was domg h [dopmg]. It
couldn't happen in the FRG, h couldn't happen m the USA. It would only work m this
Uttle GDR, this systematic, this stmcture. And findmg the appropriate talent, that was one
part of h (unclear)...but how they framed! That was bmtaUy systematic! It wasn't
necessarily bmtaUy hard, but so systematic, you just can't hnagme h!
B-Ten percent is a lot.
K-Of course. The others could have been doing that too.
B-But people don't win with 5%, they win with hundredths of seconds. In the 100 meter
dash, they vrai by hundredths of seconds, not 5%!
K-Of course.
B-So m that respect, 5% or 10% is enormous. That the East Germans were so good, they
made themselves unbeUevable. That a country of 17 milUon people could defeat a country
of 240 miUion people. The US had then 240 miUion people in the 1970's and they (the
GDR) got 11 thnes as many medals as the Americans and 12 thnes as many as the
Russians [on a per capita basis.] In that respect they rendered themselves discredited. Can
you imagine that the East Germans trained more or harder than the Americans? I don't
beUeve it.
K-Yes they did. NaturaUy.
B-You thmk so?
K-Certainly.
B-The basketbaU players at home, they start playing as chUdren too.
K-Sure.
B-And the gymnasts too.
K-Now they do. The basketbaU players [from the US] were always good too. They were
always good.
B-Can that be because they start as chUdren?
K-It's the social pressure. Ruth Fuchs wrote, and I didn't read her work, but she and many
others did h not just for the honor of representhig the GDR, but they wanted to travel
abroad and earn some money.
B-Are you taUcing about her dissertation on [athletes'] motivation?
K-Yes. It was because of the confrontation with the FRG, the GDR could not prove hself
economicaUy, so they tried to do h with sports.
B-But 10% is an enormous amount.
K-I just said that v^thout reaUy meanmg h.
B-As I said before, that they were so good, the world finds h unbeUevable. That's just h.
K-If they'd been a Uttle more clever, than they would have let others wm, or no?
B-I read the documents from '68 and they ascertamed that the doping they did m '68, tiiey
caUed h unerlaubte Mitteln, which they used domesticaUy, brought forth greater results
than what the had abroad, so then they thought, why don't we use this for foreign events
when h works so weU domesticaUy, because the domestic results were so good.
K-Afready m '68?
B-'68.1 have the...I can show you the documents.

423
K-I always thought h was m the '70's.
B-No, they'd afready considered h m '68. They placed S**" m Mexico City and that was
fremendous for such a Uttle countty of 17 mUUon people to get to 8* place and then m '72
they were number 2 or number 3.
K-But look, ok, when I'd Uke to say is that what I do know, I'd Uke to mamtam that what
I do without any kmd of modesty...are you recording this?
B-Sure, we're recordmg this.,.the whole thne.
K-No one m the world is domg this. I can do h because I've had the task...and h's not
because I'm anythhig special but h's because of the cfrcumstances. It doesn't just happen,
you get the assignment and you grow with h. You get an athlete and you develop
together.
B-What do you mean no one m the world is domg this? What is no one m the world
domg?
K-Let us just say, for example, m the 4 throwmg discipUnes, shot put, javeUn, discus,
hammer, the biomechanics framing science which one does at trainmg camps and so forth,
no one else can do h. No one can do h. That's why I ask...
B-You're the only biomechanic hi the world for...
K-No, I'm not the only biomechanic m throwing, there's enough of them. There's plenty
who specialize m that, hi America as weU. But none, I think, have worked so closely with
the athletes.
B-Aha.
K-And the more I work closely with the athletes, the more I understand thefr problems
and the problems of the trainer m order to fiirther develop thefr performance levels. If I
only do h just to wrhe a scientific report...
B-No one hi the world has such a close relationship with the athlete as you do? As a
biomechanist?
K-Let us say m the throwmg sports, yes. There are certainly others in other disciplines
such as high jump and pole jumpmg who have such a relationship, such a close
relationship...there is in rowing, there is m other discipUnes...
B-Most certamly m running.
K-Yes and in swhnmmg, and m other discipUnes there are certainly people who are close,
there is one m Germany who used to be an athlete hhnself and is now a trahier for the
Junior cUvision for a (sports) association and now he's a scientist m triathlon. There's such
people in evety realm who are so good because they have close ties to the experience.
They've tried h and researched and made discoveries and then they get this feed back.
And that's the resuh of the GDR workmg method.
B-TWs close collaboration with the [athlete]...
K-Yes.
B-And that theory is dfrectly...
K-It's a matter of not becommg conplacent. You always have to test your work. You
always have to say that the practice (of one's theory) is the criterium, whether h's deemed
acceptable or not. I can write aU manner of theories and training plans. It might look good
on paper, the periodization, but if no one is applying h? And if no one is usmg h, then

424
that's downright buUshh. It was this close connection of theoty to practice...
B-Yes, yes. And that was an emphasis of the GDR, to apply theoty dfrectly to experience?
K-Yes, the close connection of applymg theoty to practical appUcation, exactly. And that
was done with a certam poUtical world view, what I told you about, "Don't just mterpret
the world, but change h." Effect change.
B-That's mteresthig.
K-And that's how you achieve somethhig. It works,
B-That the athletes were supposed to embody the sociaUst personaUty, did you also see h
as such?
K-Ok good, we laughed about that often. What was tiiat aU about? You're supposed to
represent your country somehow, but sociaUst personaUty? Yeah, right. That was just a
slogan.
B-Are you more apoUtical? Or non-poUtical?
K-Yes, now, but condhionaUy so, withm Umits. I didn't used to be. I was also a member
of the SED and I did h actuaUy out of conviction and I had no advantages by domg so, m
confrast I only had disadvantages...considering the money I had to pay hito h, 100 Marks,
10% let us say, from your net pay each month, which is just how h started. Then h led to
sharply cuttmg mto your free thne with meetmgs and responsibUhies. I only had
disadvantages because of h, actuaUy. But I had the conviction that with the membership
you could do your work better hi this form of organization.
B-Why did you become a member then if there were only disadvantages?
K-I just told you...because h was the best way one could work m this type of organization
for one's country. That that was misused was not something we noticed imtU later.
B-But you weren't a committed socialist were you?
K-Sure, of course. Why not?
B-You were a committed socialist?
K-Sure, otherwise I wouldn't have become a member. That's only logical.
B-Is that right?
K-LogicaUy. Otherwise it would have been a contradiction.
B-I would have done it just because h would have been an easy thing to do, somehow.
K-It wasn't an easy thing to do.
B-WeU it enables you to work more easUy, somehow.
K-Why? No.
B-They don't bother you so much at work if you're a party member, perhaps, or no?
K-No, why? It probably would have bothered me more if they'd kept asking, "When are
gomg to become a member, when are you going to become a member?' That would not
have been the criterium.
B-Did you perceive h aU to be grand Ulusions after the Wende?
K-As grand disUlusions?
B-Or grand disUlusions.
K-I saw a good poster m Leipzig after the Wende at an art exhiTihion. There was a
drawmg of the head of Karl Marx drawn out of Uttle flag bearers, you know, Uttle tmy
men who were bearers of the flag. And together they comprised a Uttle mosaic of the head

425
of Karl Marx. And underneath h was written: "Sony boys, h was just an idea of mme."
B-[laughter]
K-I reaUy Uked that. Somehow it was Uke a reUgion but they sold h to us as a science. And
the bad part is, we didn't notice this untU the last years. The economy wasn't running
properly and then the parUament had hs annual session and then they tried to show us how
good our economic development was, that we had a 100% growth rate and so forth, and
the West only had 5% growth, let us say. And evety average person with healthy
reasonmg abUities said, "That's vety clear when they say that the electronics grow rate is
100% and there's no elecfronics, but the growth rate was 0 and they stUl teU us h was
100%, then thmgs are clear." And m the West tf there was a high productivity rate then
and we see that h's only 5% but at an extraordmarUy high level then they, (the Party
leaders), assumed that we were stupid.,.that we were supposed to have such a high
productivity rate, yet we had next to nothmg. Such primitive thhigs„,that was afready
disUlusionmg prior to that (the Wende) and above aU that we wrote reports and said we
didn't agree with this and that h shouldn't be presented m such a primitive fashion. And
then we found out that they (the reports) were blocked at a higher level and never even
reached Party leaders. That was the system, to assume that we were stupid. That was no
longer good then.
B-The equipment you had avaUable or that was avaUable m sports science was pretty
advanced. The equipment which you now have in Schifferstadt, where you can slow a fihn
down and analyze each movement more closely on computer, and print h out, what you
do now m Schifferstadt, did you have such a level of advancement then?
K-Certamly. Of course. We had our own research and development department in BerUn,
the F and E poshion, or m our insthute, [we had] our own development department,
mechanics, manufacturing, electronics, which were aU pretty super and did the thhigs or
had contact to other firms such as Jena, the Carl Zeiss firm which worked whh the
Russian, that is, the Soviet armaments, and made special electronic laser techniques for
rockets. They buUt some special things for us with thefr know-how for the throwing of
the javeUn to measure the speed. So we had pretty...
B-...pretty advanced technology.
K-Yes. Yes and we certainly used h, by aU means.
B-Nearly to the level that you have now?
K-On the other hand we had, we'd have to say, cameras from the '50's or '60's which
were no longer good enough for our purposes so later, that must have been in the 80's, we
had other cameras, American high speed cameras, purchased from photosonic. IPL, for
example, is what they were caUed. Those were cameras which were hung on steel to see
how the throws were done and such. You could do a thousand photos or more with them.
B-And they purchased them vdth the Uttle foreign cunency that was avaUable...
K-Precisely.
B-And that was such an accompUshment that they could have such expensive cameras.
K-Exactly.
B-AU this computer technology, was that avaUable for your stafif? Such as what you had?
K-It developed later than m the West, but then vety rapidly.

426
B-In the'80's? Early'80's?
K-Middle '80's.
B-Middle '80's. How would have thhigs proceeded? Do you think the East Germans
would have
kept pace with things or do you think h would have decUned?
K-In sports or what?
B-Yes.
K-I thought poUticaUy it would have been Uke m Rumania. Thmgs were so...because the
problems conthiued to get worse poUticaUy and they never got resolved because the
economy never unproved and there was more and more dissatisfection, more people
wanted to hmnigrate but they couldn't. So with pressure...only pressure could mamtain
thmgs, Uke m Rumania.
B-LUce the cunent situation in Rumania?
K-No, Uke h was then in Rumania...with civU war condhions.
B-No, I mean in the reahn of sports.
K-Yes and because of aU this, then I esthnate that this would have had an effect on sports,
naturaUy...that h then, I don't know how things would have worked out. It was difficult.
BREAK HERE
B-You defected and came back,
K-Yes,
B-I didn't know that.
K-Yes, many accepted h and I get along with them to this day. Many did not accept this
and wonder why I was so stupid as to come back.
B-I'm amazed that you didn't end up m prison. Weren't you penaUzed somehow?
K-Yes.
B-What did they do to you for defecting?
K-Ok, I was put m another department. I wasn't aUowed to work with the athletes
anymore because I was no longer worthy, so to speak.
B-You were no longer at the FKS (Institute for Research for Physical Culture and
Sports)?
K-Yes, yes, but h only lasted another year anyway.
B-That was in '88 that you defected?
K-It was over then anyway. And then, of course, I was expeUedfromthe Party. Ha, ha,
ha...[laughter] h was no longer a problem for me anymore. I didn't need to worry about
that anymore. A lot of people wrestled with thefr conscience as to whether or not to leave
[the Party]...that was tough.
B-Did you teU yourfemUythat you were gomg to defect?
K-No, you couldn't do that. No.
B-Did they exert any pressure on your wife?
K-Sure, of course.
B-But you caUed herright?From outside the countty to teU her that you had defected?
K-Yes, yes, of course.
B-Wasn't she shocked? [laughter]

427
K-CertahUy.
B-Then she got a vishfromthe Stasi right away, or what?
K-Sure, logicaUy,
B-Did she have problems then at work?
K-No, no. She couldn't do anything about h.
B-And what happened to your kids, did anythmg happen to them? Your daughter was at a
sports school right?
K-Yes.
B-Was she thrown out?
K-No, no.
B-Nothing happened to them?
K-I was back again. Everythmg was ok,
B-How long were you gone?
K-One weekend,
B-That's it? (Laughs),
BREAK HERE
B-I noticed m these books that you have by some Americans that they also have macro
cycles, micro cycles,,,
K-Yes, graduaUy they've taken on some of the concepts of the East Germans.
B-Was that adoptedfromthe East Germans?
K-Yes, of course.
B-Those were orighiaUy East German ideas, with the macro cycles and the micro cycles?
K-Yes, clearly.
B-That's mteresthig,
K-There were some important Soviet sports scientists too: (names listed are unclear).
They did a good deal of important thhigs in that area and these ideas stem predominantly
from them.
B-And what they did with the knees whh the electrodes and the electrical waves they'd
send through the knees so that there would be the greatest possible amount of blood
cfrculation in the knees, so that healing would be quicker.
K-The electro-stimulation camefromthem?
B-Yes, and there was somethmg else which the East Germans adaptedfromthe Russians
and that was some kmd of electrical sthnulus to provoke the musclefibresto grow as fest
as possible. And they determined that they could do that not only for recovety from
mjuries but also so that not only were they acceleratmg the recovery rate, but also
preventmg thefr conditionmg levelsfromdecUning.
K-What is that? Electro-sthnulation? I don't know if that's what that was or somethhig
else.
B-Did you ever know that the athletes had to tum m blood and urine spechnens before
they were aUowed to leave for any compethion m some foreign country?
K-No, h wasn't untU '88 that Ifirstleamed that.
B-'88? That is that they weren't aUowed to leave the countty if there was any khid of
poshive resuh. And if there was a married couple, both of whom were athletes, and both

428
had strong medal chances, only one would be aUowed to go.
K-Yes, that's right. Because the risk was too great that one would defect.
B-Better [for the govemment] to sacrifice one medal than to risk that both athletes would
defect.
K-Yes, that's right.
B-Were you aware that such things happened?
K-Not dfrectly, no. But h doesn't surprise me that they did such thhigs.
B-For which system would you rather work. East or West?
K-Oh let me see, personaUy, the cunent system is vety good.
B-In sphe of the successes of the East Gennan system?
K-You can ask the question, but the answer naturally, weU you have to look at this: what I
can do now, I leamed in the East[em] system. I would never have achieved h m the
West[em] system,
B-Why not?
K-Because it's way too primitive. It never would have happened here. The closeness I
have to sports, it never would have happened here. I would have been a coirqiletely
different person hi respect to my fimdamental attitudes and my world view.
B-You said to me beforehand that the reason why they had such success is that you work
dfrectfy closely with the athletes...
K-Of course.
B-...and because they could put theoty dfrectly into practice.
K-That was the phUosophy over there.
B-Why then isn't that prevalent here?
K-WeU, h wouldn't work over here. That phUosophy wouldn't work here.
B-But you'd rather work here? You'd rather work in this system?
K-Yes, because I have, naturaUy, much more freedom over here.
B-...to travel abroad?
K-For example, no problems in the social cfrcumstances. I can buy what I want to. I can
buy what I want to eat. I can travel wherever I want to. The chUdren can develop
themselves as they want to. There's no pressures whatsoever. It just depends upon you
what you make of yourself.
B-Has that aU been taken just for granted, through thne?
K-Yes, yes, very quickly. We enjoy h though, naturaUy, because we were accustomed to
somethmg else. That's why we can treasure h so.
B-Has h become just taken for granted?
K-Yes, yes of course. In Leipzig you can buy anytiimg you want too, that's not a problem
It used to be that you could get bananas twice a year: at the FaU expo in Leipzig and then
when the chUdren were Uttle and they'd get a certam certificate for medical reasons.
B-The athletes always mentioned that. They had good food and they had bananas. They aU
remembered that they had had bananas.
K-Yes, yes. See you can ask that question, but h cannot be so dfrectly answered, for this
system or that system.
B-...but StUl they were more successfiU and you stUl prefer workmg for tiie West?

429
K-WeU, that's now. But you don't know how everythmg develops. 1 went to Moscow for
three years and a coUeague of mine went to An^rica. He did pure science over there and
we did appUed science. But m thefinalanalysis, h was morefruhfiUfor me than h was for
him. And so, hi that respect, these elements caimot be achieved in this West[em]
system...maybe in big mdustty they work shnilarly, that is, more practice oriented with the
appUcation of developmental theoty because h brings more money...you know and they'd
shorten the develophig time and get more profit. And that's how it was with us, because
we wanted to accelerate the athletic performance as best as possible. Theframersknew
what kind of work was mvolved. The athlete on the one hand wasfree,but then he has to
have an awareness of the trainmg and not vety many athletes made h.
B-Was there a surplus of scientists m your area?
K-No. No, there was no surplus. There was just as many as we needed.
B-Everyone did thefr job and could have carried on.
K-WeU, if someone wasn't there, then they were missed. There was no surplus. It was aU
precisely planned.
B-Good, is there somethhig else you'd Uke to say?
K-Many thanks for the opportunity to have this interview!

430
 APPENDIX B
INTERVIEW WITH
UDO BEYER

431
 Interview with Udo Beyer
Shotput Olympic Champ, Olympic Bronze Medalist
World Record holder, European Champ
Active as a world elite athlete from 1975-1992
March 20,1997, Potsdam at Mr. Beyer's Travel Bureau
Interviewed, Transcribed and Translated by Barbara Cole

U=Udo Beyer; B=Barbara; E=Mr. Beyer's Employee

(The first few opening statements were unrecorded.)

U-An unknown dmg-mentioned hi Berendok's book. We tested h and h didn't work. The
performance I brought forth was due to opthnal medical care and...
B-You've never been doped?
U-The concept "never doped"? This concept if you look at the tenn nanowly then every
athlete is doped. The medication we took was certamly on the border of legaUty. Ok, this
was the "geschickte Anwendung" (clever appUcation) of medication. More hnportant than
the muscle buUdmg by preparations was the psychological care and the reconstmction of
trainmg so that one could relatively easUy reassume a (heavy) work (trammg) load. That
was actuaUy the great mystery of the system You can take as much medichie as you want,
but if you're a poor athlete, then you'U remam a poor athlete.
B-But that says somethhig when you see that percentage wise. The East Germans were 11
thnes better than the Russians and 12 times better than the Americans.
U-The East Germans were 12 times more knowledgeable than the Americans.
B-That rests on...
U-...the whole system You have to look at the entfre system You can't let go of certam
processes. It was thus, for example, that when a West German asked me how I tramed, I
told him everythmg! If another foreign athlete would have foUowed this regime they
would have coUapsed. One has to whness the [entfre] process which started with me at
age 13.
B-Thirteen years old you started?
U-With the training, yes.
B-Were you also m a KJS?
U-Yes, m a KJS.
B-Were you selected as a chUd?
U-Yes, this selection criteria did not exist anywhere else in the world. These sports
schools, the training methodology which we used to bring forth performance, we were
graduaUy buUt up, graduaUy prepared for a work load which in 2-3 years one could not
have home as the body normaUy would not have endured it. And so there existed this
continual process which started in one's earUest years. Then, say, after 6 or 7 years came
this amazing perfonnance. You can not frace this back to any kmd of forbidden, mfracle
pUls. What was going on in the GDR was m use worldwide. And that's why when I read a
book by Mrs. Berendok which says that that kind of performance was not doable without
steroids, say, to throw 20 meters, then why is h doable that a Eva Wilhebn or Claudia

432
Losch can do h at 22 meters? It's not as if among the world's best in West Germany or
American that these thmgs (UUch substances) didn't exist. It was everywhere. It aU has to
do with the mteUigent appUcation of the dmgs.
B-I am constantly hearing vety different stories from West and East Germans. How were
you freated m the KJS? From the Wessies one hears, "Oh those poor chUdren, they were
heckled to perform and they were whipped into shape."
U-That's nonsense.
B-What was your experience?
U-Sports schools were specialty schools, a special school where...
B-But how were you freated?
U-Super. I would recommend this KJS experience for any chUd. Because the sports
schools were real Ufe...performance oriented.
B-CaphaUst thmkmg?
U-Yes! And that's what many eUte athletes today recommend. Many athletes say, "Oh
yes, I tram 4-5 thnes weekly." Fruitless! The fact is, that when a talented viohnist or a
musician practices 4-5 times hi the week, then they wiU be nobodies, nothing. They'U be
mediocre. That's just the way h is. Whether h's rowing or whatever...they have most
certainly trained more than one time per day.
B-And about this heckUng (of the chUcfren m the KJS)...
U-Zero heckling. None of it. It was a fact that at the KJS we had optimal education, which
was highly valued. What does one say about these ehte boarding schools? WeU endowed
parents send thefr chUdren to Switzerland where much value is placed on [private]
boardmg schools. Why is so much value placed on them?
B-Because they're the best.
U-There you have it.
B-Would you send your chUcfren to such a KJS?
U-Yes.
U+B-(together) Immediately.
U-Then, what I have to say, the self sufficiency that I have today, I was taught m these
schools. You had to thmk on a self sufficient basis afready at age 13-14 years old. How
many chUdren can think mdependently today at 13-14 years of age?
B-None. And you are completely enthusiastic with the khid of care you received there (at
the KJS)?
U-Yes. It was a medical, educational, athletic [comprehensive system]...and let's see, the
tramer, the tramer wasn't just a trainer. He was a person I could talk to about any number
of personal matters and the whole education that I enjoyed there, I must say, when we're
in [contemporary] Germany and endeavor to create an ehte athletic program, then we
cannot ignore this model.
B-Do you know that West Germans are mstituting this system?
U-No, that's somethmg new ahogether. That's completely new what one is doing [here] m
West Germany. It's ludicrous. They destroy what was there and "rediscover" h from
anew. In the FRG, these sports schools they are trymg to buUd m Bavaria or wherever
these models are bemg buUt...what do you say to that? The chUdren are whipped mto

433
shape. They subordhiate themselves to this because they want to accompUsh somethhig,
because they want to rise above the average.
B-Many say the GDR's KJS's were an island of capitaUsm m sociaUsm
U-SociaUsni...that was capitaUsm m sociaUsm. It was a hard core, performance oriented
system. No perfonnance, no money. It's that simple.
B-Do you know that's a Uttle confiismg because I read constantly, on the one hand, m the
documents at the Federal Archive, completely, weU, what is constantly hnpressed upon the
reader, was how the poUtical education is to motivate the athlete [to higher perfonnance
levels.] Did you personaUy ever feel yourself to be motivated by the poUtical education?
U-No.
B-Did you have any such poUtical education?
U-Of course I received poUtical education.
B-And a lot?
U-Just the normal amount. Once a week we had a class of poUtical education, whatever
you want to caU h, where we went m to process the material. But I must say, the real
motivation came through the perfonnance which one produced one's self Or rather, what
one became as a result of performance, so h was pure caphaUstic mstincts that I had. If I
throw further, I get more money, I'U get a car quicker, I'U get an apartment quicker.
B-...And a better bigger apartment, for example.
U-Yes. It was that shnple. Those are the motivatmg fectors.
B-But you never heard, you never heard: "If you don't take these dophig substances, then
you're flymg out of this system." You never heard this.
U-Ummm. Be careful. It is was the case that there were different programs operatmg also
in the GDR. And I didn't participate in aU of them.
B-Which ones, for example?
U-That I rejected certain medications. There were certamly problems with that.
B-You rejected some of them?
U-Yes, because I didn't want to take them.
B-And what did the people say to you?
U-There were angry discussions because of h. But because I was good (at my sport), I
could afford to do this.
B-What kind of success have you had?
U-I was Olympic champ, world record holder, European champ, oh everything.
B-You were World Champ?
U-No, no. I was Olympic Champ m 1976.
B-That was in...
U-...in Montreal. From this poshion, one could take a stance, as Olympic Champ, that the
average athlete could not take. How thhigs went for other [athletes], I can't say, because I
was predominantly concemed with my own affafrs. ActuaUy what happened left and right
of me did not interest me at aU.
B-How long did you cany on rejectmg these pUls? You said...
U-It wasn't just pUls. They were shots, the devU only knows what aU there was. There
was, for example, vitamm B17. We tested h and h didn't produce any resuhs, at least not

434
for me. And then I didn't take h anymore. I just wrote somethmg down [on the records
we kept]. But to ascertam this system on the basis of pUls alone, then evctyone misses the
whole pomt.
B-Ok, you don't feel as if you were treated badly....at no thne [did you feel] as if you were
freated Uke a guinea pig.
U-No, no except for the vitamm B17.
B-You didn't even know what h was you were taking did you?
U-In that case, I didn't know what h was I took.
B-You were simply given pUls and...
U-Yes, we were supposed to test h.
B-Have you ever been tested poshive [for UUch substances]*?
U-No.
B-Dr. Sphzer is responsible for the entfre doping files-and, of course, the most unportant
ones from this thne period. He's employed at the University of Potsdam. He beUeves that
m the next two years or so that somewhere m the neighborhood of 200 to 400 former
GDR athletes wiU die prematurely. What do you thmk of that?
U-No. I don't beUeve h.
B-And if h were tme? Would that then be proof enough for you that you were used for
poUtical purposes?
U-No, because evety athlete who is, let us say, eighteen years old, knows what is gomg on
with hhnself You can't just say, everythmg was "ordered". Whether 300 or 400 athletes
die m the near fiiture, ok then, you're going to die automaticaUy at 70 anyway, but...
B-No. He meant they'd be m thefr mid 30's and 40's.
U-Then I'd have to say that many thhigs happen in many societies, or in aU societies,
where many do not know what has happened to them...not only athletes, but other people
where more is done to them.
B-There is an American [Olympic athlete, Harold ConnoUy] who gave a testhnony m the
early 1970's before Congress, he mentioned that not only he hhnself, but that among the
American athletes, doping was practiced on a wide scale basis. Would that justify h to you
if h came out that the East Germans were [also] doped?
U-The final proof was the doping control whether one doped or not. And so long that that
has not been proven, I cannot say: he doped and he doped.
B-They can't prove that now...
U-I can't assert h. He doped and he doped. How then? I can't say, "He's a thief and looks
Uke one. He could only be a thief because I myself stole once." That's nonsense. It doesn't
work that way.
B-Yeah, ok. Back to this theme or topic, sport for poUtical purposes...that sport is....
U-...always poUtical
B-You can't separate sports from poUtics.
U-You can't separate h at aU. One does sport m a society, for a society. If a West German
stands on the victor's stand, they play the German national anthem for Germany, not the
personal song for Mr. MUler Sunshine.
B-But somehow I find h fiinny and even also contradictory that on the one hand one

435
spoke constantly of sociaUsm that that is aU for the weU-bemg of sociaUsm and actuaUy
they used caphaUstic motivational methods...
U-Yes, of course.
B-...m order to prove tiiat sociaUsm is superior to caphaUsm. That's a contradiction isn't
h?
U-AU of Ufe is a contradiction. (Laughter). It's tme. Look, you could teU me, "The
poUtics of Texas are super."
B-It isn't though, that's why I'm movhig away! (Laughter).
U-You could argue this poUticaUy, and evctyday we could have a class session on this. Do
you thmk then that I'd be a better athlete or that I'd throw the shot put fiuther?
B-That's my pomt...
U-But if you told me, if you'd just throw that [shot put] one half of a meter fiuther, then
you'U get this and this and this...
B-Then you'U do h!
U-You could teU me about the wonderflU poUtics of America's system for three hours a
day (laughter), and h won't motivate me to throw any further. It's that shnple. Motivation
is not fiction. It's tangible. It's what I can touch. Whether h's m the youth branch or
trahimg for the Olympic Games....that's actuaUy the biggest motivation there is...takmg
part m the Olympic Games...and then what you get for h. That comes afterwards. Do you
thmk if I said to Boris Becker how wonderfiil h is m Germany that he'U play better? But if
he gets a better contract, he'U exert hhnself
B-Now as far as concerns as to how sport is used for poUtical purposes...and m aU the
documents one reads constantly from aU the authorities, weU, they evaluated h: the
Olympic Games, the resuhs of the athletes, a considerable portion of that was what kind of
effect the poUtical education had [on athletic perfonnance] and they had to mcrease h and
motivate them more and more with emotional poUtical speeches...
U-Those people who wrote the evaluations have to make a Uving too. The water cooked
in a big pot, this sport busmess, and everyone mvolved had to justify thefr existence. So
the person who Uves m North, South, East and West is, in thefr most internal being, the
same.
B-That's tme. I thought h was nonsense too, and I read books from most of the GDR
historians right now, and Dr. Wonneberger, I don't know if you know hhn, has written
many books on this and he was of the opinion that sport was an hnportant tool to create
the socialist personaUty. And I ask myself the whole time, which athlete says to himself^
"I'm going joggmg for the good of the sociaUst society, or I'm gomg out to unprove my
sociaUst personaUty." That's aU nonsense isn't h? That's no proof that I'm a better
American because I go swimmhig.
U-I'd be careful there..,.I don't quite agree with you. It does play a part. It doesn't mean
maybe that you're a better American that you go swimmhig. "I'm sfrengthening my body."
I don't want to stand outside of the state, and we can't separate sport from poUtics at aU.
These are things that always run paraUel You can't separate h.
B-But you're not motivated by the ideology.
U-No, no. NormaUy those people who come from [a system of] sociaUsm shouldn't be

436
able to sprmg or jump.
B-...but so clever and scientific as the East Germans are and were, why didn't they see
that aU these poUtical speeches didn't reaUy do anythmg for them? And they were fuUy
conscious that h was caphaUstic motivational principles that drove them further and not
socialistic ideology.
U-It (the sports system) was not typical for sociaUsm.
B-I'd Uke to hear agam for the purpose of the cassette, you were World Champ?
U-No, I was Olympic champ, world record holder and European champ.
B-And in which years?
U-From 1975 to 1988.
B-Thfrteen years you had such success. Then back to the doping history. You didn't know
what you took...
U-On everythmg, I don't know exactly. On many things, I know precisely. But on
everythhig, I don't know exactly.
B-Did you ever notice any changes hi your body? Or did you....
U-Some medications made the trainmg easier. And if the trammg was easier, than one
could train more, and thereby I got better.
B-Did you notice any long term effects?
U-No.
B-You mentioned previously this vhamm B 17 which you rejected...
U-Yes. I didn't notice any effects. Why should I take h?
B-Yes. You don't beUeve that the East Germans were used as "guinea pigs" for poUtical
purposes?
U-If you want to see it as that: we were, as athletes, misused so that we would perform in
order to represent the state better in the world, certainly. If you want to interpret it as that.
B-If you could do it aU over again, would you do it?
U-Yes.
B-You said previously that you never wanted to leave your famUy. If you had had the
chance to leave with the famUy, would you have done that? Whh the whole famUy?
U-No. A famUy is, for me, not just my wife and chUcfren...
B-But the parents...
U-Parents, sibUngs...
B-If you could have had them aU with you, would you have done h, if you could have
done h, I mean?
U-No, no. Look, the famUy is just one matter. Another matter is the envfronment m which
one Uves. They would have had to have had the Wende 20 years ago if I wanted to take
everythmg whh me. It's shnply not possible. I'm shnply a homebound person. This is my
home. And I won't leave h. I could have left for somewhere else at least 15 thnes. I
traveled at least that much a year. And m the poshion I was m with my athletic
performance, there would have been certam poUtical channels whereby I could have had
my famUy foUow me. I just didn't want to do h. It was a question of respectabUity. Then I
didn't do sport only for my famUy. I didn't do sport only for Hen Honecker. I did sport
for the 17 mUUon people who Uved here. For them h was a pomt of identification. As

437
athletes, weU, they identified with us. We didn't Ue awake at three o'clock m the morning
m 1983 because we were forced to go compete m the mtemational compethion m Los
Angeles. They lay awake at night, because those were our athletes. Go out and ask many
people. They'U teU you we hated the GDR Uke the plague. But when a GDR athlete stood
on the victor's stand, and our anthem was played, then tears stood in our eyes. We were
proud. You have to see that. One cannot simply say...take this and take this [from the
GDR sports system] at the univershies. You have to see the whole thmg. And then you
can understand quite a bit. Life m the GDR was, what one says today, a "team spfrit"
situation, which we don't have anymore m contemporary Germany. We had this
communal spirit of togethemess. Evctybody helped each other out. That was a pomt in the
GDR, one could say, where everybody found thefr niche. It was more groups. The
situation today is that everybody goes into thefr apartment, locks h and flunks they're the
greatest. The things that made us great, we forget...this teeim spirit. It wasn't for nothhig
that Opel is now m Eiseimach. There they are creating teams which increase thefr
productivity. It's very shnple.
B-Yes, yes. I also worked on such teams. It makes a big difference from when one simply
works alone. Don't you think, though, that h is a Uttle unbeUevable that the East Germans
were 11 thnes better than the Americans? Or 12 times better than the Russians? It would
have been a Uttle more credible if they would have been just 2 or 3 times better, that's
more credible. But 11 thnes better, or 12 thnes better?
U-That says nothhig. The medication which was there, existed throughout the world. It
was not an mvention of the East Germans. That's the way h was.
B-It wasn't an mvention of the East Germans, but perhaps more thoroughly done (m the
GDR)?
U-There was a sport institute m Leipzig, Bartonietz, he worked there. Bartonietz the one
you also know. Bartonietz. He also worked at this scientific mstitute. They had many
people employed there solely to improve traming concepts, "How do we unprove framing
concepts? How do we put into effect trammg concepts?'
B-They were, to be sure, the best sports scientists in the world. They were. But 11 tunes
better? Twelve times better? That they were so good, they made themselves kckmg m
credibUity. It would have been more credible if they were just 3 times better, but 11 thnes
better or 12 thnes better?
U-Why can't that be the case? Look, America is at least 1,000 times better than Germany
at space research.
B-I thmk East Germany was more advanced m the reahn of scienccm the reahn of sports
science.
U-...at least more progressive. When I see here the trahung methods m [West] Germany, h
amazes me. Today anyone can caU themselves a shot put coach who has seen a shot put
from a distance. They've seen h on TV and now "I'm a coach." Anyone can caU
themselves a coach! EarUer (m the GDR) there was a program of studies for that. And that
program lasted 5 years, where trammg methods, scientific trainhig methods [were
studied], mcludhig the [study of the] fundamentals thereof ..h was exchanged through
various trammg methodology. What they have here today (m united Gemiany) we had

438
way back [m the GDR] 20-25 years ago.
Mr. Beyer's employee walks in with a shot put and hands it to Barbara. She laughs.
E-Have you ever seen one of these?
U-That's just a smaU one.
B-What do they weigh? [Employee hands the shot put to Barbara]. Mannn! [Laughter]
U-Five kUos.
B-Do you know what? I don't thmk I could throw this one meter.
U-You know...
B-And you know the funny story about the swimmers, whereby the tramer was asked,
why the (female) swimmers had such deep voices. He said they weren't there to smg, but
to swim.
U-That's right they shouldn't smg, they should swim.
B-I saw pictures of them m the 80's and I thought they were men, I didn't thmk they were
women, I said they were men. Then someone said to me, "No, those aren't men, they're
women."
U-Just look at the bathing suits.
Comments unclear at this point.
B-What have you done with your medals, are they at home?
U-No.
B-Are they here?
U-No, I'm not hiterested hi them.
B-Where are they?
U-Whh my parents
B-I see.
U-I have no relationship to them (the medals.) Those are past successes.
B-And why so?
U-Because they are nice memories, but you can't Uve from them. Life simply goes on. I
have to search for new goals. I can't sh down evenings and say, "Look how great h was."
That's a time that is shnply past.
B-But many athletes Uve from this past. They do h with contracts, with sports shops or...
U-That isn't the way h is with us. (Comments unclear here.)
B-WUU Bogner opened up a sports shop and he makes the clothing for aU the (German)
Olympic people.
U-Yeah, but h took him awhUe too. And he was certamly a good skier (comments
unclear) and he was more clever than most at busmess because he was always lookmg
around for new goals and did not only Uve from memories, you know? If he had only Uved
from memories, then maybe he would have had a Uttle pension with a Uttle memorial
shrine erected [with the Olympic medals]. He said simply to hhnseh", "Yes, I was good.
Now I want to be even better..." and not just Uve from what he once was. Bogner became
reaUy successfiU because he had new goals m mhid.
B-One hears m sports quite frequently, and this is a vety cleverly done, how one can
become better motivated m sports. That is a purely mental thing...goal orientation. One
shuts everything else out; one envisions each movement m advance. Were you also fihned

439
and [then] they analyzed evety movement?
U-Yes, of course. That shnply belonged to trammg, that one is fihned and analyzed. But
even if one is a solo athlete, h is more effective when one trams m a group. If, for
example, tests are done...
B-But shot put is an individual sport.
U-Yes, but how are you gomg to get motivated m trainmg if you are alone? You have to
have an opponent, with whom you gauge yourself There are always, let us say...I was
certainly the best in shot put, but there were always those who are m trahung where I was
not the best. And so I oriented myself towards those who were the best. And you can only
do that m a group. Only frammg alone? Why do so many travel to a trainmg camp? And
frain in a framing camp?
B-Yes, yes.
U-Take any athlete who trams alone for two years, isolated under optimal cfrcumstances
and he wiU accon^Ush nothmg. Judo is also an mdividual sport, or a wrestler. They stand
alone on the champion stand. But if he has no opponent m a group shuation, then he'U
never be good. It just doesn't work. It shnply doesn't work.
B-Have you also done cross framing? Do you know the term cross trahiing? You do a
wide variety of sports in order to be the best m your own sport.
U-Yes. The training had to be overseen for one year (in plans).
B-Did you have a regular trainmg plan for each year, you have to do this and this and this?
U-I had to, say in September when the training began, I would afready know how I'd be
fraiiung in July. It was also planned. Here, I have to do this and this. At this pomt, one
establishes an emphasis on conditioning, say m September, October, November. Then
came the general buUdup, then came the strength buUding, then came the specialization
buUdup where you just concentrate on the shot put technique and for every time period, h
was shnply a pyramid-buUdup. It was a ridiculously simple system, but very difficult to put
mto effect.
B-So h was difficuh...
U-Yes, you need to know that there were macro-cycles, or Olympic cycles, 4 years. This
was divided hito aimual plans. These were, m turn, divided mto monthly plans, that is 3
monthly plans which were divided mto monthly plans and these were divided into weekly
plans.
B-And then daUy also...
U-Yes, and then daUy. It always got more focused [on the daUy activities].
B-Did you also leam a profession on the side?
U-I graduated [from coUege as] a sports instmctor. (Teacher).
B-Ok. And most [athletes] studied [some kmd of profession] on the side.
U-Yes, they were either at the sports coUege or...
B-...to become sports teachers.
U-Yes, that was most certahUy a viable profession in the GDR. I finished my education,
and I also recently concluded two years of trainhig [for a new profession]. I just
underwent an educational program to be a travel agent.
B-You don't want to be employed somehow in sports?

440
U-No, there's nothmg m h. I have a famUy that I have to feed.
B-No, I mean you could teach sports here with your previous education, couldn't you?
U-No, I have a very high level of expectation. That means, you know what that is? My
demands are vety high and when I see how sport is taught m the schools, I can't do that to
myself
B-Because the level is too low? Or what?
U-It's no level at aU. That's my opmion. That's shnply past history for me, sport
mstmction. Life, real Ufe, is performance orientation. Sfrivhig upwards. Teachmg sport m
schools...that wouldn't be for me.
B-That doesn't sound sociaUst, what you're saymg! It sounds more caphahst, this way of
thinking.
U-Yes, of course! Life doesn't operate any other way. That's the way h is.
B-Did you ever teU your mstmctors m the courses m poUtical education that that doesn't
work m the reahn of sports, this sociaUst thinking?
U-Umm, the sport instmction m the GDR was at another level. (Comments unclear.)
B-But the athletes always received constant poUtical education, or not?
U-...constant poUtical education. There was poUtical education, ok. There's stUl that. It's
just caUed somethmg different. There's stUl poUtical education m the schools. PoUtical
education or some such education. It is there now as extensively as h was before. It's just
a different system.
B-But h's more a capitaUstic education, or not?
U-It's absolutely frrelevant which poUtical standpoint you teach. PoUtical education is
poUtical education, frrespective of whether it is capitalist or socialist. PoUtical education is
poUtical education.
B-But sport conesponds more to capitaUsm?
U-Yes, of course. It is performance sports.
B-Then why didn't the athletes teU that to the teachers, that "This is nonsense what is
taught to us."
U-Because we wanted our peace and quiet. (Laughter.) No, today if you don't agree with
the opmion that the teacher puts forth, and h has to do whh poUtical education, and your
own opmion is not the general "vaUd" view, then you get a bad grade. It's no different
here. PoUtics! There is no apoUtical sports, and poUtics can Uve weU without sports, but
sports is always dependent upon the state and at that moment sports can never remam
apoUtical. Without the support (sponsorship) of the state, h wouldn't have happened.
B-In the thne before the Wende, that is, m the GDR thne, they kept files on everyone.
Have you ever read your file?
U-No.
B-Would you be surprised if you read somethmg in h about dopmg?
U-No. I caimot be surprised anymore. I know my own Ufe.
B-Wouldn't you Uke to read h?
U-No.
B-And why not?
U-Because I Uve now. I have my own envfronment. I have an mtact envfronment. If I

441
should read these files...look...
B-...the past is unalterable.
U-...and h wiU always remain as such. What wiU 1 change? And what should I read m h?
That he wrote such and such about me? Absurd. There have been so many testhnonies that
have been misused. How can I mterpret those things? Did he do that freely? Did he shit on
me? Did he have to write those thhigs (under coercion)? How shaU I diBferentiate them? I
can't do it. And look, as athletes we had, in our envfronment, a different relationship. We
knew weU, among ourselves, what we could say to who.
B-Was Klaus actuaUy your coach? You've had many coaches? Did you have many
coaches?
U-I've had one coach, one real coach...with...Brandt... I trained with once.
B-Are there many athletes in this area?
U-I have contact with Timmermann (comments unclear). I'm in a dififerent branch now, m
the travel agent branch and I have to concentrate on this. I'm interested m soccer and
regional soccer. I am certahUy uiterested in sport, but those are other side issues. Maybe at
the most I might watch shot put, now and again. Look, m this Une of thought when I see
the Americans and how we were hi compethion, we were absolutely hardcore opponents
in competition, but afterwards we reaUy had great discussions together. We'd go have a
beer together. We'd do it secretly, but we'd do h. The EngUsh that I speak today, I
leamed that from Feuerbach, MacWUkins. Olfield. I leamed h aUfromthe Americans.
That's one of the first thmgs that my coach told me when I started to tram, he had also
been a participant in the Olynpic Games, that the most sportsmanlike conduct that you
wiU ever come across wiU be from the Americans.
B-The most sportsmanlUce? Why is that?
U-Because that's the way h was. They [the American athletes] can accept [good]
perfonnance from others. And that is how I got to know them.
[Comments unclear here.]
B-You stopped competmg because...
U-Because I was too old. Very shnple.
B-And you wanted to do somethhig different?
U-No, I stopped compethig at the age of 37 or 38, that was 1992.
B-Afready after the Wende?
U-Yes. Then m the Wende thne period I...
B-You were m Barcelona?
U-Yes, I did badly there. I actuaUy did sports tiiere Uke they say m Gemiany today,
"Participation is everythmg." Lflce Mr. Coubertm said, 'Tarticipation is everytiung." But
that was for me...
B-...for many athletes that is not everythmg, (le.), participation.
U-It's not decisive at aU.
B-Winning is decisive.
U-That's what is decisive. That's Ufe. Whmmg...that's why I did ehte sports. Because I
wanted to win. I want to be first. I want to be the best, not the second, the thfrd or the
fourth or the fifth.

442
B-Participation is not decisive.
U-I want to win. And m Barcelona I did badly and...
B-...and if you go m with a different attitude then you can't win, can you?
U-No. It just doesn't work that way. It just doesn't happen. If you're happy with fifth
place, then you'U only trahi that you achieve the fifth place.
B-I remember hearing an athlete say once, "There is no second place or sUver medal for
me. There's only first loser and second loser and thfrd loser and then there's a winner.
There's only one wiimer."
U-Yes, yes.
B-And sUver medal actuaUy means "first loser."
U-Yes. Yes. I lost, with the second place.
BREAK HERE
U-The GDR sports system is depicted solefy on the whole medical issue. That's nonsense.
This GDR sports system was so muhifaceted. And I am stUl of the opmion that there are
many elements of h that we could and must assume (m united Gemiany). Look, as good
as the track and field athletes are (m Gemiany now) they've never been this bad. They've
sunk mto mediocrity. (Comments unclear.) For the amount of money that is, let us say,
pUfered there, nothing worth whUe results from h. Any normal enterprise which wants to
maintahi fiscal viabiUty has to be able to compete.
B-I thmk of such athletes as Detlef Schrempf, basketbaU player with the Seattle
Supersonics. You know him? They beat the Chicago BuUs twice last July. A German on
one of the best basketbaU teams in the US, that is mdicative of somethhig. Would you say
that there are certain cultural characteristics which the Germans have which make them
better athletes? Say, perhaps, cultural characteristics which the East Germans captured?
These cultural characteristics, say, such as they are more scientific, more thorough, more
comprehensive? That the Germans are perhaps more motivated in some respects?
U-Yes, yes, look, but be careful.
B-So perhaps there are certain cultural characteristics which make Germans better
athletes.
U-... It is tme, that the GDR did this system very scientificaUy, reaUy thoroughly scientific,
down to the smaUest detaU, you know. Leave nothmg to chance.
B-Sport is also very much a mental-spfritual condition. It is not just a matter of (physical)
strength.
U-No (you're right.)
B-It's a spfritual matter and cultural one as weU.
U-I haven't gotten quite that far. Let us take, for example, motivation. Even a Uttle
motivation. Among ourselves, we had so much motivation, to get just a better apartment.
Those are aU things which we...
B-Ok, but back to the German theme, the German culture. Because they did everythmg so
thoroughly and did everythhig so scientificaUy, that is German, isn't h?
U-Yes, yes, that is German.
B-Klaus Bartonietz told me once that what Americans do [in sports and trahung] is more a
matter of feeUng.

443
U-The German does have certain cultural characteristics. I think of this trait of taking the
thing conqjrehensively.
B-The whole system is viewed from beghining to end, more comprehensively,
scientificaUy, how h should aU look.
U-Yes, yes, viewing h with perspective. Thmking beyond just today. You know what I
mean? Don't just analyze h for the moment, but for what h is now and what h wiU be.
B-That's what you notice for example in German poUtics, how the people wiU aU be taken
care of when they retfre. Very comprehensively and thoroughly, more so, I thmk, than the
Americans. WoiUd you like to add anything?
U-No.
B-Thank you vety much.

444
 APPENDIX C
INTERVIEW WITH
WALDEMAR CIERPINSKI

445
 Interview with Waldemar Czierpinski
Two time Olympic Champ in Marathon 1976,1980
At Mr. Czierpinski's sporting goods shop HaUe, June 7,1997
Interviewed, Transcribed and Translated by
Barbara Cole

B=Barbara; W=Waldemar

B-You were actuaUy one of the most successfiil atiUetes from GDR, you were four thne
athlete of the year, two thne gold medaUst, you defeated Frank Shorter.
Comments unclear.
W-...I was not the most successful athlete, perhaps for long distances, but many other
athletes have achieved far more gold medals at the Games than I did. I admit I was one of
the most famous, due to the relationship of people to the marathon hself and the 100
meter run.
B-Marathon was actuaUy a solo person's sport, that is, you either tramed alone, or did you
have a trainer?
W-NaturaUy, as h was m the GDR, we did sports m school then afternoons through a
factory sports club or a community sports club. And then at a certahi thne period (unclear)
one would have supervised activities.
B-and were you selected for a KJS?
W-yes, h was very shnple. We had our school companions who we competed with, then
there were city championships, then regional Spartakiada, (the region was a large area
around the city), then there was district Spartakiada. (Comments unclear). Then if one had
proven one's self, you know aU this. Then you had to have reaUy good results and then
one must also have, in addition (unclear) m this time, when one quaUfied, then one could
go to the larger Spartakiada. And m this manner, then there was a selection of athletes for
certain types of sports. I stEirted with boxing, then I did gymnastics, I was for the
community the "Angler" (fisherman?) [unclear], then I found my way into track through
these stages at 16.1 had afready done sports in the lower areas, [comments unclear]. But
at this time it was solely just for fim. That was a way just to have fiin, for movement and
shnply the joy of playmg soccer with others and to compare myself with others. Then
came the qualification with the championships and then came the query as to whether I
wanted to go to the KJS. Which I also did and I was 16 at that thne.
B-At the age of 16 you went to a KJS?
W-[comments unclear] Yes. There we did general track and field activities. Which means I
did everything from 400 meters to long distances. I did everythmg. I trahied there 2 years
under thefr supervision, h was a general traming, which I had to do before I came to the 4
discipUne trahung. When I achieved aU the respective pomts [m these discipUnes], then I
was aUowed to strengthen myself in one special discipline.
B-And what did you have to do in the 4 discipUnes?
W-I had to do broad jump, hurdles, shotput and [comment unclear] certahi criteria must
be achieved. That means one had an education also that one had to be good at.

446
B-What did you thmk of the whole experience m the KJS? They were pretty carefiU and
nurturing, weren't they? They cared for aU your problems. You received special nutritional
diets there. The schooUng was even oriented around the trammg thnes, first came sports,
then education. Isn't that right?
W-[Comments unclear] I can only speak for the track experience, because if you look at
the gymnasts or the swimmers, we started with the middle 7* class for track athletes on
this O S track before we trahied so intensively. Whh the gymnasts, they started two years
earUer. When the swimmer was m the pool we were stUl m schoolThe track athlete
needed longer to tram at an older age, so h was a Uttle bh better than for the gymnast or
swimmer. So when the track athlete comes mto this cadre system in the 7* class, they are
a Uttle bh more mature then the chUcfren in gymnastics who had to work very
hard.{comments unclear}. When I thmk about h, the average chUd has two hours free
anyway and they have so much fun at movement, [comments unclear]. If a chUd is m
school 3 hours then 2 hours sport, then three hours school then two more hours
sport... [comments unclear]
B-Ok, can you teU me about your daUy schedule m the school and how that went?
W-It's been a long thne smce I've been m school. With me what was decisive was that I
came from a vety smaU vUlage and then I had a 3 km walk to school. If one is bom in
1950, that was shortly after the war m Germany, so I came to the school with a bicycle
and was the oldest of the kids. I had sbc other sibUngs, h was also shortly after the war and
so, I didn't have an easy chUdhood. What came later at the age of 16 to go to the KJS was
for me alone an immense burden removed because it was only 24 marks then, I didn't have
to pay for anything else. My sports clothes were paid for. So h was a cUmb up the social
ladder.
B-A climb up the social ladder...
W-A strong cUmb up the social ladder. Then I got up at 7:00 and parked myself in the
street cars and went to school aU morning and had aU aftemoon for sports. That's how h
was then untU the 10* class. The whole aftemoon I did sports. Then evenings I was bh
thed. It was great fim.
B-But the KJS had a very specific schedule dichi't they?
W-Yes but not untU the 7* class, then h wasn't reaUy necessary that we had hours set free
for track. One daUy trainmg m the aftemoon was sufificient. In the 9* and 10* classes h
was different. We went to class, we took a break for trainmg and had 2-3 hours trammg
and changed right there at school and did exercises and then in the aftemoon we did
purely runnhig. Then after the 10* class I did 3 years for the Abitur, one addhional year
was granted us automaticaUy to finish school due to aU the compethions we had to attend.
And so this year was compensated us. The demands in school were made with generous
aUowances. Trammg was coordmated weU with schooUng thnewise. Up to the 7* class I
did my education on a normal basis. SchooUng was on average of 5-6 hours a day. And
trahimg was 2-3 hours a day. [comments unclear]
B-You did 5-6 hours schooUng and 2-3 hours frammg, 5 days or 6 days a week?
W-No training was everyday..
B-Evctyday? Sundays too?

447
 W-Sundays too. Sundays we tramed before noon. We went at 9am mto the woods and
then did a nice long run, say between 20 and 30 km.
B-And when did you vish your parents?
W-Somethnes I didn't go with my companions mto the woods. I'd go home on Fridays
after school and then I'd run at home. Whh runners that's very easy.
B-You probably know Ufa Pippig.
W-Uta I know vcty weU.
B-She Uves m Boulder, Colorado and I thmk she is gomg to come back to Gemiany to do
or finish up her medical studies. She trams on average (I know it m mUes not km) 180
mUes weekly m contrast to her competitors who only tram 150 mUes m the week. Did you
also train that much?
W-Yes, naturaUy, naturaUy. But when one started m sports, at that thne m the GDR one
placed considerable value on the notion and paid considerable attention that young
athletes did not overtram and trahi too mtensively because when one is older then one wUl
experience performance ambhion. That is, one has to tram more and more m order to
leam better. That doesn't happen at age 16. Everythmg has to develop properly, the
stomach, the back. I tramed 20 hours weekly m preparation for Los Angeles. After my
first Olympic gold, then I always tramed 25 hours weekly, even as chUd.
B-And you never feh Uke your body was over taxed?
W-No not witii those few hours, not at aU. But with the next Olympic Games m Moscow,
then I framed 30 hours a week.
B-Was that more than your opponents, on average?
W-Excuse me?
B-Do you think you trahied more than your opponents, on average?
W-No, I thmk that was average. When I got my second gold in Moscow at the 1980
Games, then I added an addhional 5 hours per week m order to run more km. Because the
older you get, the more exercise you need to remam supple. There are certam rules you
need to adhere to if you want to gain m strength. So on average, between 170-180 km per
week was good. I had peak thnes too when I'd do 250-80 km and I know many runners
who would run 400 km weekly. So I was there on average with the rest of the world's
eUte. PhysicaUy I was average there. But the mind, that is the 52% of athletic success, and
that has to be schooled.
B-On average the marathon runners are 35 years old and you were 30 when you achieved
your first gold medal right?
W-It aU depends on what age you start. When you want to be a marathon runner you need
to start earUer. When I started I was a middle distance runner for 10 years and ran 1500 m
to 5000 m. From 1975 I was a hurdles runner. So I was older than most (marathon)
runners. But (unclear) was much older when he won his gold.
B-What motivated you? Was h the esteem of your society? The possibiUty to travel m the
West? The feet that the successfiU athletes got cars quicker or bigger apts quicker, or was
h a purely ideological thing to prove as one was always preached to that this system was
superior to capitaUsm, or was it simply personal motivational reasons because h was fim?
What were the mam motivational reasons for you?

448
W-ActuaUy you said aU the reasons that contributed to h. There was no athlete m tiie
GDR who probably became successfiil sunply because of any one of those reasons. I
afready mentioned my pleasure m movement. I feh good domg h and h was fim. For me
that was the most unportant reason. (Unclear here). NaturaUy one was happy about other
thmgs; that you didn't have to be afraid of havmg a secure job m the fiiture. After I got my
Abitur, then I started a university studies program. Then I got support from the state and
my head was clear for sports.
B-TraveUng m the West was also an hnpulse...
W-Nattu-aUy, commg from a smaU vUlage that was a factor, but after awhUe that wouldn't
be sufficient reason for one to suffer so much, (comments here unclear)
B-You just said "suffer"...marathon runners speak often from, (I was also at one thne a
marathon runner,) a waU of pam that one must overcome.
W-If you want to adapt to a certam degree of performance then there is a certam degree
of adaptation of the body. That means runnhig a lot of kUometers and at a certam thne and
knowing that when you're tfred that you have to go fiuther. That's not always the case
though. Then comes the compethions and then you have to recover at home. It's always a
flux that you have to go through and I never have the pain Umit. I manage to come
through the pain Umits and then you come home as victor with good thnes or you stay out
for any other, say physical reasons.
B-and what was for you, the main motivational reason?
W-For me h was when I was a smaU chUd growing up m a viUage, and there were only
two TVs m the vUlage, and I was aUowed to watch the Rome Olympic Games at a fiiend's
and they showed this runner with sweat drippmg off his nose with the clock m the
background. I've had this hnage m my thoughts and this has been with me for years. Since
then I wanted to hnitate him. How far can one go in terms of what that man achieved?
Smce then I wanted to emulate him and see if I could achieve what that man achieved and
that was for me, personaUy the main theme...to test one's self, personaUy, against the best
runners in the world, how far one could come against them. That was the mam goal
predommantly, to get to the Olympic Games.
B-Have you experienced any long term effects such as knee problems or bad problems
with your ankles?
W-No, I have in the meanthne run over 200,000 km m my Ufe and I have had one
operation on my foot on the tendon, h needed to be pared down because there was a
(unclear) and there was a stone that had mbbed on h and naturaUy I've had other smaU
problems which usuaUy do arise. (Comments here unclear). In the meanthne I have no
pains (knock on wood) and I stiU run today (comments unclear). I was nominated for Los
Angeles (m 1984), smce then I contmue to tram, I play soccer two times a week, go
nmnmg and continue to tram to stay fit and to have fim. Once a year I run a marathon.
This year I'U participate in the BerUn marathon.
B-Certainly next year when they wiU have the 25* year celebration, you'U be there too,
won't you?
W-Yes, probably. But I just run a marathon for fim, I don't do h anymore on the border
where I teU myself that I have to suffer...that is stUl for me the mam reason that you lead

449
your body to a certam Umit hi order to test h. I'm gettmg close to 50 so that doesn't
happen as easy as h used to but I don't want to miss out on runiung.
B-You always mentioned as aforestated, that you received poUtical education and one was
not aUowed to seperate sport from poUtics in your thinking. One was to do sports for
poUtical reasons. You were the example for society, you were supposed to represent the
socialist personaUty. Did you see h as such? Were you somehow poUticaUy motivated?
Was that a particularly strong emphasis from your perspective?
W-I was raised m those thnes and automaticaUy was part of this GDR development. I was
bom m 1950 as a chUd from a large famUy and I was weU taken care of by the GDR then
there were many measures taken for largefemUies,and m this respect I Uked it that much
was done (for such famUies). NaturaUy, I couldn't as a chUd or as an eUte athlete look at
the poUtical situation conyiletely as h was. I didn't have much of a relationship to h, but
evetyone knows that the athletes especiaUy had a certam poUtical status, but I personaUy
was drawn by the difficulty of the athletic success, the discipUne of the marathon
(comments unclear). Because I came from a large famUy and had the opportunity to
become an eUte athlete, then I have to say that today I am grateful to this state.
(Comments unclear.) I am thankful for the opportunity which in other countries may not
have occuned. (Comments unclear.)
B-ActuaUy, most of the athletes who are successful at least this is tme in the US, are
those who come from the middle class or from poorer situations because I beUeve the
chUcfren from such cfrcumstances are more goal oriented, more motivated, aren't they?
ChUcfren from weU-to-do famUies, they have the opportunities to do many things and thus
they are not forced, hi thefr own flunking, to be so goal oriented.
W-That's why aU fectors meet together somehow, that m the GDR sports h made a
difference in sports and among the people. And I personaUy would Uke to see in the social
reahns that these factors are not pushed aside anymore. For me these things were
necessary for my very existence and without these social realms which were necessary for
such a large famUy and which were put hito effect for sports, then I would not sh here
today [as a two-thne Olympic gold medaUst]. In this respect, the social reahns suffer
today, at least for sports. (Comments unclear.) In the 1980's the motive was not these
other thmgs you spoke of traveUng etc.
B-Rather?
W-I thmk h was the personal desfre for the chaUenge of sports as the dommathig factor, at
least that's tme among aU the athletes that I know.
B-Did you ever want to flee to the West?
W-I had enough opportunity to stay m the West. But ffyou have a famUy and many
friends (m your home countty) and when you're an Olympic champ (comments unclear)
and when evcty second person says to you that they foUowed the last few stretches of the
race with tears m thefr eyes (comments unclear) when you have this pressure of feeUng a
strong connection to the populace then there is no such motive.
B-Yes, that is not a bad pressure to be under, that is, pressure in a bad sense. It was of
course a great honor. What was the first joumey Uke for you m the West? What did you
thmk of it?

450
W-My first frip was outside of the countty and was in the East ward dfrection and there I
got acquamted with my first sports comrades. The first trip m the West was (comments
unclear) This is so long ago. Most impressive was the consumer [atmosphere], above aU.
B-The high standard of Uving, above aU.
W-As I was m Paris and London I was hnpressed with the advertisements. (Comments
unclear) As a marathon runner I prefened the quiet of the woods and so here I was
more... h wasn't my thing.
B-Yes, but you've become a good busmessman m the meanthne. That's m opposhion to
this socialist preachmg that you always heard.
W-Look, yes, we have two different systems. As an athlete we had the social system
advantage and could use these advantages for athletic success. Athletic success is, first
and foremost a personal matter. (Comments unclear.) But whoever buUds hhnseffup and
translates that mto action, but doesn't do h for themselves, they'U never make h.
B-Long distance runiung is practicaUy a reUgion, is h not?
W-I thmk h is.
B-Body, soul and spfrit are aU intertwined, h reaUy is a reUgion. Dr. Sheehan, do you
know him? He died 3-4 years ago, famous American runner who wrote books where
running and beUefs were strongly connected.
W-Yes there are great books on this (unclear) Jim Fbcx...
B-Jhn Fbcx, yes he also died, heart attack. You weren't aUowed to have fiiends m the
West. Did you have some there anyway?
W-NaturaUy one had some close contacts. But you know this story, that at the beghining
h was very strict, one was always hiformed [upon] by the govemment. One knew that one
could not do these things, therefore when one traveled abroad (unclear) then one knew in
one's club that one could say thhigs and nothing would happen. There h was registered
and nothing would happen, the case was closed. With some people, who bad contacts, and
didn't understand the picture, they were thrown out of sports. (Comments unclear). The
question was, what could one afford to do and that h was usefliUy done. I had several
friends from the Federal RepubUc of Germany who were marathon runners (comments
unclear.) With them one naturaUy had contacts, but...
B-You weren't even aUowed to nurture the fiiendships...
W-Yes, one even had to abstam from many things (comments unclear). I had good
possibUities with Frank Shorter (to have a relationship) which for me had particular
significance, but for me was unfortunate as I was not good at EngUsh as French and not
EngUsh was my language hi school and with French I couldn't do anything. Then when
Frank Shorter and I would sh by each other and I could not exchange one word with hhn,
h was not because I dichi't want anythmg to do with hhn but because there was a language
problem (Comments unclear) I would have gladly taUced to hhn...if we had had a
translator we could have done thmgs together. (Comments unclear.) That's just how
things were.
B-You actuaUy tramed m HaUe. Weren't there problems with the afr? I heard HaUe was an
mdustrial-city.
W-Yes we have mdustrial reahns, pretty heavy even. Mostly m the South and in Leipzig

451
and h would come over from the South and m HaUe, HaUe had a westem wind most days
of the year. (Comments unclear.) I'd run m the woods. Leipzig was more burdened (by
bad afr) than HaUe. (Comments unclear). We have good conditions for runnmg. Smce the
1950s, HaUe has been a sfronghold for runners, we have world record holders, European
champs, Olympic champs (names Usted here, comments unclear). This is only possible
because we have the west Heide where we always...
B-And none of that rests on the good care you received in the sports schools?
W-Sure, that's self evident. (Comments unclear). We had the scientific center m Leipzig
and had dfrect contact to them. I'd go to the Professors who always gave us the most
state-of-the-art trainings methods, mechanical devices, even special nutrition...
B-...preventive mecUcine, massage...
W-There was no problem there. Scientists were always glad when someone practicing
sport would come to them and ask things. That was the story, h was so organized, the
GDR. When I went to Montreal, they afready knew one year hi advance when 1 would get
my massage there. Everything was organized to the maxhnum so that I could fiiUy
concentrate on my compethion. (Comments unclear.)
B-One could actuaUy take much of this (GDR sports) system and reconstitute h m the
West. What would you recommend that the West Germans emulate from the East German
system?
W-As most important I would say h's the task of the state to assume responsibiUty for the
youth, as a sponsor for performance potential with state fimdmg as everyone had in the
GDR so that evetyone has the abUity to develop thefr potential. I could have chosen at
that thne other areas as weU: math, physics, but I chose sports because that's what I
wanted to do. (Comments unclear.) I think that the pomt of sports is that h provides
stabUity, a chain of reaction where h tests one's endurance, one's perseverance, one's goal
orientation, aU these are the criteria which sports develops. And in h's place (comments
unclear) sport m general is seen as a very smaU part of culture. When I thmk of the old
Romans and the ancient Greeks those are the roots (comments unclear). AU that does not
cost that much money, materiaUy speakmg, the ChUdren's Youth and Sports Schools
system They (the GDR) had sponsored the schools and now then they (the FRG) made a
new one. The system didn't cost them that much and the burden was greater thea
B-It would have cost more [without the KJS]?
W-NaturaUy because they had thefr eveiungs and aftemoons free and h would have cost a
lot more later when they'd have 60,000 athletes. But today I see how h is. My son hhnself
does the triathlon. He finished high school and has received no support. In the meantime,
he's become German champ, European champ and second m the world and is one of the
most successful triathletes and m no respect does this (FRG) system work. In the GDR
they would have organized everythmg for hhn up to the pomt where he was successful and
one didn't need anyone. But this support system, there is no such thmg m the FRG.
B-In the FRG, there are efforts to take on some of these facets with the ChUdren's sports
schools. But I spoke with (former GDR athlete and KJS Dfrector) Helma Knorscheidt and
she clahned that much has gone down hiU.
W-NaturaUy, the high school is not...

452
B-...as demandmg.
W-Is under pressure. If I don't want to tram as mtensively, tiien I've afready dismpted the
system. NaturaUy h's good to be open to evetyone, but the performance character suffers
tremendously.
B-Are there any cultural characteristics that the East Gennans have captured, that they
were perhaps more thorough, that they tramed harder, that they approached a matter more
scientificaUy, from which, say the Americans could leam? Are these cultural
characteristics?
W-The East Germans are, say, Uke the joke goes: the Brhish take thefr tea, the French
drink thefr wine and the Germans take thefr heart drops....that means that the German
works constantly. I thmk m Germany, sport was deeply hnpressed upon the people. Add
to that goal orientation, thoroughness and specificaUy towards flilfiUmg the goal. When
doping questions come up, I can reaUy say h existed, but the system worked. The
motivation was there. One was not necessarily motivated by money, by no accounts. We
received 50,000 GDR German Marks.
B-Yes, but StUl (h was easier to get) nicer apt.'s, easier to get a car.
W-NaturaUy, but h wasn't untU a year after my first Olympic gold that I got my first car,
which was significantly quicker than otherwise, but I didn't get h the very next day either.
There were condhions in the GDR under which we were also subordmated. But a car was
no motivation either to do sports.
B-From the West Germans and the East Gennans I hear two completely different stories.
The West Gennans pahit a vety black picture and say that they (GDR athletes) were only
good because they were doped, and the East Germans say they were good because they
had a good system. In the realm of marathon, three things count: first strength, then speed
and endurance. In this case dopmg cannot help at aU, or am I wrong?
W-at least one hears that there are, withhi cycUng certam thhigs. In my time one said h, as
you just stated. There were no possibiUties. One needs to adapt and the body can only
adapt graduaUy to a higher stress level. With anaboUcs, which is helpful for short power
burst sports, h is damaging for long distance sports. If you look at your average endurance
athlete they are slender. You have to buUd endurance. NaturaUy one needs strength, that's
tme. But h's a reactive strength, that means (comments unclear) among them are aU the
soccer players. But the priority among endurance athletes is (unclear) material exchange
(?), the addhional work of the secondary organs that they adapt. (Comments unclear).
Only thereby can one develop good endurance. The ceUs which develop the energy, they
seek h m the after effect. How long, how far, for example, (comments unclear.)
B-But these stories one hears, that one had to give up blood and urine samples at
Kreischa...
W-NaturaUy, naturaUy, as long distance athletes, we had to prove that we had not taken
anythhig before we left the country. That was a precautionary measure and we readUy
submitted to h because among us there wasn't anythmg.
B-...to prove that you were clean.
W-This aU had less to do with the fact that h was a doping lab, at Kreischa there were
sports physicians who were speciaUsts on marathons. We had our abUities checked there.

453
We ran on (stationaty) runnmg machmes, had blood taken and our lactate levels checked
to see if everythmg was regulated property to see if one had achieved, m preparation for
the marathon, a certam quahty. Then an evaluation was made and m retrospect one could
see if any trammg methods had to be altered. With this medical evaluation they could
dfrectly apprehend if the traming m the last quarter of a year had been appropriate, or fr h
needed changhig and developed m preparation for the marathon. This was a coUaborative
effort between the athlete, the sports physician, and the trammg expert. It was actuaUy, m
this sense, perfect. I've done this for 20 years and naturaUy h has had tremendous
advantages. (Comments unclear.)
B-A sports historian, not a sports scientist, but a sport historian, stated to me once that
ehte sports is unhealthy. What do you say to that?
W-Yeah, weU then one shouldn't do anything at aU.
B-It wouldn't stop me ehher. Have you had any long term effects from this?
W-I haven't had any at aU. I'm ahnost 50 and (comments unclear) I'm gomg to do another
marathon. I don't know how fast I can do h but to do nothhig at aU is just as bad. From
the standpoint of society, one's body becomes more vuhierable. In Gemiany, ten biUion
plus marks are spent yearly to keep the populace healthy. It would be better to just give
people nmnmg shoes and encourage them to run, or just do sports m general and then
(educate them on) healthy nutrition; and then we wouldn't have such high (health) costs.
Then evctyone would be healthier. That's why I take a stand for running (comments
unclear) even if there are some other problems with jomts gettmg wom.
B-Yes, yes. I have knee problems and can't run anymore, but if I could do h agam, I
would do h anyway.
W-I wouldn't want to give that up, that feeUng that one has accompUshed somethmg
agam, and the joy one has from running and that one has tested one's self Then one is
also at peace with one's self, then that is also a beautifiil experience of success. A more
beautiful athletic experience one cannot achieve. And the marathon runner who is
particularly chaUenged...
B-but doesn't h weaken the immunity system? Long distance runiung?
W-Yes, certainly...
B-Some suffer more often from Ulnesses.
W-Yes, certahUy, not everythhig is completely m control. There is naturaUy by such high
stress levels, areas that need to be researched, areas that are stUl unknown which one
cannot evaluate. Thmgs happen when one tries to reach one's goal. But what I don't
know, can't hurt me, one says here. Because if I have reservations aU the thne over what is
damaging, then one would just Uve for media reports. And I thmk that's backwards.
B-Yes.
W-When I see thousands of mopeds m the woods when I go runnhig (comments unclear)
There are many other thmgs harmful to people. (Comments unclear.)
B-A certam Dr. Spitzer who is employed at the University of Potsdam has said that he
esthnates that m the next few years, anywhere from 200 to 400 former GDR athletes wiU
die prematurely from the damagmg effects of doping. What do you say to that?
W-(laughs) I don't beheve h. I don't know.

454
B-Perhaps m other athletic track and field reahns where h was more advantageous and
accessible, shotput, for example.
W-I don't beUeve h. I don't beUeve that such enormous damagmg effects wiU occur
because as fer as I know the system, medicme was appUed to preserve Ufe, therefore I
beUeve that dopmg was done m certam reahns. But from those materials which were used,
one speaks most frequently of anaboUcs, [I don't thmk] that such horrible effects could
result. Other means are used today which have not been tested and are even more
dangerous and I am afraid that enormous health damaging effects wiU resuh. I have some
msight mto this, but I caimot hnagme this.
B-People who don't do sports do not understand how sports can completely transform
one's Ufe. It is just Uke a reUgion, as I mentioned to you previously. Runnmg, long
distance runnhig is Uke a reUgion. And h may have been tme that one was a recipient of
poUtical education and that one was forced to say that black is white and white is black m
order to do sports, would you have done h? The poUtical education was no motivation for
you.
W-No. And I said that quite clearly earUer to you. I had the honor of being athlete of the
year (m the GDR) two thnes, by an enormous margin of votes. I also spoke to the
parliament as spokesman for the athletes. I always said to the delegates, one goes to the
party, this was in 1981 after my last Olympic victory, and my personal comments were to
the effect that I wanted to thank my wife, because h was my wife who reaUy took care of
me, practicaUy like a trahier or coach. And of course I thanked them for havmg the
opportunity. That's logical. That's completely normal But no one would beUeve that there
was poUtical motivation, but it was a part of other parts of motivation of which we in the
East did sports. It was fun and it was ok and one said afterwards that there were no
problems, with one's profession or other matters. It was a comprehensive system. But the
decisive factor for which one stmggled and suffered so much, to become Olympic champ,
was in the first place, motivation by personal reasons, such as the beautiful discipline of
marathon. And I had much joy from h. Much resulted from h. It's Uke a msh to always try
more and more. It's vety shnple. It was fun. And one Uves shnply.
B-Do you know GabrieUe Anderson-Scbiess?
W-Yes.
B-Okay, do you have any concluding comments?
W-No I thmk I've answered aU your questions.
B-Yes, that was exceUent.

455
 APPENDIX D
INTERVIEW WITH
BIRGIT DAHLKE

456
 Interview with Birgit Dahlke
Gymnast in the GDR Elite Sports System
In Berlin, June 19,1997
and via Telephone from Anchorage, Alaska, March 19, 2000
Interviewed and Summarized by Barbara Cole

Bfrgh DahUce was selected as a child for gymnastics due to her particularly adept
motor skUls and demonstrably appropriate physique. She started trahung at age 6 and
stopped after nearly daily hitensive trahung at the age of 12. She claimed she came home
one day, and was shnply too exhausted even to eat her lunch. At that pomt, her mother
removed her from the sports frammg program. Ms. DahUce did not reside m the KJS
boardmg school. She did not realize that the rigors of her early trahung had been
physicaUy damaghig to her untU years later when she was manied and pregnant with her
first child. Ms. DahUce had back problems, which her doctor believed to be a dfrect resuh
of her early years as a gymnast. Without knowing her background, the medical doctor
asked if she had been a gymnast m her youth and ascribed her medical problems as bemg
traceable to that period. In respect to dophig issues, Ms. DahUce claims that she never
received any khid of pill or any other substances from the coaches or anyone else. She
did state that she would not commend the GDR sports system, not because she was
opposed to that particular system, per se, but because she opposes ehte sports as a whole,
believmg them to be damaghig to people's heahh. She also does not allow her children to
do extensive sports.
When asked if she feh inspfred by SociaUsm and the message borne to the athletes
by the leaders to embody the "sociaUst personaUty," she claimed that she believed she
was at least proud of her country and mspfred by the socialist message. Her stated chief
motivation m sports was not the poUtical education or the material advantages which
were offered athletes, but rather a love of physical activity as well as her own personal
ambhion. Ms. Bfrgit also did not like the notion that GDR citizens were phied and
"hicarcerated" by the Berlhi Wall. Desphe her self-proclaimed patriotism, she did not
appreciate some aspects of the GDR poUtical system. Because her father had numerous
academic degrees, she herself was not initially allowed to study due to efforts by the
GDR regime to reserve admission places at the universities for young people from rural
areas whose family background did not include academic careers. She did achieve a
doctorate though in Uterature.
Ms. DahUce believes one could attribute the success of the GDR sports system,
not to "universal" dopmg, as is oftenthnes asserted, but to the training methods, that is,
the systematic method of frauiing, which was applied and to the systematic talent
selection system.
Ms. Dahlke also expressed sharp crhicism of the sports system in the Federal
Republic of Gemiany as there is no publicly funded mass-level sports system for children
m post Wall Germany. Sports for children m post Wall Germany are deemed by Ms.
Dahlke as bemg too expensive, and they are usually only done on a private basis. The
training conditions for most chilcfren is not considered to be amenable for enabling the
children to fulfill thefr athletic desfres or maxhnizhig thefr athletic potential. Ms. DahUce
also critiqued the press releases and historical wrhings emerghig m post WaU Germany m
respect to the East German sports system clahnmg that while some of what is written is
457
true, there is also a considerable amount that is exaggerated. The largely negative view
presented of the GDR sports' system is deemed by Ms. DahUce as bemg dupUcitous as
those whofraintoday in united Germany are usmg the same methods which were
employed in the GDR. She believed that there is considerable hypocrisy in Germany
today at denouncing the GDR systemfromwhich post-WaU Germany has profited.

458
 APPENDIX E
INTERVIEW WITH
PROFESSOR DR. GUNTHER ERBACH

459
 Interview with Professor Dr. Gunther Erbach
former State Secretary for Sports and Physical Culture of the GDR
July 15,1997 at his home in Greifswald
Interviewed, Translated, and Transcribed by
Barbara Cole

E=Prof. Dr. Erbach; B=Barbara; Mrs. E=Mrs. Erbach

E-There wUl always be problems. There wUl never be a thne when there are no problems.
One wiU always want more money for sports. Some other area wiU also want money. At
that thne we wanted to buUd a new (sports) research center. That would have cost us
perhaps, m aU, 200 to 300 mUUon marks. The GDR shnply didn't have that kmd of money.
But we wanted at that time, to have a gymnastics and exercise buUdmg in every district,
every region and every disfrict caphal. That would have cost 2 to 3 bUUon marks in 5
years. The GDR shnply did not have that money, maybe they did have the money, but not
the capacity to do the buUdmg. That means our demands always exceeded what the
economy of our country could sustam. And apart from that, h's weU known that in the
80's, the GDR had grave economic difficuhies. Very big difificuhies. That's why h
coUapsed.
B-Russia had problems with food suppUes.
E-Yes. That's one example.
B-And the Gennans were afi^d that this dearth of food could effect them as weU.
E-The GDR even sent thousands of tons of potatoes to Leningrad, which had been grown
m the GDR. The GDR could have fed hself The level of agriculture was very weU
developed m the GDR. We exported butter, everything. But the economicaUy poor
situation m Russia and the mistakes of the admmistration were so great.
B-Among aU the hiterviews I've held with athletes, about 17 or 18 so far, the vast majority
have presented favorable views of the system and only 2 or 3 have evaluated h poorly and
those were athletes who did not have success.
E-...that didn't have success. That's understandable.
B-I asked aU of them what the advantages were, what the disadvantages were, what can
we leam from this, what should we apply from this and so forth. Anett POtzsch said to me
once, for example, that the only thmg that bothered her was that, actuaUy there were two
thhigs that bothered her. Ffrst of aU, what bothered her was that after she quit doing
sports, she was no longer aUowed to travel abroad. She said, "I never changed my person.
I've remamed the same person I've always been. Why then can I not travel abroad?" That
was the first thing.
E-She's right about that.
B-...yes, and then the second problem was that she was under scmtmy by the Stasi. She
was under observation by the Stasi she said to me. And I read that also m the documents
at the Archive. They had lists of the athletes, names...
E-Did you work for the GAUK authorities? Where did you see these Usts?
B-I saw the Ust at the Archive m SAPMO. Yes, I ordered them. I also copied some of

460
them.
E-A Ust of ..what kind of a list was that?
B-Yes, I'U explam that to you. That was a Ust of athletes with thefr names, whether they
were smgle or married, whether they were Party members or not, whether they had
relatives m the West or not, how many years they tramed, and whether they had contact
with the Westem relatives or not, and what kind of relative they were.
E-Who put this Ust together?
B-That was from the DY 12 from the Olympic Games, and then of those with relatives m
the West h would state the degree of relationship. There's first degree, second degree.
Ffrst degree is mother, father, brother, sister. Second degree is aunt, uncle, cousms, isn't
that right?
E-Yes.
B-...then h stated what kmd of contact the athlete had with these relatives, whether h was
letters, whether h was hoUday cards, whether h was postcards. That means they
scmtinized the maU of the athletes. They knew precisely what kind of contact they were
havmg with thefr relatives. In one case it even said that they read the letters of the aunt to
the mother. How they got that mformation is unknown to me.
E-Probably through the mother.
B-That means they asked the people.
E-Certamly.
B-Or they scmthuzed the maU of the athletes.
E-...or they scmthuzed...
B-Then there was another case, that is, I read through the RepubUc defection cases...there
are also some of those hi the files there [at the archive]...
E-That was a Ust, a list of the RepubUc defection cases.
B-No, they were reports.
E-Oh yes.
B-Reports which were written down. In one case, there were a couple of cycUsts who had
"smuggled" westem goods back. And they knew precisely which goods they brought back
and there was also a case study of these two cycUsts, they (the authorities) knew precisely
which goods had been brought back and which of these goods had been given to relatives.
I don't know how they got this mformation.
E-I don't know either...
B-But at any rate, m the one case where they brought goods in UlegaUy they were
penalized.
E-What kmd of goods were they?
B-Coffee, ladies' stockmgs...
E-What year was that?
B-Ummm, I beUeve that was '68.
E-'68.
B-...and bicycles. Consumer goods which...
E-...which were not avaUable here. Which were not avaUable here. And they brought them
back UlegaUy.

461
B-They never said what tiiey did with the goods. I would have Uked to have known what
they did with the goods, that would have hiterested me actuaUy. But at any rate, they took
them away.
E-That was the DY 12...
B-Yes, DY 12.
E-Those are ZK (Cenfral Committee) aren't they? That's the Central Committee. Those
were reports...
B-...partiaUy written by Ewald. One was written by Ewald. The one on the cycUsts was
written by Ewald.
E-A letter from Ewald to whom? Frau Femer or who?
B-I beUeve h was (unclear).
E-So he did a report.
B-I can send h to you if you like.
E-I can also go there [to the Archive.] But you didn't read my name there?
B-No.
E-No. Because h doesn't mterest me m the least. That was D 12 things, DY 12.
B-I could let you know more precisely which one h was.
E-I'd Uke to teU you somethmg, such incidents occuned of course, and they can be
explamed, at least partiaUy. I have here an article regardmg the iUegal work of the Stasi by
Spitzer, regardmg the Research Insthute and how many people wrote reports there and so
forth. I was the State Secretary, but to my memory, I never read one shigle Une of these
reports. And therefore I'd have to say the foUowing. In the practical poUtical work and hi
the scientific admmistration of the [Sports] University [in Leipzig] and the development of
sports science, that played absolutely no role whatsoever. It didn't interest us at aU. We
didn't even know about this. The State Security did that for themselves. It was secretive. I
could have cared less. To the complete contrary, if everything happened as you've
discovered here from the Secret Service documents of the GDR, this is the only country m
the world where such documents are accessible. Could you hnagine that that would
happen m...?
B-In Russia they are most certahUy not accessible.
E-Let's start with America! Start with America. Do you beUeve that the Americans have
the worst secret service m the world? They've got mountains, houses and with thefr
electronic monitoring, they monitor the whole world. You'd never get near any of that.
Go there and see.
B-Are you famUiar with the Intemet?
E-Yes, of course.
B-The CIA has thefr own network. They receive some 360 break-ms a day on average
from aU these hackers.
E-Yes, yes. I've heard.
B-Each day! That's our secret service!
E-...but what I wanted to teU you was this, none of that interested us at aU. I'd have to say
the dfrect opposhe was the case. That work [of Stasi reportmg] actuaUy hhidered the
productivity of the scientists at the DHfK (German CoUege for Physical Culture and

462
Sports.)They didn't help us, they hmdered us. In that Ught and m respect to aU these
reports, they (the reports) most certainty happened. Today we can Ust them. But you have
to ask the opposhe. How successful would the GDR sports have been if aU of that had not
happened?
B-When aU what had not happened?
E-The defection from the RepubUc, the monitoring, the Stasi reports and aU these so-
caUed..,
B-Do you mean they would have been even more successful?
E-Yes, yes. Because that was stiflmg our productivity because the people wrote reports,
they were, who knows what aU they were doing that was bringing people into difficuhies.
B-Who confirmed that the Stasi was supposed to mtervene m the personal Uves of the
athletes?
E-Yes, the security system had a vety particular role to play and that was m the poUtical
stmcture and in the poUtical febric of the GDR. And to enable this there were dfrectives of
the SED (SociaUst Unity Party of Germany) and the detaUs of the dfrectives were from the
leaders of the SED. There were dfrectives from the Minister Doctor (Surgeon General) m
which the given fundamental detaUs, such as how they worked, that is how the Secret
Service worked, were not known to the majority of the State leadership and also the
officials, apart from those who were dfrectly and personaUy concemed. AU others did not
know. They knew there was a State Security system, but how the system worked and how
they monitored, they hadn't a clue. They don't know that m America ehher. Do you have
any idea whether your telephone is monitored or not? Do you know if you are
electronicaUy monitored or not? You wouldn't know that.
B-Hmmm.
E-You don't know that. I don't know that here either. I know from the thne period when
the GDR existed, that whenever I entered into the Federal RepubUc, I expected that every
customs control center from some major central computer would monitor me. They
monitored everywhere m the Federal RepubUc. That's the way h was. And now smce the
Cold War, this has resuhed.
B-The situation is this, not one smgle athlete that I've mterviewed thus far...
E-Yes...
B-...expressed the desfre, and I asked vety pomtedly, whether they ever had the desfre to
defect at that time.
E-Yes.
B-Not one single one. I even asked Udo Beyer, "if you could have taken the entfre famUy
with you...would you have left?" No mterest.
E-Why not?
B-The question can be understood Uke this: Why should they? These people were settled
here. This was thefr envfronment. They had thefr famUies and friends here. There was no
great interest m leavmg. There were maybe a few people who had an interest m h. Then
why was it so necessaty to monitor the people so closely?
E-You'd have to ask this question of Erich Honecker and Erich MieUce but not of me. I
can't answer you. You'd have to ask this question of Knischev, of Breschnev and aU those

463
who organized the Cold War, includmg Mr. Reagan...
B-Did you notice what these people were doing, did you ever notice h or observe h or see
h?
E-I knew of some, evety state dfrector knew of or was aware of some member of the state
security who would also ofificiaUy present themselves, as a contact person. This would
then concem a very generaUzed mformation, very generaUzed. And h never concemed any
personaUy related mformation regardmg any one particular person, but just general
information.
B-And they never wrote any reports on the athletes?
E-No, no. Certainly not. That just doesn't work. When someone is engaged at a particular
poshion, they can't spend that time writmg reports. That's not possible. But rather, the
state security had had a completely mtemal system, as to how they gathered thefr
information. Today we know what that system was Uke. This system as we know h today,
during the thne of the GDR had only a few people. For me, for example, that system of
the unofificial employee (of the Stasi) was completely unknown to me. No admuiistrative
state leader knew of this. That was a state secret, how the secret service operated. I also
don't know how the American secret service operates. I don't know how the Federal
RepubUc (of Germany's) system operates either. I read a good a deal of Uterature today in
retrospect, but detaUs of how they work is unknown to me. I only know that the Federal
RepubUc's news service, for example, has reported quite frequently on the GDR's sports
medicme. I know precisely that they had agents present at the DHfK, but I didn't know h
(then.) I leamed that from the State Secret Service. Those were activities that the Federal
RepubUc's news service had m the GDR's sports medicme. And what for, actuaUy? And
what business did the Federal RepubUc's news service have actuaUy? What exactly did
they want there? Did they have any mvested mterests there? That can only be explamed
under the guise of the Cold War. That was not a fiiendly meetmg...that was the Cold War
and this Cold War could have developed mto a hot war. So at this thne, this topic is, to be
sure, very important, but it doesn't open up any kind of access to the secrets of the GDR
sports. In my opmion, in the West there's some kmd of perspective or cUche that consists
of this: misuse of ehte sports m the GDR, Stasi and sports, doping and sports. You're
gomg to come around to dophig m sports too: that'U be your next topic. They want to
characterize sports hi the GDR with these three thmgs.
B-ActuaUy I would also Uke to ask...
E-This is the wrong way to go about this. These three things do not lead one to
understand why the sports m the GDR was so successful
B-Ok, teU me then the secrets as to why the GDR sports were so successfiU.
E-You saw this article, the big one, which I gave you, I related (m that) many of the
characteristics. Ffrst of aU, h was Uke this: the sports m the GDR, and the people m the
leadership poshions m sport and m the leadmg poUtical poshions, that is, those were the
leadmg communists: Ulbricht was a former worker-athlete.
B-He was reaUy exched about domg sports, right?
E-In the Wehnar RepubUc, the period when the Workers' Movement was big in Gemiany,
the Social Democrats and the red sports organizations were a firmly estabUshed

464
component of the Workers' Movement. There was a long cuhural tradhion of the Worker
Movement m sports. But the period of caphaUsm was when this Workers' Movement was
commg to terms whh the Wehnar RepubUc against fascism and played an mcreasmgly
greater role. And sports was, en masse, vcty poUticized just Uke the sports of the
Bourgoisie. The great German sports organizations, such as the German Gymnastics
organization, the Reichs' Committee for Physical Exercise, they were, m a sense naturaUy,
of the leadhig classes of the capitalists and they were poUticized. They were there to bear
responsibUity for state purposes. They took on the negative ideas of Jahn. They promoted
the voUcisch ideas and so forth and so on. The opposhion to this was the Workers' sports,
the revolutionaty Workers' sports. So, m that respect, history was, as of '46-'47, rooted
here on this soU m the anti-fascist democratic order. There was a variety of roots here:
phUosophical and ideological roots for sports. That was the tradhional Unes with which
'46-'47 began. On the one side was the fascist physical tradhion and on the other was the
tradhional Unes of the Workers' movement. And then this lead to the red army, which
essentiaUy Uberated the German working class from fascism. They were the ones who
were victorious here, naturaUy also m the tradition of the anti-fascist coaUtion, one cannot
underesthnate the contribution of America, but the fact is, is that this part of Germany was
occupied by the Soviet Union and therefore there was the mfluence of the Soviet culture,
the Soviet sports. That's why there's the term "Physical Culture" as that comes, for the
most part from the Russian Physical Culture. In Germany there was also this term of
Physical Culture. The creation of educational poUtics m the Federal RepubUc and the
creation of the GDR was a caesur in '49 m German history. One side foUowed the
American Unes, the other the Russians, the Soviets. And so the Cold War came. Who
developed the Cold War? Who was that?
B-I beUeve h started m Potsdam.
E-The Cold War started m '47 right after Potsdam with the fimious speech from ChurchUl
and after that the American Acheson in Stuttgart, the Unes were developed of the Cold
War: a fight against Communism.
B-And so getting back to sports, h developed...
E-So there were two ideologies: the ideology of the class warfare agahist American
hnperiaUsm and against the West Germans and m America, anti-Communism as an
ideological basis. America is stUl anti-Communist today. The Federal RepubUc is stUl anti-
Communist today. The anti-Communist ideology remams deeply embedded and smce they
won the Cold War, that is the enduring ideology, just as they did previously.
B-But the fortunate thmg is, is that for the first time a war ended without violence.
E-Yes, that's tme.
B-That's a wonderful thing.
E-This war yes, but hi hs place are a hundred other wars.
B-But at least we found a solution without violence, without the sheddmg of blood.
E-That's tme. And how high are tiie American mUitary expenses this year alone even
though there's no war?
B-Probably fafrly high.
E-In the Federal RepubUc, 46 bUUon marks. Do you know how much is expended for

465
science? Approxhnately eight. Do you know how much is given out for sports?
Approxhnately eight, eight to ten bUUon. But for the mUitaty, 46. If you want to look at
the budgets, the war is at an end. But then look at what a role the different budgets play.
The war is of course, over, but the miUtaty budget is higher and higher and higher.
B-But getthig back dfrectly to sports, you most certahUy have opinions as to why that
system was so successfiU...
E-Yes, and m the '50's that played a role, m the conflict between East and West.
EconomicaUy, the GDR was naturaUy the weaker state. The GDR could create a good
educational system, they could create a highly developed cuhure, and they could have
achievements hi aU economic reahns, stiU, h wasn't at the same level as the Federal
RepubUc. The Federal RepubUc was the richer part of Germany. The greater part of
mdustry was m the FRG...the higher productivity of agriculture was there, so that's how
the early '50s commenced. (Unclear) The startmg pomt for the GDR was this: the war
was here and so everythmg was destroyed here and apart from that, the eastem sector had
always been the poorer sector of Germany. The starting pomt for the development of the
GDR was essentiaUy worse than the startmg pomt for the FRG. And the sports, above aU
in the views of Walter Ulbricht, who played a big part, he came from Leipzig and had
participated in the Workers' sport movement, he understood that through ehte sports one
could achieve world wide acclaim. And here is where two components came together: first
of aU, the role of sports m the workhig class and thereby in the Party, and the historical
pecuUarities that sports could salvage the reputation of the GDR. Thereby one could
achieve intemational recognition. When one is intemationaUy recognized one has to play
the national anthem, one has to raise the flag and one has to recognize the statehood of the
GDR.
B-That was the reaction to the Hallstem doctrine.
E-Yes, and it was only through ehte sports and only along such Unes could one overmle
the HaUstein doctrine. And that was the decisive poUtical and ideological root in exercismg
certam measures m respect to ehte sports. That's why, in the '50's, that great value was
placed on havmg a high level m school sports, m the education of sports teachers. In 1950,
the DHfK was estabUshed, in 1950 the GDR stUl had food supply problems, which
shouldn't be forgotten, namely the standpoint of the GDR's economic situation. StUl they
mvested m sports anyway, in the poUtics of youth, the first youth law, and everything,
startmg m 1950, developed m stages: '56 the first gold medal, the higher percentage (of
GDR athletes) on the Olympic team, the fight for the same poshions on the common
(German) Olympic team, 1960, '64, '68, the fight for equal rights, the HaUstem doctrine
on the other side. Don't forget that we found documents that the Federal RepubUc, in
1956, did not want to take part m the Olympic Games. The whole world of sports did not
know this, and now h's out. There's a document where Mr. HaUstem personaUy posed the
question of Mr. Daume and Mr. Daume to put other countries under pressure if they did
not retract thefr recognition of the GDR and that the Federal RepubUc would not
participate. Daume was against h and one has to give high credh for this because this
would have led to a big poUtical eclat. But the fact in and of hseff, of entertahung the idea
of not participatmg m the Olympic Games, this came first of aUfromthe FRG and not the

466
GDR. The GDR stood for participation, because h was only through participation that
they would gam statehood recognition. Thus, sports was, m the first place, poUtical
through and through. So, after this recognition was retracted in 1962, on West German
soU, the Olympic Games hi 1968, recognition achieved, (the GDR's) own national anthem
was recognized, own flag was recognized...
B-Yes, yes, own (Olympic) team...
E-What was the GDR supposed to do? Were they supposed to say m '62, "It's over. Now
we have (our state) recognition, let's stop dohig eUte sports. Let's just do popular sports
for everyone. Let's stop domg eUte sports altogether." That's just not gomg to happen.
This question is pure unadulterated theory. And that's when a new phase began. What
happened then after '62? That was the thne of detente. Then there was Helsmki. And what
happened after Helshiki? I sat m the room in Lake Placid when the American Secretary of
State, Vmce, Vance, opened the Olympic Games and gave a speech. The next mommg I
read the speech m the Gennan language. 1 can give you a copy of that speech. He
established why the United States was not gomg to go to Moscow (for the summer
Olympic Games), that they have to protect thefr mineral oU m the world, how they had to
protect themselves agamst the demands of the Soviet Union, just poUtical reasons. And
then, h happened agam, after Montreal that h came to a sharpening of the conflict between
the (East and West) blocks before '84. From the detente in Helsinki we ended up in a
confrontation. So, was the GDR at that time, given aU these various measures bemg taken,
supposed to stop domg eUte sports? We had achieved much, we defeated even the
Americans m Montreal. As Ford met up with Honecker m Helsmki, Honecker asked him,
"TeU me Ford, Mr. President, how many gold medals did America get m swimming?" He
said, "I thmk h was 10." "No," said Honecker, "It was eleven." "How many did the GDR
have?" "Twelve." Thereby, Honecker did some poUtickmg. That means, the poUticians
fiUed thefr discussions with sports results.
B-I see. [laughter]
E-Whether one Ukes h or not, the resuhs of sports played a role m poUtics. And they
became, step by step, a form of confrontation during the Cold War period. And as the
Americans noticed this...did there not emerge an enormous critique m America concemmg
the comparative [athletic] performance after 1976? There was a massive, pubUc critique.
Should I show you a document?
B-Yes, show it to me.
E-When this became common knowledge, there was a high ahhude trainhig center in
America.
B-Colorado Springs?
E-Colorado Springs and another one where the afr force base center is shuated...
B-That is Colorado Springs.
E-There was then, the development of a strategy regarding how one can go about
defeatmg the East Bloc (m sports)...a report as a develophig strategy mtended for the
National Olympic Committee or wherever. And the first and most decisive Une of thought
consisted of "We need to buy off the best tramers from the East Bloc.We need to buy
them" This was m 1986. The Une of thought was, "America must occupy the first place."

467
No one m America should assume that nothmg is bemg left to chance. If the Americans
aren't the forerunners, then naturaUy there wUl be opinions expressed and pressure and fire
exerted on the National Olympic Committee for (other) methods and better trahung and
more money. That's aU just an mdicator that sports played a role m the clash between
poUtical systems. Today, this clash no longer exists. If you were to come tomonow and
were to come between cultures and displayed a ceU phone, that too, would play a
role...This aU means that sport had a poUtical dimension, naturaUy, m the whole world and
evidence is ample for this. [Dr. Erbach displays to Barbara some American documents].
And here you see m '85, '86..."The production of champions"
B-"The production of champions?"
E-"The production of champions. A concept for closmg the Olympic medal gap between
East and West." Sports Institute of the United States. Edward Borschowitz, Eric Heiden.
Eric Heiden was the speed skater.
B-Of course, yes, I know.
E-Greg Le Monde.
B-Greg Le Monde is the cyclist.
E-Greg Le Monde signed here. Bob Matthius, Bob MetcaU; Howard Cario who is the
track athlete. Here you can read the text. They estabUsh here that this can not go on Uke
this for America. They analyzed what one was supposed to do. "A concept for over
throwing the tendency of hegemony by the Eastem Bloc in the battle for Olympic medals."
I have nothing agamst them doing such a thmg. I consider that to be normal.
B-It is normal, that just makes sports so mterestmg, or no?
E-Yes, but no, Barbara to assert that that wasn't done, that is a fantasy. To assume that
nothmg was done and then to assert that there were no poUtical interests hivolved and that
poUtical mterests were just emphasized in the East, that's a fantasy. That's a fantasy. That
was a part of the Cold War and the American nation could not accept that. You see here is
the exact calculation of how they ranked in opposition to the USA and h is asserted here
that that cannot conthiue Uke that. They needed more money.
B-That's what I wanted to ask you: ummm Klaus Bartonietz, the trainer (Biomechanic
and also personal coach ofjaveUn thrower Boris Henry), he said to me once, in respect to
the conflict, they (GDR athletes and ofificials) were told that because the Americans were
engaged in heavy dophig and the Germans leamed this from them, the East Gennans
leamed this from the Americans. We had the substances first, the Ulegal perfonnance
enhanchig cfrugs we had first. I found a document from '68 from the Olympic Games m
Grenoble. They ascertahied that the Ulegal substances Unproved thefr performance m
domestic compethion, why should they then not use them abroad? That's what they
ascertamed m '68. Did you know about this?
E-Then I didn't. I didn't know about h then. I knew that there was hi America m 1963,
'64, or '65, you'U need to look hi the American Congressional papers m Washmgton this
was relayed...there was hi America...I'U say this quite honestly, America is an enormous
country and hi America there are mcredible achievements m science and these
achievements have to be recognized and the Americans are always doing something
mteresting m evety...and the fight against American hnperialism is not a fight agahist any

468
one mdividual American. That's complete nonsense, you know? You've probably also
noted this. The fight between the systems does not conespond to a battle between
mdividuals. And that was at that thne...
B-But when were you first aware of what was gomg on with dophig?
E-Yes, at that thne, through our coUaborative scientific efforts some mformation emerged
that in America there was an anti-dmg program. Anti-dmgs.
B-Yes, but that (Udn't concem sports, that was the problem with dmgs m general m the
inner cities.
E-In the middle of the '60's...and there was a research committee and among others, they
made mquiries of athletes. This hiquity system was weU known. It was renowned because
of the discus athlete, (unclear) and others who were medicaUy handicapped due to the use
of steroids. The American pharmaceutical companies were, at this thne, the most
advanced m the world. The Americans had the most and the world's most. They had a
highly advanced pharmaceutical industty.
B-After the war, during the war, aU the German Jewish experts [refugees] came to us. We
received [from Germany] 11 Nobel prize winners in the reahn of physics alone [who were
Jewish refugees.]
E-Yes, yes. For the most part, they went to America. That's the reason for thefr most
advanced science, hi natural sciences and m chemistry and so forth. And that's why the
Americans knew the best, precisely how to make the most of the appUcation of this. And
m addhion to that, m aeronautics and with the pUots what was appUed m the 1930's...and
that's why the effectiveness m (unclear) and bio-chemistry was not somethmg that was
unknown to them. But the appUcation in sports they did by trying h out on mdividual
athletes.
B-There was a testimony before Congress by a certain hammer thrower named ConneUy.
E-Yes, ConneUy.
B-And he made h known that h was widely used in the reahn of track and field. When, to
your knowledge, was it also Ukewise done in the GDR?
E-The question can not be answered so dfrectly...
B-The document that I found stated '68.
E-Yes, there is one single testhnony. There's a testhnony by a medical doctor, you've
found the document, that hi 1968 anaboUc steroids were appUed by mdividual athletes.
B-In the reahn primarily of track and field?
E-That can be explahied but h doesn't resolve the whole problem of dophig. Steroids were
not even dopmg at that thne. That's nonsense. That can be explained. The steroids were
mtroduced by the American throwers m shotput, javeUn, etc. and widety appUed m Rome
m 1960.
B-Afready m 1960?
E-1960. ConneUy used them in Melboume m 1956, '60 m Rome and naturaUy also m '68.
The Americans had mastered this method smce 1956.1 ask, was h the Americans or some
mdividuals? Individual athletes.
B-Klaus told me that they were told, "What are we gomg to do to keep pace with the
Americans?"

469
E-That is certahUy not false.
B-And that's when h reaUy started m the GDR.
E-Yes, if you want to express h that shnply, you could say that. You could say h Uke that
when you want to express h so shnply, that tiie athletes came back from compethions aU
over the world and would say that they noticed that 'We've noticed that everywhere
athletes are frahung less and yet are better than we are.' And h was murmured and said,
'They're takmg this and that and this and by and by these metiiods then also became
widely known.'
B-Then h was used specificaUy m certahi athletic discipUnes only? Because h can only
produce resuhs m certam athletic fields. It only produces resuhs m aU the throwing sports,
for example. It only produces results in quick power burst sports Uke weightUfting. It only
produces resuhs m track and field: short, fast, quick sports.
E-How do you know this?
B-I read about h aU the thne.
E-Yes certahUy. You can't evaluate history with contemporary knowledge...to see what
happened when.
B-WeU, I mean, they (steroids) buUd big muscles and heavy muscles do not do anything
for a marathon runner. They have to remain Ught.
E-They don't need to convince each other what produces what. Today everyone is talking
about dopmg and about aU these substances. And most of them haven't a clue as to what
they are taUcmg about. They bedevU h and they haven't even the sUghtest idea about the
physiological processes, regarding medications. They also have no idea about the Umits of
a training work load. What goes on m the human body...when one trains not just 10 hours,
but 13 hours. What kind of energy expenditure has been made by the athlete and how
recovery should be factored in, how the muscle depot should be rebuUt. There's an
enormous amount of scientific statements of questions which are of interest to
physiologists and of interest to medical doctors. And with individuals who are traming,
doing high levels of training, h's different than h would be with other normal people who
are just running around. Then one has to pose the question, what factors were at play m
this organism? That means, this is first and foremost a medical problem Then h's a
sociological problem, of equal rights and of partnership, of fafrness, an ethical and
phUosophical problem and h's also a poUtical problem, these equal rights. Dopmg is a very
muhi-faceted problem. And h's also a problem of thne and space. And mtemationaUy,
there has been an agreement that there should be a control and that the IOC should
estabUsh a fixed Ust of forbidden substances.
B-And when was h that you were first aware that h was being used m the GDR? When
did you first find out?
E-I can't give you any date, because I wasn't in any...there were no governmental
decisions regardmg dopmg or medications. There was no such thhig. That's why I can't
say, "When were you first aware..." I can't answer this question. I can't teU you...
B-But you didn't have any awareness of this?
E-(aghated) No. How could I have? Would you have had any? Do you thmk that an
American Secretary (cabmet member) would have an idea what is bemg researched on m

470
aU the univershies m America? Why then should I have any oversight what is gomg on m
evety club and with evety athlete and his/her respective relationship to any doctor? I can't
do that.
B-And you also didn't know how h was bemg researched in certain athletic discipUnes?
E-Most certahUy...what was bemg researched on I knew about. I most certahUy knew
about that. In 1964 and '65 we started systematicaUy to research the effectiveness of
medication on the ehte athletes who were m traming. For that reason, we had a research
mstitute where a special department was engaged for this purpose. The athletes came back
from aU over the world and clahned that dopmg was gomg on everywhere. What are we
gomg to do? Get out of ehte sports ahogether? Or what kmd of equal rights do we, the
GDR have? Are we gohig to participate or no? To fight agamst h was one side of this. To
tram better, was another. And the mam conclusion we came to was to tram better and
more precisely and have a system of sports medical control whUe buUdmg up athletic
medical support...
B-...to heighten the work load of framing.
E-To heighten the work load of trammg. The highest [priority] was not the appUcation of
medications. That is the biggest nonsense. And whoever beUeves that the GDR just won
its medals with medications, they deceive themselves.
B-Yes, I don't beUeve that either.
E-Do you thmk that with medications alone you would be able to run a marathon?
B-I know that the GDR had success in some reahns where dophig can have absolutely no
effect, where there is a high level of technique involved, gymnastics or ice skating, for
example. However, the problem is that they had a good deal of success m areas where it
can be advantageous.
E-And the Americans did before we did.
B-But swimming, with women?
E-Who was h hi 1976 who won aU the world medals, who then? Who then? Look at the
charts!
B-But we have ten times as many people. We have 20 times as many people. It's self
evident that we would win more medals.
E-But the specific talent...you're startmg agahi precisely Uke you did before...
B-..just Uke a Westemer.
E-It's just not the tmth. It's just a part of the tmth. The mam path of ehte sports consisted
of this effective comprehensive system. Selection of talent. We had several 100,000
chUdren...and the system of the GDR was vety close, that is, h was supervised and
centraUzed. There was a high concentration m the leadership process. We were shuated so
that we could put somethhig mto gear in just 3 or 4 days, that means to inform the
coaches of somethmg. The GDR had vety short mformation Unes. We had a weU
developed sports science. We put together a system of talent selection and reaUzed h
sociaUy...with the assistance of the pubUc education (system), with the assistance of the
Party organ, with the assistance of the parents. You can only do that m a system that is
highly centraUzed, which is how SociaUsm was. CertahUy m America that would be more
difficuh. That means the larger population (advantage) was replaced by a smaUer more

471
scientific work. And that's why we had a high mass of the best talent. We selected them.
These people were framed at the trainmg centers as much as ten hours. At the KJS up to
30 hours.
B-Per week.
E-Per week. This many people were not framed Uke any other people anywhere else m the
world. Above aU, with the best trahied staff...
B-With the exception of, for example, the chUdren m Africa who run from one vUlage to
the next, or the gymnasts m Rumania or...
E-Or m the USA when the femUy...
B-basketbaU players.
E-...when the famUy is in a swimming club or they have a swimming pool m thefr backyard
and they're taught by a private instmctor and they start hi the mommg to tram right
away...
B-Most chUcfren in the USA who are (athleticaUy) successful are not from weU-to-do
famiUes. They're from the middle class, because the rich ones do not [usuaUy] have that
kmd of ambition.
E-Not m swimming. In swimmhig the composition of the swimming team was always from
the upper classes. They aU have swimmmg pools at home.
B-But aU the ice skaters are usuaUy from the middle class.
E-Yes, the middle class is the supportmg class m America.
B-What I mean to say is that that is a very expensive sport. And skiing is also very
expensive in the US. And they (the US Olympic team) are usuaUy from the middle class.
E-This talent selection system and the good education of 6, 8, 10 years, after these people
had been selected for the national team, led therefore, naturaUy to very high levels.
BREAK HERE: Prof Dr. Erbach elucidates the financmg of the GDR sports system.
E-I'U explam this to you now. As a part of the society, sports is financed m every country
in many different ways, either through state finances, through social finances, or through
private means, through contributions. And in every State budget, there are revenue
mcomes and expenditures. That's very clear and h is contmgent upon the stmcture of the
State and is also a form as to how the state budgets and the state does hs expenditures. In
the contemporaty Federal RepubUc this is done differently than h was done then m the
GDR. It's certainly done dhferently m America than h was in the GDR. But at any rate,
there are two vety large categories, namely the national income and in connection with
that is the Gross National Product and, of course, the state's budget of a given countty. In
the Federal RepubUc, that is cunently playmg a big role in open discussions because from
one year to the next taxes are coUected, and one stUl has to secure these sums and one has
to gam credh, and one has to pay a good deal if the debt is considerable. That's a
completely different system than what was typical m the GDR. In the GDR, there was, of
course, a national mcome which resuhed from the productivity of the country, and by the
creation of wares sold hi the form of exports and the creation of value domesticaUy, and
year to year there would be a state budget. A state budget.
B-That's clear, of course.
E-...and then the state's domestic budget was drafted. Because the GDR was a centraUzed

472
state, that is, the mdustty was nationaUzed, and that there were communal anangements m
agricultural production, the mam income of the state was m the nationaUzed industry, the
discharge from the agricultural production from the communal farms and naturaUy, from
the export trade. That means the State's budget consists of hs mtake, and this was
decisive regardmg hs expenditures. The sports system of the GDR, had, in essence, two
sides: the state system and the social system. Do you understand the difference?
B-Yes.
E-It was essentiaUy an hitegrated system, m principle. When you speak of the system of
physical culture and sports m the GDR, then h was an integrated system of state
responsibUities and social activities. That means the state is, what is the state? It consists
of ministries, regulated by the consthution of the country. If, m the consthution, h is
established that sports is to be subsidized by the state, as is work and other cultural
condhions, and that was the case m the GDR, then the state has the responsibUity to see to
h that the chizen can do this. And so in this respect, the state had to concem hself with the
expenditures for this, within the realm of the state budget. In this sense, this would occur
with the state organs, and through the various ministries. Every year aUocations were
made for sports, that's evident. And there were also aUocations for social organizations in
sports, that's evident. And m that respect, of course, from one year to the next, resources
were retahied for sports. Because m the GDR, there was an office just for sports, namely,
the Secretaty's Office of Physical Culture and Sports, the resources for sports were
retamed by the Secretary for Physical Culture and Sports. And that can be clearly seen m
the history of the GDR naturaUy, as behig appUed m various ways. In the 50's and 60's h
wasn't vety regulated and not quite so ordered as it was m later years, but I would have to
say that the '80's were more typical for the effectiveness of the system.
B-Is this a good refiection here or what? (Indicatmg an article.)
E-Yes. I'U show h to you here. Each year h was pubUshed m the press. You see here that
is the state budget for '88. This was pubUshed every year. And anyone could read h and
you can read right here what was aUocated for sports. One asserts namely, that generaUy
speakmg, h isn't there. Here h is. Not the details.
B-What about the sports facUities at least, for example.
E-You have here the milUons side...
B-Are those milUons or bUUons?
E-Those are always in mUUons. But a thousand mUUons is a bUUon.
B-Yes.
E-So that means that these are the aUocations for the sports, on behaffof the state. That is
what they financed h from. The scientific equipment for sports, physical education in the
schools, sports at the univershies and coUeges, aU the sportsfecUitiesm the country m the
various districts for mamtenance of the facUities, salaries for the sports facUities' workers,
repafrs on the sports facUities, swimmmg pools and water and everythmg accompanyhig
that. This sum is mdicated right here as part of the state budget. In addhion to that was the
payment for about 11,000 employees who were employed across the country m the reahn
of sports admmistration. In addhion to that, there were aUocations for the DTSB as a mass
organization. The DTSB was hs own mass organization but h received an annual subsidy

473
from the state. That is, that was a sum which was made avaUable to h each year. This
consisted, m the 80's, say around '84-'85, always around 340 miUion marks. That is...
B-And did this change substantiaUy through the years, this sum?
E-You can always assume that prior to this h was less, but m the 80's h was always
around 340 miUion marks.
B-And that was firmly estabUshed...
E-No, no, no. That developed from 320. So a 20, 30 difference always existed. But that's
normal. That was foreseen. I have aU of that m this material.
B-Was there a big discrepancy between the financmg of the eUte sports and the financing
of the popular (mass) sports?
E-WeU, how would you...this big discrepancy. In this paper I gave you is an overview.
You can compare the numbers. I have evidence here that the states subsidy for sports was
0.70% of the state's budget. If the state's budget was 265 or 268 or 261 bUUon a year,
then h would be...one percent would be 2.3 bUUon or 2.5 bUUon or 2 point somethmg. But
at any rate h would be over 2 biUion.
B-That would be 2 bUUon plus...
E-That at any rate, but the subsidy for sports was under the 1% mark. So the subsidy
consisted of 0.70%. That is approxhnately then, calculated together, 1.8 bUUon marks.
1.8-1.9. So now, that is the entfre sum of the state's expenditures. But m addhion to that
were other revenue sources. You said prior to this factories... which in the realm of thefr
system had thefr own funds which had coUections from the factory contributions which
were subventions then used for cuhure and sports. The unions contributed money. The co-
operatives gave money...so this money was not within the state budget, but which came
from the national income. And then one could add from these sources, a few more biUion.
But I'm just taUcing about the state budget. And the contributions from the state budget
consisted of the sum of 0.70%, so 0.30% less than 1% and h did not supercede that
amount. And that can be clearly proven down to the last cent. Now you can pose the
question: how much of that was made avaUable for eUte sports? NaturaUy, if you...that's
very difficuh to answer because the eUte sports was part of the regular sports system. Say,
for example, the resources for the CoUege of Sports m Leipzig, they consisted of
approximately 30 mUUon per year. You can't count that as aU bemg for eUte sports
because there they did aU the research for the mass (popular) sports, there the teachers for
school sports were educated...
B-I see.
E-...SO those were not then aU just resources for ehte sports. Or [consider] the resources
for the sports medical service. We had, for example, sports medical counseUng centers at
aU the centers for sport m the RepubUc. They weren't just workmg for eUte sports, but
were there first and foremost for the free thne and recreational sports, that is, the mass
sports, for school sports. This means that to select out and calculate the sum for ehte
sports, h must be done vety responsibly and can only be done when one understands the
various appUcations of the budget and the financmg of the sport m mdividual units. And
these are my calculations and I work on h constantly and had many consultants along with
other officials from the mhustry. I sought them out agam. I didn't use to have to do that.

474
because I was never asked this question and I'd shnply give a global answer. But if you're
gomg to answer this scientificaUy, then you'U have to do that vety precisely. So we got
mto this and came to, from this 0.70% that h was 0.34% or 0.36% for the eUte sports.
That was, naturaUy, higher for the DTSB, which was the mass sports organization. There
h was over .50%. But m essence one could say that when you calculate the entfre figure of
the GDR, that the ratio was two parts for mass sports and one part for eUte sports. The
amount for mass sports was double that of the eUte sports. But the eUte sports was
relatively effective. It was thoroughly organized.
B-Yes, h most certainly was.
E-And now I have to say somethhig. Look, for example at the ChUdren and Youth sports
schools. The KJS had approxhnately 10,000 students.
B-At any one given time, let us say?
E-Approxhnately 10,000 students at the KJS m the dififerent grades. In the Olympic team,
if you look at this pyramid, in the Olympic team there were 500 to 600 Olympians.
Somethmg Uke 150 in the winter, and 500 to 600 m the summer. Therefore, 700 to 800.
Only 700 to 800, m evety country...whether that's the Soviet Union or America or
whether that's contemporaty Germany. The IOC estabUshes the norm. The International
Federation estabUshes the norm. That's a very decisive topic, this norm, by the way, for
the development of the Olympic sports development. And every country can decide for
hself Are the teams too big or too smaU? And how do we stand hi relation to this norm in
order to participate successfliUy in the Olympic Games? For that, you'd need 500 or 600
to have two or three athletes for aU the important discipUnes. America had once 700
people on thefr Olympic team. We never came to the fuU amount. We weren't always able
to place someone in many disciplines. Sometimes if there were 135 discipUnes then we'd
only have occupied about 80 or 90 disciplines. This year, h's 67 discipUnes. A Uttle
country caimot have athletes in aU the discipUnes. You just can't do that. The big
countries, yes. USA participates m aU the discipUnes. But the number of countries...h
becomes reduced automaticaUy the more discipUnes you add. Which is a special problem.
B-For example, at the winter games, Africa does not participate.
E-Yes, for example...
B-...South America, the [countries with] real hot cUmates...
E-That's a natural Umitation due to cUmate, but m the summer Games, what plays a role is
the development of a given country, the size of the country, the stmcture and development
of sports and so forth and so on. But mdependent of aU these detaUed calculations, you
can then come to a number of 500 to 600. If you look at the pyramid of sports and look at
tiie 10,000 athletes, then you have to pay also for these 10,000 sttidents' education. But
many of these who started on this path, they stay m school but they don't aU get on the
Olympic team. They shnply get a good athletic education, they achieve a certam level of
sports, then they study another subject or study some other vocation and they no longer
proceed on the path of eUte sports. But stUl, thefr education is paid for by the state. Where
is the Umit? They say, here the money isn't expended just for Olympians, but rather h's
expended for a quaUfied, educational and also athletic education. Because you can't just
take such a young person out of the KJS school tfhe/she no longer has any athletic

475
prospects. Of those who were at the KJS, one thfrd somethnes one half of them m various
athletic discipUnes, never got mto the Olympic team. They went to the KJS school, but
they never made the break through to tiiat highly quaUfied level but of course they were
StUl financed. I would Uke to say therefore, when you ask, "How much did you expend on
eUte sports," there was a lot given out for eUte sports. But those who took this path and
never made h mto the highest levels because thefr abUities were msufificient were stUl
contmuaUy financed. So the sum for ehte sports [expenditures] can not be so clearly
calculated for each and evety penny, for example, in the case of the Sports CoUege, with
sports medicine, at the sports facUities. We had big stadiums. Big ice skatmg rmks. There
were engineers who were responsible for the ice. Then there were workers who were
employed there. The Olympians would fram there, but also normal people would too. Is
that then a fimdmg for the ehte sports?
B-No.
E-It's not an expenditure for eUte sports. It is one, but not solely.
B-And could everyone use the fraining centers? The traming centers were accessible to
evetyone?
E-The tramhig centers in the region were accessible to everyone. The trainmg centers
were m the schools' gymnasiums, the training centers were at the sports facUities.
Everyone could use them. That's not a problem. The money which was expended for
trammg centers was not money expended for eUte sports m particular. And that's why I
say that this ratio for expenses for eUte sports and general tasks was approximately one to
two.
B-One to two in relation to mass sports?
E-Yes.
B-I wanted to ask you also about the relationship of GDR sports to Russian ehte
sports...or to the Russians as a whole. I read m the documents there in the archive m
Lichterfelde that they considered havmg an exchange in '68 of sports scientists, trainers,
conferences, tramers to be trained in Moscow...Klaus Bartonietz, for example, got his
doctorate there in Moscow. He got his doctorate there. He even got his post doc there
and married a Russian. And m what respect did you have a strong relationship with the
Russians and in what respect did you move away from this? Did h get stronger or did they
graduaUy let h go? What was the relationship to the Russians Uke m the reahn of sports?
Were they careful? Did they try to keep the sports methods secret from them?
E-That can be answered with considerable variations. In the beginnmg years we had the
creation of the sports system, m the beginnmg of the '50's. There was a popular saymg,
"Among fiiends, we have no secrets." That was what Alexandiar Schudina once said. She
was a famous pentathlete. And at the beghinmg, we leamed a good deal from the
Russians. The Soviet sports were famous at that thne. They had taken part in the
Olympics. The GDR was excluded because we did not annex ourselves to the West
German orgamzations. It was m '52 that the GDR was stUl not aUowed to participate in
the Olympic Games. The Soviet Union at that thne had been accepted into the IOC and
had, m Helsmki the first renowned sports. It's obvious that when the GDR is connected
to the Soviet Union that we wanted to leam somethmg, then we'd leam h from Soviet

476
sports. They had big univershies m Lenmgrad and Moscow, over 50 such univershies m
the entfre countty, and we leamed a good deal from them Some Soviet tramers came and
they helped us estabUsh the foundational schooUng of scientific trammg. Then, m Leipzig
we estabUshed the DHfK m 1950 and we used and translated Soviet material for this. And
step by step, hi the GDR we achieved successes and became even stronger m our
confrontation with the Federal RepubUc and mtemationaUy. There was the entfre united
German Olympic team, and then, m 1968 we got our mdependence. And m aU these years,
there were very, very, close relations to the Soviet sports. There was a fiiendship
agreement which was repeatedly renewed. And under the auspices of this friendship
agreement, that was renewed evcty 4 or 5 years, there was a mbced coaUtion of
cooperative work and tins relationship was buUt up and became closer. And m these
confracts which were renewed annuaUy, they regulated the athletic conqiethive events,
some 150 events ffnot more, state compethion, and so forth and so on, and there was, at
the end of the 60's beghmmg of the 70's, there was also a paragraph dedicated to a
cooperation of scientific work. Common research efforts were organized, exchanges of a
certam number of persons were organized on a year-by-year basis. On an annual basis, so
and so many people were sent to Moscow or Lenmgrad or Kiev from Leipzig. As early as
the '50s, we sent students there to be educated. It wasn't very many. As we then,
essentiaUy, had achieved a certahi scientific niveau, we had our own professors and m the
course of many years h was no longer necessary to send students to Moscow because we
had our own msthute. We were afready m the situation where we could educate our own
speciaUsts. And the GDR achieved thfrd place m the Olympics m 1972, so the
development conthiued, and by 76, the Soviet Union, the GDR and the USA were
suddenly the three leading countries m the world.
B-In Montreal Russia was number one and the East Germans were number two.
E-Ahead of America even. We had one gold medal more. And the same thing happened in
Seoul. The fact that the ehte sports niveau was constantly mcreashig and that we could
defeat the Soviet Union m certam discipUnes, naturaUy changed our relationship to them.
And I wiU teU you a very shnple statement: viewed poUticaUy, for the poUtical leaders, that
was absolutely no problem whatsoever. Cooperation, teamwork, friendship, shnUar
poUtical convictions, none of that was shaken. But if you consider the athletic aspect, we
were no longer the insignificant one and them the great one, we were suddenly rivals. And
rivals behave differently to each other. You take a gold medal and it cannot be divided.
You can't say I'U take part and Moscow wUl take the other or the thfrd portion wiU be
taken by the USA. The gold medal is not divisible and nehher is the sUver or the bronze.
B-When did the relationship start to change?
E-The relationship changes if one has achieved a simUar niveau. And this shuation
developed from '72 to '76 and then Moscow at the Olympic Games, and then came the
confrontation. We were a smaU countty. The GDR was a smaU country. The GDR came
to this world as a smaU coimtiy. It had Umited personnel material economic and financial
resources. We were tied to the Soviet Union and suddenly we started to want to be better
than the Soviet Union.
B-And the USA.

477
 E-Bemg better than the Federal RepubUc (of Gennany) was absolutety no problem. They
worked so poorty. [laughter] If they had worked as hard [at sports] as they did for thefr
economy, then they would have been better m sports. But those are aU other possible
factors which one could discuss. The fact is, is that this relationship, not some constmed
one, that this fact that the GDR also belonged to the leadmg sports nations mfluenced this
relationship, both positively and negatively. In the poshive sense, we got recognition, and
in the negative sense, that we didn't teU them everythmg, perhaps.
B-In respect to this rivahy with the Russians were there certam detaUs or examples...
E-There was also rivahy with the Americans.
B-Yes, but I mean the relationship of the East Germans to the Russians was a very unique
one, wasn't h? They were, say poUticaUy unified, or had shnUar poUtical senthnents.
E-Yes, yes.
B-What kmd of specific factors were at play in this rivahy? Did they, for example, no
longer exchange ideas on sports methods or did they then no longer exchange certam
trammg methods so that they could be better, or m what respect did they protect
themselves so that they would not m^rove the perfonnance of thefr rivals?
E-WeU, let us assume that we have developed new bobsleds or new luges or new rowing
boats, newly specified rowing boats, which are Ughter than the usual ones.
B-Were Russians aUowed to go to Kienbaum?
E-Yes, naturaUy. They were always trammg m Kienbaum. They tramed at aU of our
facUities m the GDR. Why shouldn't they? The Russians had everythmg here: they had
thefr mUitaty here, they had thefr Secret Service here. They had foreign conespondents
here. They had people here. They could get into everythhig here.
B-But there were certahi thmgs they kept secret from the Russians, or not?
E-Certamly.
B-I mean m the reahn of sports.
E-(Aghated) CertahUy. They couldn't just come to us and say, "Good day my name is so
and so and I'm gomg to take a look at this laboratory." They couldn't do that. You
couldn't do that hi America ehher. You have to give some advance notice and then they
can ask what you want. Then you can say, I'd Uke to know what kmd of research is gomg
on here. No one in the world does that. The cooperation which took place between the
states was regulated m the contracts each year. And then it was ascertained in what areas
we were going to have scientific cooperation and in which areas we would not.
B-What kind of areas would you not have had cooperation?
E-WeU, that's a question of capacity. We couldn't have cooperation in aU possible reahns.
The scientists made some proposals as to which areas they wanted cooperation. In which
areas do we want cooperation? In areas in which one is particularly good or m areas in
which one wants to leam somethmg? What do you mean by that?
B-I know of one particular case...and I'm not trying to present the westem countries in a
better Ught, they weren't, for example m the reahn of dopmg. There was one case where
two Russian athletes were caught as poshive [for Ulegal performance enhancing dmgs] by
an East German dopmg control at some athletic event. The East Germans kept this a
secret. They did not spread this about. And it was prior to the Games in 1980. That means

478
that should any East German test poshive, then the Russians could not spread this around
because they (the Germans) had the papers as proof to reveal that the East Gennans knew
such matters about the Russians.
E-Whose names were mentioned? Do you remember the names? That is probably a Secret
Service file. That is probably a Secret Service file. I don't know about this. I don't know
about this. I was never mformed.
B-You didn't know about this?
E-No. I don't know about h. I was never informed of this. Such thmgs...I consider this to
be possible and would not exclude h, but that has nothing to do with the question of
cooperation and in sports there were many tricks done. In the reports of the Secret PoUce
there's a type of procedure foUowed which someone found out. They probably reported
this case.
B-Such as the one I just mentioned.
E-It might be stated that h proceeded Uke this...but maybe only three or four people would
know this. More would not know about h. Maybe they wrote this down accurately, maybe
they didn't. I can't judge h. If that were the case, h was just one isolated case, but h
wasn't typical of our cooperation.
B-It wasn't typical?
E-No, h wasn't typical.
B-Was the cooperation peaceful without rivahy?
E-It wasn't always, Uke we say m Germany "peace, joy and sweets." If m the GDR, we
had 10 athletes who were in three clubs and they were shotputters and they'd toss the
shotput 18, 19, 20 meters, then only three of the shotputters could go to the Olympic
Games. There were quaUfymg trials.
B-Yes.
E-And the relationship among them was most certahUy mfluenced by the fact that only
three could go. That means that rivals behave diSerently to one another than people who
are better or who achieve thefr goals without any difficulties. That's just the nature of
things. That doesn't have to be poUtical. It doesn't have to be ideological. It can depend
on the character or the psyche and that depends on the...that just depends on the nature of
the thing. Rivals behave differently to one another than people who work together for a
common, higher goal. That doesn't mean that they don't have respect for one another.
B-You know, for example, that hi the '60's there were aU these protests agamst the
Americans due to the Vietnam War and so, at that thne m West Gemiany, an anti-
American sentiment prevaUed. Was there a similar sentiment towards the Russians m the
reahn of sports?
E-I wouldn't...
B-Maybe resentments?
E-It's difficult to judge. NaturaUy there were resentments. Reservations. They laid therein
that the ofificial propaganda m the GDR from the Russians was, "To leam from the
Russians means to leam how to be victorious." And "the Soviet people and the Soviet
athlete and the Soviet heroes and the Soviet worker," they were depicted as a bh glorified
m the ofificial propaganda for many years. Then people got to know these people

479
personaUy and realized, 'those are aU normal, wonderful reasonable, shnple people.
They're not so dramaticaUy exalted as was depicted hi the art, culture and fihns.' But they
were stUl held up contmuaUy as bemg exemplaty for our view. And that led, naturaUy, to a
type of reaction on the mass psyche. And tfyou characterize that as resentments, m many
respects that would also be a type of reaction agamst this type of propaganda. That means,
aU that gUtters is not gold.
B-Yes, yes. I know the saying.
E-And that happened also m sports after we became champions. Then aU of a sudden the
Soviet athletes weren't that great. We could also defeat them, and in the final analysis, we
also had to say to the athletes that when h came to compethion agahist the Soviet Union,
you're not there just to shake thefr hand, but also to defeat them You have to fight
agahist them. The boxer has to beat them down! He has to win! He has to beat hhn to a
pulp! That was no longer a meetmg of fiiends anymore, [laughter]
B-That was then, starting m '72, that they were so good, in Munich, right? That's when
the rivahy started m eamest, right? And at that point they started to be more reserved
when h came to hnparting sports methods and kept the training methods a Uttle more
secret?
E-No. That's a real typical westem pattem of thought, to maintam that there were many
books which contained aU these secrets. That's not tme at aU. We leamed the framing
methods from the Russians. And the scientists, obviously they know and have mastered
the training methods... mtemationaUy. That is absolutely not the problem. The best athletic
perfonnance is an optimal coUective channeUng of a variety of methods. If the optimum is
achieved in the preparation period, in the training period, in the social care, m the medical
care, m the tramer-athlete-doctor relationship, in aU these various fectors, in the support
from both the famUy and the society, if they have achieved this opthnal level, then they
have the best cfrcumstances for achievmg the best performance with the appropriate
athlete who has been prepared over the years. That's what the GDR did very mtensively,
because we were a vety smaU countty. It could be visible in one glance. We did this much
more intensively, and I would say more disciphned and more properly, than other
countries.
B-So maybe you took on the Russian system and then, as typical Gennans did h more
thoroughly, scientificaUy and more organized, could one say used German [cultural]
characteristics to complete h. Or no?
E-We took on only part of the Russian system. Through thne we completely deviated
from h. We only took on certam stmctures m the 50's which were customary and we
appUed them m a shnUar fashion m the GDR. But then, m the 60's when the Sports
Federation was created, h was a completely different stmcture than m the Soviet Union.
They had completely different stmctures then. But the stmctures alone are not, in and of
themselves, decisive for success. NaturaUy the German mentaUty played a certam
role...and the fact that we were a smaU countty and that we fought at the international
level and that the Federal RepubUc, a strong state, was always hiterested in not supportmg
the GDR but damagmg h. That had the consequence that aU possible factors were
overseen and appUed, which the GDR did particularly mtensively, particularly thorough.

480
particularly discipUned, and dealt whh other fectors differently than would be done m a
larger countty and would not have these condhions. In that respect, that kmd of
psychology played a certam role.
B-Those are distinctly German cultural characteristics.
E-Yes, certainly. They are widespread m Gemiany. When I look at American war movies
and consider what rigid obedience prevaUed when orders were given out, and how they
were executed with the utmost bmtaUty...they were exactly Uke the Prussian army m
Germany. There's no difference.
B-Yes, but the Germans tend to be vety thorough and organized...
E-That's just what they say.
B-No h reaUy is that way, whereas the cUche for Americans is that they are superficial
and...
E-No, no they're not that way. When you see how the American service units or
submarines are conducted then...
B-WeU those are the usual generalizations. But I wanted to ask you also m respect to this
book [Grit Hartmann, Goldkhider: die DDR hn Spiegel Uu-es Spitzensports]. what do you
thmk of h? I have the book, but I haven't read h yet because I lent h to someone at the
archive. Have you read it?
E-Yes, I have that book. I'm cunently readmg h.
B-And what do you thmk of h?
E-This book is...
B-Polemic or is h fafrly thorough or...?
E-WeU, you can't say h in just one sentence...
B-Ok, explain to me your opmion.
E-I can't reaUy say h, because I haven't read everythhig yet. The book is, first of aU, m
two sections. There are the evaluations of the edhor to certahi questions. When Spitzer
writes about the Stasi then let hhn write. He takes just any documents and any thing and
describes h. But that doesn't have anything to do with GDR sports. He can write untU he
turns 150 years old, but with this type of writing he wiU never grasp what the GDR sports
was, and how h operated. GDR sports did not function through the Stasi for example. He
can write as much as he likes. Such contributions as this one are not the history of the
GDR sports. Perhaps these are mteresthig chapters which one crafts as one Ukes. The rest
of the (chapters), the historical evaluation, from say. Grit Hartmann who is a joumaUst,
and which are written by her or with others, they [aU] operate essentiaUy m the cUche
depiction of the previous Westem historiography of GDR sport. Many facts are
mentioned, say 40, 50, 60%, then mterpretations are interwoven and most of these
mterpretations evade the tmth altogether. The book has two sides, as previously stated,
the other is the depiction of the athletes. There are quhe a few athletes' depictions m
there. And you will discem that the two are completely hi opposhion to each other. Here's
one description of the historical course of events which is not written from the GDR's
perspective, but rather from a perspective of an exposed GDR. It's an anti-GDR book.
B-Dr. Wonneberger told me, they quoted hhn and he told me that they did not quote hhn
falsely, but they did quote him false contextuaUy.

481
E-Yes, yes.
B-Were you also quoted?
E-Yes, of course. I have a nice photo m there too. NaturaUy.
B-And do you agree with how you are quoted there?
E-No, not at aU.
B-Did they misquote you hi terms of context?
E-The whole book caimot be characterized m one sentence.
B-But how they descrfl)ed you, or quoted you...
E-For the most part, the descriptions have been constmed. They're constmed. For the
most part they've been constmed. Just take any of the articles...
B-That means how they quoted you was wrong, bow they used h...?
E-A quote is a quote. I can't say h quhe Uke that.
B-WeU, they could take any quote out of context and apply h m a false manner...
E-It's just not quite that shnple. WeU yes, you can do that but...
B-Did they use quotes from you in an inappropriate manner?
E-No, the whole poUtical Une of thought and the whole depiction isn't right.
B-I see.
E-If you were to take any segment, the "Deutsches Doppel: Ein olympischer
Schlagabtausch 1951-1968," for example. You see, I've just read h a bh and rather
cursory at that.
B-Show me the picture of you.
E-Oh that's m science. It's only depicted from the standpoint from the (unclear) poshion
of the GDR. The Federal RepubUc played no role whatsoever. You can only write the
history of Germany when you write about the history of sport m both German states. You
can't just write it so completely one-sided. If you're going to write the history of the
Olympic Games, for example, then you need to write it from both sides. For example, the
demand for sole representation of the Federal RepubUc, the Hallstem Doctrine from 1955-
tUl...that played a real significant role. That was a real existing (unclear) theory, in the so-
caUed unity of German sports. That is hardly ever mentioned as a pomt of departure in any
representation of history, but rather h's only presented from one side: the GDR broke off
relations, etc. etc. It's not an objective depiction of history which is done. It's precisely the
same m science. Or take, for example, one of the articles contributed by Teichler. He's
among the most sovereign there, you know. Teichler quoted me very often.
B-I know some of these people.
E-Yes, Teichler quoted me very often. I just want to show you this here.
B-And what do you thmk of these quotes? Were they falsely used?
E-PartiaUy yes. PartiaUy. He doesn't understand h. He doesn't understand h. Here's a
picture of me.
B-Aha. You look somewhat different.
E-Yes, naturaUy. With the subthle: "Whh the Party to present a unified front: Gfintiier
Erbach-vom DHfK Aspfranten zum Rektor zum Staatsskretar,." [p. 136, Goldkmder: Die
DDR hn Spiegel Uues Sphzensports]. but they could have added 'and onwards to staff
retfrement.'

482
B-Oh yes, I know.
E-That's what's missmg. But h doesn't matter. But there are many thhigs that are mixed
up here: years, here's Wonneberger, the discussion with Lukas. There are so many
historical detaUs that are presented m such a funny manner and they are even analyzed
wrong. They have, to some degree, no relationship to the contemporary problems of that
thne.
B-Maybe you should write a rebuttal to this.
E-Yes, that wiU probably happen sometime. It's also necessaty certainly when someone
does something Uke that, then h's certahUy necessaty to do somethhig.
B-But with aU certahity, the quotes which Teichler used were falsely used.
E-No, no, no. Teichler has here the document concenung the economy. He cUd an article
on the economy. "Anmarkimgen zur wirtschaftUchen Talfahrt." He preoccupied hhnself
with the economic situation of 1980-90. It's just a relatively smaU article. And there is a
big lecture he's presented at the Historians Meeting and he evaluated a series of
documents. For example, these numbers. These are from reports I submitted to the
govemment, that is, to the Party leaders. The numbers are from these. He quoted me many
thnes. And he uses these figures and the numbers are conect. They are right. But then he
gets to the conclusion. And the conclusion is completely wrong.
BREAK HERE
B-I asked the athletes about the poUtical education they received and the poUtical speeches
they were always listenmg to whether any of the poUtical education or speeches had ever
motivated them, because this was always continuaUy emphasized in the (SAPMO)
documents. 'We need to improve the poUtical education, mcrease h or strengthen h, or
whatever, m order to hnprove the achievement levels of the athletes.' And somehow I
thought that that was strange because which athletes are motivated to perform based on
poUtics? The least of them are. Not one smgle athlete told me that they were poUticaUy
motivated. They said, in fact...Ronny WeUer told me that he was non-poUtical. The
poUticians did not motivate them at aU.
E-I would question that quhe strongly due to a number of reasons. If you would be m a
reverse situation, say a victoty of sociaUsm (over caphaUsm) and were to pose this
question, then you would have had a completely different answer at least by such and such
percentage of the athletes. After this honible dowaifeU of sociaUsm and the dissolution of
the GDR and after one has heard nothmg for 6 or 7 years other than what was bad about
this countty, then are the athletes supposed to give testhnony as to how they won the
medals for the GDR and so forth? No. It's not necessarily sometiimg one would expect.
B-I'U give you a few examples.
E-With others h's completely different. If you take this book as an example (Goldkmder),
with others h's completety different. The attitudes of most of the athletes m here is very
respectable m relationship to thefr whmmg of medals during the GDR thne period. It's
mostly vety positive.
B-They did not depict h as bemg bad at aU. They shnpty said...weU Waldemar Cierpmski
told me that that was vety msignificant for hhn. And he was athlete of the year. And he
had to give a speech to the Party assembty and he said that first and foremost he did not

483
thank the Party or the poUtics, he thanked his wife. I don't thmk that athletes differ from
one another m different countries. They don't say h was the poUtical system that made
them such good athletes, they shnply say that they love sports. I love sports. I don't go
swimmmg shnply because I'm an American or because I want to hnprove my country, but
because I Uke domg h. And the poUtical education did not motivate one smgle athlete' and
yet that was always emphasized m the documents. "We have to enhance and hnprove our
poUtical education." The Olympic Games were always evaluated from a poUtical view.
And the poUtical education was always part and parcel of this and assessed as bemg a
predomhianf factor for the performance levels of the athletes. What do you say to that?
E-Evety country has hs own concepts. Every poUtical system has hs own ideological
basis. Evety university has hs own phUosophy. CaphaUsm also has an ideological basis.
That is hs own ideological basis. CaphaUsm is h. That is its phUosophy, caphaUsm You
have one to, don't you?
B-My personal phUosophy?
E-Yes, you have a personal phUosophy as weU. At least you have an ideological basis or a
reUgious basis. ReUgion is also an ideology. It is a view of the world. It's a world view
that each mdividual has. And that is mdependent from the social order, that people have
world views. And to beUeve that there is any given society without an ideology, weU, that
is simply ahistorical. And socialism has an ideology also, as a system, as a social order.
That was Marxism-Leninism. That means the phUosophy of Karl Marx and Friedrich
Engels was developed and Leiun completed and that is, practicaUy speakmg, the
phUosophy of the Uberation of the working class. That's how h origmated in one hunched
years. And this world view, this view of the world, it was conveyed. It was conveyed at
that moment to the worker and to the Party. The Party responsible for the state
government, the Party responsible for the state, the Party responsible for the society,
strove to spread hs ideology to the youth and the people. In a chizens' democratic state,
such as we experience now, a parUamentary democracy, they do it as foUows: every
monung when I get up, I get a word from the pastor on the word of the day, every night
when I go to bed, the pastor teUs me how the church thmks about the problems of the day
on the TV. When I travel en route to Potsdam at 9 am, I hear a speech from a pastor on
the racUo from the CathoUc or the EvangeUcal church and he'U mention some problem and
how I'm supposed to behave. I need h or I don't need h. And at any rate, there's a
complete system of ideological mfluences regardmg Ufe's rules or Ufe's behavior. And
much of what they say is goocl h's in order. That they should behave more humanety, or
that they shouldn't exploh others, that they should share thefr food and that they're
agahist violence, and so forth.
B-But m respect to the ideology that the athletes are supposed to embody the sociaUst
personaUty...they shnply laughed at that, the athletes.
E-Maybe they laughed now. But before '89 none of them laughed. They took that very
seriously. Now 7 years have passed. Now they Uve in the Federal RepubUc. Ask Maske...
B-Maske?
E-The one who's become a mUUonafre, why he goes to Helmut Kohl and aUows hhn to
pour hhn a glass of wine. He can reject h. And this is on TV nonstop and Mr. Maske is

484
with Hehnut Kohl and on evety street comer there's posters that proclahn "Maske and
SchaUng: We're one! Germany has become one agam and so forth." What is that? That's
just part of the ideological education. It's part of the ideological poshion. And now, I'm
gomg to say somethmg agahi that's vety polemic, but the dumbest mmister m Bonn's
govemment who is the most caricaturized is Ms. NOhe. (Unclear) She's gomg to the
World...European Championships for the soccer players and runs with water bottles to the
place so that the cameras are sure to catch her with some kmd of connection to the soccer
players. And here the people laugh over this. And the athletes say "Our dear mmister!"
And m the evenhigs she holds a reception for them, and so forth and so on. What is that?
That is, of course, poUtical education. It is a part of the poUtical reaUty and so forth. And
such methods were used by sociaUsm as weU. It simply dispersed its world view. It spread
this world view. It spread it in the schools with the study of State and Chizen. It did h m
the pubhc propaganda, and through sports, h did h as weU with schooUng. And this
schooUng happened once a month, and no more. And there were topics on world poUtics.
B-And m the schools?
E-In the schools it was 2 hours a week.
B-No, I mean m the Kinder, Jugend and Sport schools.
E-There was history, 2 hours and 1 or 2 hours State and Chizen (Social Studies) There
wasn't anymore than that.
B-I see. Then why was h always emphasized in the documents? And as a part of the
Olympic Games evaluation, h was always said, "We need to mcrease the amount of
poUtical education." I cannot conceive of Unking my personal achievements to the poUtical
education. Just because we have a RepubUcan congress and a Democratic President...I
don't jump higher or run faster and further because we have a Democrat m power.
E-But you would jump further or run faster or train 20-30 hours because you might win
$30,000 at the next compethion. The ideology of America is money and the ideology of
sociaUsm was not the money, but the high esteem of the pubhc. It was free education at
the university. Or h was a trip abroad or h was the premiums of 10,000 marks...
B-Yes, I heard this comment from two people: Dr. Teichler and Udo Beyer. That the
sports system of the GDR was an island of caphaUsm in sociaUsm. That they used
caphaUstic forces to prove and used the athletes as mediums to prove the superiority of
socialism.
Mrs. E-...that h was better.
B-Yes. Better. They used capitaUstic forces for this. They got, for example, bigger
apartments, or they got cars quicker or they were aUowed to travel to the West, or they
were aUowed to buy westem goods. And those are, of course, caphaUst forces. Or no...
Mrs. E-Those were shnply mcentives.
E-We operated on the principle that a person m a sociaUst society who achieves more than
others, should also receive more. And that there were deficiencies m the GDR m those
years-there were always deficiencies-there was a greater need for cars than they could
produce There was aU manner of needs and there was no satiatmg aU of those needs. And
that's a fact And so there was a system of mcentives. This system of mcentives exists m
caphaUsm as weU, of course. As a mle, h always concerns money. You don't always need

485
money for this. The national soccer team went once with thefr wives to Japan for free for
three weeks or 14 days. Such methods were also used. These were used m sociaUsm,
especiaUy m the GDR. We operated on the standpomt that athletes tram 20, 30 hours a
week and tiiey have to do that 10-15 years of thefr Uves, they sacrifice a great deal, and
that's why we have tiie obUgation to remove some of thefr burdens or grathy some of thefr
wishes moreso than we would for normal people who do not achieve more than what they
would usuaUy do on thefr jobs. And m that respect, they had some advantages. But they
also had a whole slew of disadvantages. They had to sacrifice a great deal. They couldn't
go on a normal vacation. Thefr parents had to change thefr vacation plans, just because
thefr kids were in ehte sports. Academic studies were done on the side. They had to tram
everyday. They were checked up on everyday by thefr tramer. Those aren't just
advantages...h's discipUne. It's a whole Ufe style that's caught up in this. And as part of
this performance and these demands, they were rewarded by society. And because there
was a shortage of things, then we saw to h that they got cars quicker...but I must say the
foUowing: there were 30, 40 athletes a year that got them No more. It wasn't as U"
evetyone got them. It was just the most outstandmg ones. The others were treated Uke
evetyone else. And what did they get for premiums? They weren't that high. An athlete,
an ehte athlete, apart from those exceptions who were in the miUtary, most of them were
students at the University, and they got the same usual scholarship that everyone else got.
And if they studied two years longer, then thefr scholarships were lengthened, and they
weren't penaUzed because they were eUte athletes, but they got the difference from what
they would have gotten, that was replaced. And only if they got international medals, then
they'd get premiums. But in my opinion, that's legithnate. That's simply normal in eUte
sports. It does not stand m relationship to the explosive sums that are offered now-a-days
and even m those days h was somethmg. But that is pertment to how sociaUsm developed
and how h was to assert hself That's also decisive. It had to assert hsefr. Whether one
understands h or whether one tries hard and does one bad thing after the next. That
doesn't say anythmg poUticaUy to an athlete. Cierpmski and Udo (Beyer) were very weU
known m the country.
B-Yes, but they did not depict the system poorly.
E-Yes, I beUeve you. I would just say that if the system stUl existed today then they would
say that "the poUtical bonds I feel to the GDR have led me to give my aU." They would
have said that today. Those are shnply the condhions of today and hs been devaluated.
That's just humanly understandable that they don't say otherwise.
B-But do you know what? I Uve in Texas, but I was raised m Idaho...
E-Ohio?
B-No, Idaho, but I've actuaUy also Uved in Ohio when I was quite smaU, and I would say
that the condhions for bicycUng are better m Texas. They have quite a few famous cycUsts
there. I would say that the conditions there are better due to the type of landscape for
cycUng. The condhions m Idaho are better for skUng. They have mountams and snow
there, m Texas there isn't any [ski conditions].
E-So, and?
B-But I wouldn't say that the poUtics would make me a better cycUst.

486
E-You aren't one. But if you would want to start tramhig tomonow for 30,000 kUometers
for compethion, which is cmrently a necessaty [amount]...today they fram 30,000
kUometers, who's gomg to feed you m the meanthne? Who's going to give you that
money? What are you gohig to do with tiie lost years? Do you have an education? What
are these people gomg to do? They have to Uve! And if they decide to do ehte level sports
then somebody has to take care of them Ehher that's done by some sponsor...but if they
faU at they next race, who's gomg to take care of them? The American State? The
sponsor? You can forget them! So, what kmd of prospects does he have then? The
screaming hero who you see evctyday on TV and the winner...that's the American victor
ideology. The victor is praised from mommg tUl night, but the others who didn't win,
what about them?
Mrs. E-Katarina Witt showed that quite weU, with her book. She said she never would
have made h hi caphaUsm because her parents could not pay for one hour of trainmg with
thefr salaries.
B-But do you know what? The parents of Nancy Kerrigan are quite poor.
Mrs. E-WeU then she had a sponsor. One doesn't know how they would do h. But
Katarina said h quite clearly, that she only could have accompUshed this because of the
system...
B-But Uke I told you...the athletes did not depict the system m a bad Ught.
Mrs. E-Yes I beUeve you.
B-However, they only said that the poUtical education, desphe the fact that h was always
greatly emphasized as was clearly noted in the files and documents as I noted before this,
that h did not motivate them.
Mrs. E.-...that poUtical emphasis was just an mtroductory comment to the document.
B-The poUtical education did not motivate them. That is what the athletes told me.
Mrs. E-I question that because it's been 7 years now since the reunification.
BREAK HERE
E-I studied sports from '46 to '49 and thenfinaUym Greifswald, I studied sport,
education, geography, and then wasfinaUyat Humboldt University m BerUn.
B-That's the Harvard of Germany, isn't h?
E-It is? The Humboldt University?
B-The Harvard of the GDR. Couldn't you say that?
E-The Humboldt University?
B-It was the most prestigious one.
E-No, just the biggest. And then I was m Leipzig as a scientific candidate from '49 to '50.
And the buUdhig for this was a buUdhig which was taken over by the Soviet Union. After
one's state exams, without any problem mhibhing this, one could do this candidacy for 3
or 4 years and prepare one's self to get a doctorate. That was the whole purpose of the
science candidate poshion. Then I was in BerUn, in Leipzig and then later at the DHffC and
then I wrote my dissertation on the Role of the Workers' Gymnastic Movement m the
revolution, from '48 to '49 in Gemiany. I worked a good deal m the archive precisely Uke
you are working right now m the state archive. There was a Pmssian Secret Service
archive, also. I evaluated such reports en masse for weeks on end, whole mountams of

487
 them. I worked for weeks m the archive. I then became dfrector of the Central School for
the State Committee. That was a central school for educatmg the sports officials. It was m
BerUn, Schausberg, close to BerUn. We were there for 10 months, or 5 months. That was
a fafrly mtensive education for experienced people who were commg back from the war. It
was the hnmediate post War years. The people had decided to work m sports and they
needed some kind of education.
B-I'm surprised tiiat dfrectly after tiie War that they would trouble themselves so much
with sports.
E-Yes, weU I explamed that to you previously that that is because of the strong connection
to the cultural tradhion of the workers' movement. The workers' class was the leadmg
class m the country and the land reforms had been executed, the former hunates from the
concentration camps came back, the communists and the workers took over the leadmg
poshions m society so there you have h. They needed to educate the mteUigentsia. And
that's why the univershies and these facUities became quite popular and they were also
used. (Unclear). That was the facUities for the boys and the gfrls who came from workmg
class famUies who would not have had an opportunity earUer to study. In '55 I was...after
I finished up at this school then they didn't need to have this school anymore because they
had the DHfK which was started m '50. Then I was in BerUn for one year at the Center for
Sports and dfrected the science department. This was responsible for the cadre education
and the development of sports science and so forth.
B-Lflce the biomechanics for example?
E-Yes, later..
B-Sports medicme?
E-Sports medicme was afready there in our country, but I'm takmg about '56. Everythhig
was StUl m the beghinmg stages. And then I was selected and became Dfrector of the
DHfiC m '56. And I was there 28 years.
B-When was Dr. Wonneberger the ChanceUor?
E-He was there hi the '70's.
B-I see.
E-That was...I beUeve from '72 to '76, no h was in the 60's afready. From '67 tUl '72. So,
4 years. We changed evety 4 or 5 years, the dfrectors, you know, because that was just
too long. One would change after awhUe. I was there 7 years and that was pretty long.
B-And very stressful, or not?
E-Yes, and h was also a lot of admuiistrative work and besides that, h was a very
compUcated time. And apart from that, it was the new foundmg of a university. We didn't
have any experience. And it was a big university. We had over 500 on the teaching staff. If
h had been smaU we'd have had 2,000 students, but we had 4,000. We had courses for
foreigners. It was a vety comprehensive, organizational task...in the development of sports
science as a science. We used to only have one professor for sports science. In the end, we
had 20 or 30 professors. We reaUy developed a science stmcture, which we developed for
the first thne at the DHfK. And after I was the Dfrector at the msthute with the DHfK for
two years, then I was sent back to BerUn agam and then I became the State Secretaty for
aU these issues and sports medicine untU the year 1989.

488
B-And what happened after '88?
E-'89.
B-I see. After the Wende.
E-After the crash. After the Wende mto capitaUsm Whatever Wende means...
B-That's a term that I leamed from the Gennans.
E-Yes of course. We say after the crash here.
B-I leamed the term here. We always say m EngUsh, 'after the faU of the BerUn WaU.'
E-But there are many phUosophers, historians and sociologists who would use the proper
term for this period, but smce h origmated in '89 and the majority have started to use h.
Wende (tum) to what? Tum forward? Tum backwards?
B-WeU, hi Enghsh that means change.
BREAK HERE
B-What about the contributmg author Klaus Reinartz m the book [Goldkmder]. I know
him as weU.
E-Who?
B-The article written by Klaus Remartz. I don't even know what he wrote, but I know
him as weU.
E-In Potsdam?
B-Yes.
E-"The manipulated Echo." I haven't read h yet.
B-You haven't read h yet.
E-No, but he's also in Potsdam, right?
B-Yes.
E-I see here afready...the people are takmg aU the documents from the Party's archives.
That's only one side of this. "The Olympic Games of 1972 m the Mfrror of the German
Press." He presents how the journalist delegation was sent from the GDR, what dfrections
they received, what tasks they had and so forth. Then he should go to the Springer
publishers and analyze, for example, what role DasBUd newspaper plays. He won't do
that. He only does h for the GDR. That's not history, h's just flash shots. That's just flash
shots. Then he concerns hhnself with the fimdamental poshion (of the Echo journalists),
then the primaty focus, (unclear), those are, for aU practical purposes, the main points of
emphases which the Party expects of hs joumaUsts. Such dfrectives the BUd newspaper
gets today from the CDU board of dfrectors. They get that too. Those are the typical
effects of a Party which, through hs Party apparatus, prepares hs people for certam
ideological social high pomts. That's done tocfey. In America the Office of the Secretaty of
State does that. The big press agencies get dfrectives which are to be emphasized as mam
points of emphases for thefr propaganda. Or don't you beUeve that? What was Radio Free
Europe domg m Munich? They got dfrectives as to how they were supposed to combat the
Eastem Bloc and how they were supposed to fight against Socialism They got very clear
dfrectives. And hi SociaUsm that existed too. There was the Propaganda Department and
they fought agamst each other. They received dfrectives as to what they were supposed to
have as mam pomts of emphases. That's just the way h was. Today h's done with more
refined methods, when you look at the nightly news on TV, and at the analyses on the

489
news, aU of a sudden h's quite apparent. Suddenly, the war with the Kurds is over. And
suddenty, if some dead person emerges, the world is shaken for tiiree days. In another
countty, maybe huncfreds and thousands die and not one announcement wiU emerge. That
is aU decided by some poUtician. Have you heard anymore about Zafre? For four weeks
we heard about this from monung tUl night on the problems with Zafre. Now those
problems are resolved and now the problem is Kenya: mass demonstrations m Kenya, and
aU the journalists are stormmg over there. What's gomg on now in Zafre...not one person
is about to elucicfete on that. From the cenfral (unclear) the pubhc opmion center, accent
marks are emphasized so that opmions can be formulated. And this happened m SociaUsm
also. And that's what he's describhig, for example. Ok, "...the preparation for the Olympic
Games m Munich...the Cold War is m process. Who wiU win more medals? The West
Gennans buUt the biggest and most modem stadium. The most beautiful. It's exceUent.
They're exceUent m economic matters." Then the GDR is included m this: "How are these
people supposed to behave? Are they supposed to appear Uke beggars or what? They have
high achievement levels they want to put on display. They have good athletes. They buUt
up a state. So, they took away land and factories from the capitaUsts." That's the decisive
pohit: why the change m the GDR is so disputed...because the ownership relationship has
changed.
B-A friend of mine said to me, that the victor writes history.
E-Yes, naturaUy, your fiiend was right, that's the way h is. And they not only write h, but
they rewrite h. And in this work, history is not just written, h's rewritten. For the most
part, h's rewritten. And that's what is so dangerous.
B-Then why don't you write a response to this?
E-Yes, and h's also necessary. And that's why I wanted to give you a suggestion. When
you write about the GDR, h is, of course, not that easy, to wrhe about the history of
GDR...you were never here, you never Uved in Europe, you only write from books.
B-Yes, I did Uve in Europe [altogether over 6 years, and was also m the GDR.]
E-WeU good, but at any rate, you never experienced the GDR. You Uved somewhere else.
And at any rate, h's stUl difficuh to hnagme yourself m that situation, desphe aU the many
papers [documents]. So when you write, do h in chapters. And do h Uke this: when you
write m EngUsh, do a dfrect translation mto German, chapter-wise, then send h, either to
Gfinther Wonneberger or...
BREAK HERE
E-In the GDR there was also vety good niveau. Anybody could do sports. Somethnes
there were some reaUy crazy sports...raftmg and such didn't exist. They just developed
later.
B-What? No beach baU or bungy jumping?
E-Yes, they've only existed in recent years.
B-Yes, of course. I just meant that as a joke. Back to this henious history of dopmg. You
did not know what was gomg on, how they were dopmg and m what reahns and such?
You didn't know?
E-Are you dohig a hearing of me?
B-WeU, I just want to know ffyou knew, because h was a separate matter or no? From

490
the authorities.
E-There is a state mvestigation gomg on right now against 51 tramers, officials and
athletes of the GDR. The state attomeys are under the jurisdiction of the Regional Court
of BerUn and they ask such questions.
B-I see.
E-And that's why I won't even answer the question. I can, of course, say hnmediately,
naturaUy, I didn't know about h. As it is now being depicted, in that respect I didn't
know about it. [Enphasis is Erbach's.] The GDR always fought agamst the usage of
dopmg on an international basis. And was ready to take measures m the mtemational arena
by takmg certahi steps with the control of h. And they took some of these measures. That
doesn't mean that the results of certam technological and scientific [research] wasn't
appUed m the GDR. The most inqwrtant issue was: not to dope. Most important was an
improved system of frammg. And actuaUy I'd have to say, m respect to dopmg or the
injuries resulting from dopmg, doping hself is not punishable, but there was a Ust of
medications issued by the IOC. Everybody knew h. Every doctor and athlete who
practiced this must answer for themselves. No one got any dfrectives from me on this, nor
any orders. That means, naturaUy...
B-Was sports science m the GDR more advanced than m other countries?
E-In respect to science that's very, very difficuh to say.
B-What about certain areas, Uke biomechanics?
E-What concemed biomechanics is that this discipUne experienced a very rapid
development since the beghming of the 60's. And we had many good caches, many good
personaUties who had quite a weU qualified development and they had a very good niveau.
B-Higher than the others?
E-There was science in the intemational biomechanical society and m the GDR we held
biomechanic seminars and I have to say that the results of the biomechanical research and
also the teaching as a whole was at the same niveau as in the West.
B-At the same niveau?
E-Yes, I'd say so.
B-And the equipment that they used, was that also at the same level the sports
equipment?
E-That's partiaUy the scientific (research) equipment, that differed. In respect to
computers, the West was always superior. The question is what one does with the
object...whether one is recordhig the object and whether with certain controls if h was
absolutely necessaty to have the most modem equipment to prove one's particular case. If
you can't use them, then aU this high tech equipment isn't worth h anyway.
B-Did the coach have to tend to fewer athletes than thefr counterparts did in most of the
capitaUst countries, m your opmion? Or do you know this?
E-I would say yes. The number of coaches m the GDR was relatively high. And there
were uidividual coaches for evety athlete. And a vety, very good coach had very few
athletes to tend to.
B-And the so-caUed preventive sports medical procedures which were done m the GDR,
was that also at a higher niveau?

491
E-I'd say so.
B-Among most of the countries?
E-Viewed whoUsticaUy: m the unity of trahung and sports medical care. That means
research on work load, stiiicturing of the Ufe style, demands on the medical speciaUsts,
[and] resident physician...that means evcty athlete had his own doctor...this entfre sports
medical care and the monitoring of the athletes' health, that was strongly emphasized m
the GDR and [was] vety good.
B-Ok, this research assistant of Dr. Wonnebergers told me once that m Kreischa there was
a piece of equipment which when the athletes became hijured not only enabled the muscle
fibers to grow faster, but h also prevented the athletes from losmg thefr condhionmg.
E-Yes, that was electro-sthnulation.
B-You know about this piece of equipment?
E-Yes, that was electro-sthnulation.
B-Was that unique to the GDR?
E-No.
B-Did they adopt this from the Russians?
E-Yes, they had that m the cUnical practice only with other mechanisms for different
effects and we had developed such pieces of equipment m the GDR and the Russians had
h too, but it's in every clinic.
B-Did they take this idea from the Russians first?
E-I beUeve h came from there, yes. But the idea of how h was appUed certainly did come
from theuL We saw how the Soviet gymnasts, as an example, would have this electro-
sthnulation appUed to them. They had smaU portable pieces of equipment with them which
were used during breaks, that is breaks during compethion, and which were also appUed
when mjuries occuned, that is with disturbances to the muscles. Then they did some
scientific research on them and determined that whUe electro sthnulation was weU known
in common medical practice and they reworked the procedure to adapt h to sportsmen and
women, because the highly tramed person is completely different than the average person
waUcing the streets. The frequencies are dififerent. The physical bases are dififerent. But
the mechanism to sthnulate the muscles is, m principle, the same. But the highly trained
muscle is more sensitive to stimulation and has other physical sizes than the normal
muscle. So the principle as such is weU known.
B-Ok, they also had this underground high ahhude chamber...
E-Yes, a buUt chamber...
B-That was m Kienbaum, and they also had these swimmhig-canals where they could test
the performance abUities of the swhnmers, similar in a way to the mstitute of Kenneth
Cooper in DaUas, Texas...do you know that?
E-No, but I know about it from...
B-But they had, at any rate, aU maimer of equipment which tested the athletes.
E-Yes.
B-Were there other high tech pieces of equipment which...?
E-Yes, of course. We had aU those mtemationaUy renowned procedures. For example, the
swimming canals with the cunents came from Sweden. It was m Sweden first, maybe even

492
m America. The advantage and disadvantage of America is that such a system can exist at
a university for 5 years whereas another university may not have h for quhe some thne.
The advantage of sociaUsm was, once we recognized that a certam kmd of equipment was
good, then we buUt h everywhere, tiie next day, wherever h could be used. We didn't
leave anythmg to chance. Then, in one year, we buUt 5 or 8 swimmmg canals. Every club
had then, swimmhig canals m 4 or 5 years...m HaUe, m Leipzig, in Erfurt...
B-The swimmmg canals were everywhere m such...?
E-...were buUt everywhere. That was an addhional expense. That was a special measure
which we financed. And m addition to that, there was this scientific equipment system
which recorded the thmgs, you had to have the equipment and the computers and so forth.
It was a complex measuring area. It also measured the tenqx) of the water cfrculation.
They swam certain prognosis thnes, that means a predetermmed thne that one had to
achieve. And the cross-cunent canal was set for this. We did the same thmg with
canoes...that was m Potsdam. Those were scientific technical procedural methods. And
what happened in swimming was also done hi canoeing. In rowing the dimensions were
greater, one needed more energy. That was aU, in science, leghhnate. What was decisive
for us was that we had created complex measuring places...for winter sports, for nordic
combhiation, and we greatly concemed ourselves with anythmg pertinent to the reahns of
performance m both trahimg and conqiethion to embrace these things m some measurable
fashion. That means the athletes came at certain times to these institutions or the FKS and
there they would do performance tests, and there aU manner of scientific discipUnes would
be (frawn upon which were deemed necessary.
B-But I am specificaUy mterested in the equipment...
E-Yes?
B-.. .because they developed and researched very specific types of equipment. Those were
unique types of equipment which were developed solely m the GDR, or no?
E-No.
B-In HaUe, for example, there is a piece of equipment designed specificaUy for the
throwing sports.
E-Such things exist everywhere in America. They have them m series. They were only
reproduced here m the GDR.
B-What about the equipment (for throwers) where they throw in a cfrcle?
E-They exist everywhere, they've just been modified.
B-I see.
E-There is mdividual appUcation just for, say wrestlers, and they have been projected
towards the wrestlers. Those are shnply trainmg aids. They were developed m the GDR,
but m the GDR there was nothhig unique. They existed in the other countries as weU.
B-But they had a very high level of technology.
E-Yes, we did have a development department and we reconstmcted the thmgs. We had,
at our Research Department, a big development division for computer shnulation and for
scientific technological parameters. They reconstmcted the equipment. This was
commonplace everywhere in the world.
B-What about the speed bUces?

493
E-We reconstmcted the most modem and fastest bUces m the world. The body of the bike
was made out of glass fibers, for example.
B-...or bikes which did not have spokes, for example...
E-Yes, yes, h was a just a thm waU.
B-Yes, exactly.
E-They were developed here m BerUn in a very Utile workshop where 60 people worked.
They were developed by good engmeers and simulated on computer as weU as developed,
in coUaboration dfrectly with athletes m traming.
B-Then, was every athlete analyzed as to what they specificaUy needed in respect to
nutrition?
E-I would say m principle yes, m principle. But there was also a lot of room left for
fiexibUity m this area, whether they adhered to this or not. There was general nutritional
dfrectives which were thought out by research assistants. Studies were conducted on an
intemational basis so as to discem what was necessary...the percentage of calories used,
carbohycfrates needed, for example, and so forth. And then there were parameters set for
nutrition and as a mle, many adhered to these and many did not. And the tests, they did
naturaUy for body fat percentage...
B-Some have greater appethes than others...
E-Yes, that was not such a big production and they were certain nutritional guideUnes
established, but h wasn't engraved in stone, I'd say.
B-Yes, I've asked everythmg I intended on askmg, unless there's somethmg else you'd
Uke to add.
E-Should you have more questions, write me or Gfinther Wonneberger. You've made the
first contact, thereafter we can always answer your questions. Nothmg else comes to mind
at this pomt.
B-Many thanks.

494
 APPENDIX F
INTERVIEW WITH
A FEMALE TRACK ATHLETE

495
 Interview with a Female Track Athlete
of the Elite Athletic Program
Anonymity to be Retained Upon the Athlete's Request
Juty 16,1997, Potsdam University, Potsdam
Interviewed, Translated and Transcribed
by Barbara Cole

A=Athlete; B=Barbara

B-Ok, we'll leave your name out, at any rate, tell me your age, discipline and from when
to when you were active as an elhe athlete.
A-I started when I ffrst started school at the age of 7...
B-At the age of 7?
A-At the age of 7, and they selected me for swimming.
B-...selected for swimming!
A-I swam from age 7 to 10 at the TZ on a performance basis. Then they dissolved that
system.
B-Here in Potsdam?
A-No at home, at Havelberg by Magdeburg, which was a mam center for swimmmg, I
was at Havelberg, but unfortunately at that pomt 1 was too young or I would have had to
have gone to a KJS then. I was too young when they dissolved the TZ, and I missed a
year so they decided...
B-Why were you too young?
A-Yeah, you had to be a certain age then for the KJS.
B-Oh yes, you had to be at least 14 years of age.
A-Yes, you had to have a certain level of athletic performance and you also had to have
certain grades at school which wasn't a problem for me because I always had them, you
had to have at least a 2 (American: B). And then I would have gone to Magdeburg. So
from the age of 10 to 18,1 did track. Then they made an extra effort to search for...close
by was a forfress hi Havelburg for canoemg and track, and so we swhnmers were divided
up among the canoers and the track athletes. And I had more the physique appropriate for
a frack athlete, they told me.
B-Four hundred meters, 800 meters...?
A-No, I was a jumper and ran 400 meters, and then I did high jumpmg and broad
jumpmg
B-High jumpmg and broad jumpmg. Aren't most women who do that quhe tall?
'A-Yes.
B-But you're rather short.
A-[laughs] Short and fast! No, mostly I ran and did hurdles...60 meters, 100 meters and
then 200 meters.
B-Were most of the kids selected m TZs or m school sports or the Spartakiade and the
regional compethions or...?
A-I myself was selected m the school. They came, looked at us, our whole class, we had
to all take off our clothes, completely naked, and then we had to swhn...
B-Naked?
A-Yes, naked.
496
B-Why naked?
A-So that they could see the anatomical features better.
B-[laughs] Naked.
A-Yes naked. It bothered me because we always had to shower before and after trahung
and we had to go to the showers naked and we had to shower with the boys and that
reaUy bothered me.
B-At what age did this happen?
A-Oh around 8 or 9. You reaUy got a shameful feelmg. I thought h was hnpossible.
B-I thmk h's impossible too. That was with your classmates?
A-Yes! Whh my classmates then...but you know. That wasn't vety nice, but after awhile
you got accustomed to h. The frahung whh swhnmmg was significantly more strenuous
than that of the frack. Whh swhnmmg, I trahied four thnes a week. Always right after
class. I had class untU the fifth or sixth hour, untU 1:30 pm, then a bus came from the
NVA. The trahung center with a swfrnmhig pool the army, h had a swimmmg pool and
then...
B-What is NVA?
A-Nationale VoUcs Armee! [laughter] (National People's Army) They had a swhnmmg
pool and they always picked us up whh a (unclear). There were 25 of us who trahied m
my age group.
B-Women?
A-Women and men, we were mixed. They always separated the two around age 19. So
the training wasn't separated.
B-In this time period you Uved m the KJS or...?
A-No, when I was swhnming I wasn't m the KJS, afterwards...
B-When you were m track. At the age of 14.
A-Yes, I was 13 or 14.
B-And you only stayed there one year and then the Wende (Fall of the Berlin Wall)
happened.
A-Umnun, I stopped before the Wende happened because I didn't lflce h anymore,
because the training was too hard and I cUdn't get along with the coach. You were,
somehow, not really a person. They weren't very considerate of you. Then, my coach at
home, he was different. I had a real relationship with him but these coaches, h was aU the
same to them. You simply had to overcome your own lethargy and if you didn't produce
the desfrable results then you had to run another lap and precisely fill in your nutritional
plan and everything had to be done vety precisely and I didn't Uke it.
B-How many hours a day did you train? In track.
A-In the mornings we did two hours, then we had four hours school and then afterwards
we frained again until 6:00 in the evening.
B-And that was at the boardhig school?
A-Yes. It was a school with a boardhig school. Ummm, I was m a four-bed room whh
other gfrls.
B-[You trained] 4 hours a day, 6 days a week?
A-Saturday and Sunday depended on whether there were compethive events or not,
because compethion was always on Saturday or Sunday, and so then you wouldn't have
trahiing. But then you would because you had races and so you had to do those and
prepare.
497
B-You were 14 years old then m '89?
A-Yes.
B-And then you quh about sbc months before November. So you quh somethne m May?
A-I had won a regional championship for a year prior to this. But I had told my parents
that I wanted to stop domg this sport because I just didn't feel lUce domg h anymore. I
just didn't want to do h anymore because I saw the other youth couldn't do anythhig else;
how they sat there everyday and had to go to the weight room everyday. I had to wage a
battle with myself [to do aU this] and 1 didn't have any free thne and that aU bothered me.
(Unclear.) Sport isn't everything hi life.
B-Was the frahung too extensive, was h hard? Was h too hard?
A-Yes. Yes.
B-For a chUd, or in general?
A-As an example, with broad jump, if you did not reach a certam height, you have to also
have a certam height by broad jump, then they had this hook and if you didn't reach the
proper height then there were three poles and then a hook, then you'd get the hook
stumbling you between the legs.
B-What? Explahi that to me again.
A-(Very unclear, aU in dialect.)
B-Oh dear. So you got whipped a little bh. But h didn't hurt that much or did h?
A-Oh no. But h scared you because you didn't count on h being there. But h did help.
B-It worked. The next tune you jumped higher. What other methods did they use to
motivate you?
A-Well at the TZ they had this scale and when you stood on it and weighed a kUo too
much, then you had to run the kUo off. And at that tune I was a bh chubby...
B-...run off a kUo, how much would you have to run?
A-Yeah, run off a kilo. At that thne I was 2-3 kUos too much and then that was just great,
you wouldn't get any dessert....
B-Aha! The kitchen help knew precisely who got dessert and who didn't...
A-Yes, there were different meal tickets for the different athletic disciplines. For example
the shot putters and the wrestlers, they got to eat pork legs for breakfast and we got
crackers and mfisll And they could really chow down. They had blue tickets and we had
red and yellow tickets.
B-Now that's hiteresting. And the blue tickets were for more protein...
A-Yes, well accordhig to the demands of the sport.
B-And what about the red? What did you get with red tickets?
A-We got alot of fruh and vitamms and such...
B-And gold, what did the gold ticket get you?
A-You know, I don't really remember, I just remember the colors.
B-But red was probably more for gymnasts?
A-Red was usually very little, as much as I remember.
B-Probably not much butter.
A-Everythmg was measured out. You had a book in which you had to write down what
you ate and how many grams of each hem. And they always checked h to see if you kept
up with h. You also had a book of the frahung units that you accomplished: how much
you ran and m what times, which races you competed in and how you ranked,
comparative tests, your trahung plans. They checked h vety carefully so that they knew
498
exactly where you stood.
B-And how often did you have to get weighed?
A-For me specially, twice a week and then you had to go to the sports physician on a
regular basis and there you got weighed agahi.
B-Did they ever take blood or urine samples from you?
A-Yes, that was always involved m the tests.
B-Urine and blood?
A-Yes.
B-Were you ever abroad to take place m compethion?
A-No I wasn't abroad.
B-Did you ever fmd out what the resuhs were of tiiese (medical) tests?
A-No. They shnply took them and sent them m and then everythmg was ok.
B-Did they ever teU your parents what they were?
A-My father was himself an elhe athlete at that thne and so m that respect h wasn't reaUy
discussed because h was simply normal that you go to a sports physician.
B-Ok, you said beforehand that you had to run a few extra kilometers because you
weighed too much and then you got fewer meal tickets or how was that?
A-Yes you got less and then you had to sweat h off even more and do more so that you'll
lose the kUos, because the heavier you are, the harder h is to achieve your performance
goals. And my parents were always so nice and I wrote them about how little I got to eat
and my mother always sent me packages whh chocolate and cookies...
B-A ha! A ha!
A-We could also buy h so in that respect...I wasn't that ambhious and I wanted h like
that.
B-Yes, yes. But the children never really endured hunger if they gained a little bh.
A-No. The trahiing was so hard and I had such a hunger afterwards and then they gave us
such things that, we weren't aUowed to eat too much because then we'd weigh too much.
We didn't Usten to them. When you're hungry, that's the way h is.
B-That would have been hard.
A-Whh swimming, I'd come home so hungry and eat 4 slabs of bread (open faced
sandwiches) and wouldn't gain weigh. Whh swimming I never had a weight problem.
Perhaps this was due to the fact that they laid such emphasis on weight in track and were
always teUing you, you weigh too much, whereas with swimming they didn't pay that
much attention to it. They were always looking at your muscle build and bone
development. For example you'd have to put your arms up and they'd press your elbows
together from the back and then they'd look at how flexible you were and such, or how
weU you could stretch, they placed alot of value on that. A frack athlete would do weight
trahiing, how much weight you could Uft [was unportant] and also how much you
weighed because that's hnportant too.
B-You said once to me that your trahier always remembered exactly what thnes you ran
mand...
A-Yes I just did the six discipline sport m the sixth semester and I got an A [m that class]
and I was chattmg with him because he's a friend of the family and the coach, we caUed
him a Schinderhannes because he was so hard and...
B-Schinderhannes? What is a Schinderhannes? [slave driver]
A-Schinderhaimes is, weU, you don't want to do anymore and he cfrives you on and yeUs
499
at you and he's also the type that would smack your legs with a hook.
B-Oh dear!
A-You just couldn't do anymore and somethnes I'd sh there and just bawl durhig trainhig
and StUl you'd have to go on and on. He didn't care. But today I'm actuaUy a Uttle
thankful to him for that.
B-A Uttle thankfiil for that?
A-Yes, because I never would have achieved this certam degree of confidence if he
hadn't. He really did achieve the basis for that, that I'm somewhat successful. And he
really did have all my thnes from that period memorized! I was so amazed, because I said
"I've never run 800 meters faster than that!" and he said, "No, that's not right, m 1986
you ran such and such." That's amazing.
B-That is amazmg. He probably oversaw several hundred children. Or no?
A-Yes.
B-And he had all thefr thnes memorized?
A-Yes. At least he remembered mine, and I don't know why that is. Because whh my
sister, she was a shot put thrower at that time, he remembered all her distances too. He
StUl frains.
B-Your sister.
A-No my sister doesn't train anymore, he trains at the fraining center where I ffrst started
m track. He stUl trains there. He had to stop for a Uttle while because he had been whh
the Stasi (Secret Police), that came out and then he had to stop training in this poshion for
a while because he couldn't get another poshion then he got this official poshion.
B-How does your sister look, does she have really big arms?
A-My sister is double my size, huge shoulders and she's 182 (centimeters) and pretty
much a (unclear). At least three heads taUer than me, certainly.
B-My goodness. You said once to me that you had gotten pills.
A-Yes, I got the pUls especially during my swimming time. As a track athlete we got
drops of something m our tea or our juice.
B-Without your knowing about h, or did you see h dfrectly?
A-Yes, you saw h at the frahung camp.
B-They didn't hide h, they just put h m.
A-Vitamm cfrops. It said so right on the container. And we just took h.
B-And hi your miUc? Did they also put thhigs m your miUc?
A-I don't know. It always just tasted lflce miUc.
B-As a swhnmer you got more pUls.
A-Yes, at that tune I had been m the tramhig program two years and then we got
(unclear)...
B-What kmd of substance?
A-These white kleenexes, and there were always 3 or 4 pUls hi them and we got them
once a week. And you just took them.
B-What color were they?
A-Ununm, white, gold and then there were some longer ones.
B-Blue?
A-I don't remember. There was powder m them White powder, but I don't remember the
color of the capsule.
B-Did they tell you what they were?
500
A-Vitanuns. They were always vitamins.
B-Yes, yes. But h's strange that the vitamins changed.
A-WeU we had...
B-That the vitamins changed accordmg to the type of sport you did.
A-Sometimes the vitamins changed from week to week. Somethnes they thought maybe
you didn't need them. Somethnes you'd get 2 pUls, somethnes you'd get 3.
B-And they were vety keen on nothig when you had your period?
A-Yes. That was more a strong emphasis in track. My coach was always asking when I
had my period and such and at the next compethive event he'd ask me "When are you
getting your period?" and such. And sometimes the period would be delayed due to a pUl
B-Did your sister also get pUls, did she teU you?
A-I don't know, we haven't taUced about h.
B-Was she at the same training center as you?
A-Yes, at the beginning she was. But my sister was a bh more successful than I was.
B-Did she ever travel abroad?
A-No.
B-Did you ever notice any physical changes?
A-...based on the piUs, no. But I've noticed that my jomts are a bh (unclear). My jomts
are such that I shouldn't do any sports any more at aU.
B-Why?
A-Because of the substance, they said to me that my bones, jomts, Ugaments, are aU that
of a 70 year old grandmother's.
B-Who told you that?
A-My physician. That is, my sports physician.
B-You have Ugaments and bones Uke that of a 70 year old?
A-Yes, they're pretty much used up.
B-The Ugaments? The ankles, for example?
A-Yes, ankles and my right knee m particular. But my father also has problems whh his
knees.
B-I also have problems with my knees, but you're 21, right?
A-Yes.
B-That you have knees lUce a 70 year old is mterestmg. Okay teU me some of your
experiences at the O S . Did you have frequent contact with your parents?
A-Yes, we wrote letters because we didn't have a telephone hi the GDR thnes and...
B-...or at least not avaUable for the children?
A-Mmmm. And on occasion I went home, by bus.
B-Yeah?
A-...with the bus. Magdeburg isn't really a great city. But what was so great was that one
went from one moment to another as behig mdependent. You got to do anythmg, run
around with friends, do all kmds of nonsense. Even though h was strictty forbidden for
the gfrls to sleep m the boys quarters, they always did. Or we started to drink beer even
though that wasn't aUowed either.
B-At the boardmg school?
A-Yes! That was lflce (unclear). I always thought that was great, [laughter]
B-Wasn't there some kmd of overseer? No one oversaw this?
A-Yes, of course, evenmgs they went around to see if our Ughts were out and that we
501
were asleep and sometimes...
B-...and as soon as they did thefr rounds then the gfrls were off to the boys' quarters...
A-Yes, or the boys over to the gfrls quarters. I also thought that was so great. Really
remarkable. Those were great tunes. Those were the best thnes at the sports school. The
first 2-3 weeks at the school I just cried because I was homesick, because you're not used
to the hard trahiing and you always have to overcome yourself After awhile h was
afright.
B-Did they not also closely confine the Uves of the children and watch them quhe
closely; one could only travel if they were m agreement and one could only go on
vacation if they aUowed this and the parents could only vish if they allowed h...?
A-Well particularly m the summer, when other children had vacation, we had to conthiue
trahiing, because if you're out of fraining for more than 2 weeks then you can no longer
produce the kmd of performance which for you (unclear.) And then you always had to
ask if you were aUowed to go on vacation with your parents. For me, fortunately, I had
won the regional championships and then I had a fall and broke my left knee and then,
naturally, I had three weeks break. That was the nicest thne for me even though I was m
the hospital for a week. But finally I got to go on vacation whh my parents.
B-My goodness.
A-But then I reaUy had to start agam and I reaUy had to overcome myself to get back mto
h and that was the time when I noticed that I really didn't want to do this anymore.
Because I just didn't have h in me anymore.
B-Did you have someone you could discuss this with? Whh whom you could discuss
your problems?
A-No, I taUced it over with my father and my mother.
B-No, I mean while you were at the boardhig school.
A-Yes, I taUced h over with my friends at school m our room. 1 said, "I have no desfre to
do this anymore. I hate it...and so forth."
B-Did any of the others want to quit too?
A-There were some, but they just didn't dare.
B-Why not?
A-Because every parent is proud when you've done this. Because h was really something
special when you were selected and because if you went to the KJS then your future was
preprogrammed: you'd have a secure job, a univershy admission, you got everythmg....
B-And the more successful you were, the better...
A-...the better your chances were to...
B-...really become something.
A-...to really become somethhig. You got an apartment hnmediately and everythmg.
B-You'd get a car much quicker.
A-Yes. Yes.
B-Telephone connections right away...
A-Yes, you got everythmg, right away.
B-Travel abroad.
A-Yes, you got to fravel too.
B-Was that a main motivation?
A-No.
B-What was your primary motivation?
502
A-My father said to me "We're so proud of you that you've done this." Perhaps that's
why. We just bought an old fe^m and looked recently mto an old box and found an old
(book) photoalbum and there I was 4 years old and my father had written m how far I had
tiirown a baU and could run fast. My sister was only 2 and he had written down her tunes
too!
B-Wow. What kmd of sport did your father do?
A-My father played soccer and also became an elhe athlete.
B-ReaUy? In what area?
A-He did high jumpmg. At that tune they didn't use mats, they jumped mto sand at 170
centhneters. We stiU have a photo of this. It must have hurt.
B-Oh dear. Did he have success?
A-He had some success but he wasn't aUowed to go to a KJS because my grandparents
forbade him from domg this. They didn't want h.
B-Was he successful m compethion?
A-Yes he was successful hi the regional championships. Then afterwards he started to
play soccer and now he's a soccer frainer at the club.
B-Did he himseff become a soccer player?
A-Yes, he always had fun doing this.
B-Was he m a league?
A-No, he always played for the disfrict clubs.
BREAK HERE
B-Who gave you the pUls?
A-My coach. In my group of 3-5 people there would be one coach. He'd be a specialist.
He specialized m jumpmg and sprintmg and he frained us for many months.
B-Did you have to take these pUls right away?
A-Yes.
B-In his presence?
A-Mmmm.
B-He had to look while you took the pUls?
A-Yes. In swimming we'd all come into a foreroom and we stood there m a row and then
everyone would get thefr pills and we took them immediately.
B-After the Wende when this became common knowledge what franspfred whh the
chilcfren, did your parents ask you whether you had taken pUls or not?
A-No. Because after the Wende when I left the sports school I spent about half a year of
"down" tramhig. We had to down train. They made sure we did. Then h wasn't an issue
anymore. Because I didn't reaUy want to have anythhig else to do with sports anymore,
and my parents shnply accepted this.
B-Ok. How did it come about that you came back to sports?
A-[laughter]. WeU, I did my Abitur and then I asked myself, "Ok , what are you
gomg to do now?' Actually, I wanted to study medicine. At ffrst I wanted to become a
nurse and then medicine but I had a grade pomt average of 1.5 and that was a bh too low
for admission mto medical school and so I would have had to have waited and then when
I got this news then I filled hi the forms for a nursmg school admissions and I started to
study. Somehow, I was too inteUigent, the Realschule (unclear) with 4.0, you know.
B-You said previously that h came out that your coach used to work for the Stasis (Secret
PoUce.)
503
A-Yes.
B-Accordmg to your knowledge did he check up on you and wrhe reports about you
or...?
A-Well we know that he wrote about our family and specifically about my parents as my
mother and father had fraveled abroad. Whetiier he wrote reports about me, I don't know,
because h wasn't apparent. No one had a clue that he was the one from outside who came
in and wrote this. It really stunned us because he was a friend of ours.
B-Is he StUl a friend of your family's?
A-Yes, because he was sortof squeezed in...
B-Squeezed in?
A-Yes, squeezed m. He couldn't really help h because he would have endured
considerable punishment if he had not cooperated [with the Stasi]
B-I see. Have you ever noticed if your mail had been opened?
A-I had a pen pal hi the West who also was m track and she had been to the East Sea and
she sent me a letter from there and there was sand in h and the letter was apparently
opened because it was too thick.
B-They opened h because it was too thick...
A-That and we had relatives in the West who would send packages and they were always
opened.
B-Your packages from the westem relatives were opened?
A-Yes they were opened. That was apparent to us.
B-Did you ascertain whether things had been taken out or not?
A-No, my relatives also always sent a list of what was in the package, whether it was
coffee or chocolate or whatever. And everything was always there because we'd count
the hems. But the packages were always opened.
B-Ok, you probably also got a good deal of poUtical education in school and also at any
athletic event you always had to Usten to these poUtical speeches.
A-Yes, we also had to give them.
B-You had to give them?
A-Yes, we had to give them. It was called Rechenschaft Vorsitzende, that is,
Rechenschafts Ratsvorsitzende (Authorhies on Accountabilhy) and the Class
Organization {Klassenverband) was the highest. You were aUowed then to taUc to the
Dfrectors and teachers. That was your flmction.
B-And that was an honor?
A-That was a big honor. [Laughs]. Then at sports festivals or some Party meetmgs you'd
give these speeches.
B-Then did you give these speeches?
A-Yes, I also gave speeches.
B-On how wonderful Socialism is and dear Karl...
A-Yes and someone would come from the Chy CouncU and the speech was given to you
and then you were simply supposed to read h out.
B-And h was also about these damn Americans, the hnperiaUsts and...
A-No, h was about discussions from the Party meethigs: "It's been discussed that we
want this and that kmd of performance and this year we accomplished tiiis much
performance and we would lUce to brmg forth greater productivhy m this respect..."
B-They were motivational speeches?
504
A-Yes. Or "We're coUectmg old thhigs or we're gomg to gather macaroons or somethmg
lUce that"...or "We're proud to serve our fetherland;" or "I'm proud to be a pioneer or an
FDLer," or "I take my actions seriously," or,,.
B-You were supposed to embody the socialist personaUty.
A-Yes, and the class enemy should be avoided.
B-Should be avoided?
A-Should be avoided.
B-Who's the class enemy?
A-The FRG [Federal Republic of Germany, le.. West Germany] was THE class enemy.
B-And we, the Americans were class enemy number 1 or number 2? Probably number 1.
A-Yup. I'd say so.
B-And the FRG? Number 2 or number 1?
A-The FRG was the fox devil wild.
B-Fox devil?
A-Fox devil's wild, that means very energized, [laughter]
B-Ok. And the FRG was probably depicted as the marionette puppets of the Americans.
A-Yes! Yes! We had this, how was this caUed? A special course, something to do with
sociaUst.
B-Something to do with socialist? Society, sociaUsm and...
A-Yes, and Social Studies and poUtics and such. And there we learned about the
constitution of the GDR and the class enemy, how I can protect myself from the class
enemy. There were 9 or 10 commands which we were supposed to keep. You know?
How operations are built up, you know? Things lflce that.
B-Did you ever feel motivated somehow from any of these speeches?
A-I always thought h was a big joke.
B-A big joke?
A-A big joke. Because my parents weren't in the Party, the SED, (Socialist Unity Party.)
B-Had they ever been m the Party?
A-My father was a metal constmction worker or something sunilar, but my mother was
never in the Party which was highly unusual because she was a teacher.
B-Oh yes! You told me that once before.
A-And we also had another situation because we had alot of relatives m the West, many
relatives abroad.
B-That is something.
A-My parents were raised differently, never ones to march to other's beat.
B-But these speeches about socialism and the socialist personaUty which you were
supposed to embody, they never did motivate you?
A-No. Actually not. [laughs].
B-I'm gomg to teU that to Erbach. [laughter]
A-Whatever you do, don't teU him!
B-I told that to hhn and his wife yesterday and they were mad and I said, "You know, the
athletes laugh about this."
A-You know somethnes h reaUy was laughable because at the Spartakiade you were
supposed to stand there up front and hold tiie GDR fiag and smg some praise song, or if
you got an award from Erich Honecker for some athletic accomplishment, h was always
the same thing evety year.
505
BREAK HERE
B-Did anyone ever, or the coach ever ask you vety specific questions about your femily?
A-No, actuaUy not. At that thne, when I was selected at a compethive event to go to the
KJS, my father was there and he spoke to the coacL
B-But that was purely sports, sports, sports...
A-Yes, and my femily got a letter where we were all mvhed to a compethion (unclear.)
Nothing more.
B-Where was h that your family fraveled to when they went abroad?
A-In the Soviet Union.
B-In the Soviet Union?
A-Mmmm. Because a friend of our family worked at an embassy and they flew to see
him.
B-Well then that's not exactly a class enemy.
A-No, but we also got vishs from our westem relatives and that was, naturally,
always....and then there'd always be tins Mercedes parked m front of our house and that
always atfracted attention.
B-And they always brought alot of westem goods.
A-Yeah, weU they always brought us thhigs. A TV and such.
B-And then everybody was jealous.
A-Yes, and I had Barbie doU and nobody even knew what she was.
B-What kind of discussions did they have? Did your westem relatives teU you what
garbage was gomg on here or..?.
A-No, they always told us what the latest jokes about the GDR were. It was so funny! For
example, "How do you get a VoUcs [East German] poUceman m a frash contahier? Throw
m a [West] Deutsche Mark!" [laughter]
B-That's good, do you know any others?
A-I can't remember. That one just occuned to me.
B-The level of nutrition you received at the KJS was better than elsewhere was h not?
A-Yes, we had, in contrast to aU the others, access to bananas and apples or tangerines
and oranges.
B-...and the quaUty hi general of the food was...?
A-It was great, super. It was always tasted wonderful. Maybe because we worked so hard
that we had sfrong appethes!
B-Yes, yes. Hunger is the best cook, is h not? And how were the facilhies? Was h good?
Were they in good shape?
A-In Magdeburg they had super facilhies, the tab tah (?) was really quick there.
B-What was really fast?
A-The frack hself, this mbbcty carpetmg there.
B-That was an up-to-date sports substance.
A-Yes, they also had indoor running fracks which was great. At the boarding school it
wasn't just us. There were canoers, swhnmers and soccer players at the KJS boardmg
school.
B-Have you seen the fecilhies here m Potsdam?
A-Yes, I was m compethion here also. These facUhies are also good. I've seen worse.
B-Are they just as good as...
A-I'd say at Magdeburg that they have a Uttle more (unclear). But I can't say anythmg
506
about the pool because I haven't seen h.
B-It's pretty comprehensive here.
A-In Magdeburg the fecilhies are even bigger.
B-The whole sports facilhies are bigger stUl m Magdeburg*?
A-Yes.
B-Isn't that actually rather expensive for such a Uttle countty to build so many athletic
facilities?
A-I believe so, but what h cost, I couldn't teU you. But aU these sports facilhies were
vety similar to one anotiier. They all looked pretty much tiie same. You had an hidoor
running track. You had a room with parquet floors where you can play handball or
soccer...
B-Or gymnastics.,,
A-Yes, and a gymnastics facilhy, but there wasn't a gymnastics facUhy m Magdeburg.
(Unclear).
B-There were also centers for speed skathig. I believe that was Erfiirt.
A-Yes, but m track you'd have an hidoor runnhig track, a stadium, a soccer stadium and a
muhi-purpose room where you could do a variety of things, with wooden devices.
B-How many athletes did your frainer oversee?
A-In swimming, there'd be on average between 15 and 23. And there were two tramers.
In track, I was with 4, 5 people.
B-Did you have other caretakers, such as a masseuse or a sports physician, or...?
A-Yes and they were always in addhion [to the trainer].
B-What else did you have in the way of personnel?
A-Well we had special coaches in strength training.
B-Sfrength coaches?
A-You'd have a sports physician, a personal coach, then a masseuse...sports physician I
mentioned afready, right?
B-Right.
A-And then you'd have a strength coach. So four.
B-Four.
A-Yes.
B-And m addhion to that you had m the kitchen, specially trahied personnel who cooked
nutritionally sound meals...
A-Well they weren't just there to cook just for me! They cooked for others too!
B-I mean, they cooked meals appropriate for the specific athletic disciplmes.
A-Yes. And then you also had your teacher at school who also took pams for you.
B-If you needed a Uttle private instmction or a tutor, you could get that too, right?
A-Then you'd get a free reservation and you'd make up for lost thne.
B-What does that mean, a free reservation?
A-You'd be free from school for 2 or 3 weeks and the teacher would draft a special plan
of homework and assignments that you had to fulfill and then you'd do that m your free
thne.
B-In your free thne. So they pretty much adapted the school to you and your abUhies.
A-Yes. The school material remahied the same. We didn't have 6 hours a day of school.
We had a maximum of 4, but that also probably depended on my age.
B-How did you fmd the atmosphere of the school there? Were they pretty carmg?
507
A-The classes were not vety big. There was 14 students, and normal is 20.
B-All of them athletes?
A-Yes. And h was more Uke a big family. We didn't sh next to each other (hi rows), but
m a cfrcle or just as a group.
B-Pretty strong team spfrit?
A-Yes. We were together around the clock. Evctyone knew each other.
B-And the caring they demonstrated was reaUy good.
A-Yes. It was like a big family.
B-But you stUl thought it was too hard?
A-Yes, because I'm really a family-person. And I had never been away from my family
for that long and I just could not get used to h.
B-Anett POtzsch said to me that the goals they established m the athletic reahn [were ]:
they had weekly plans, monthly plans, aimual plans, Olympic plans, and so on. That
means they had certain goals they had to estabUsh in week, certahi goals m a month,
certain goals in a year and so forth.
A-Yes, that was the same way with us in our fraining plan, these books.
B-Anett POtzsch said she thought the goals were hard, but she thought they were good.
A-Yes, I'd have to say she was right. You don't just fram blmdly. You have to have a
goal hi mind. And h was so that if you were just one second to slow, then you fought h
out with yourself untU you achieved your goal. And then, once you achieve it, I was so
happy that I reached my goal
B-So h aroused your fighthig spfrh. Didn't h?
A-Sure, otherwise what are you fraining for, if you don't have a goal m mind? The athlete
sets his nund on the Olympics or on this or that compethion where you wUl compete
agamst this person or that.
B-If you had a child, would you send your child to such a (sports) school?
A-I'd do h like my parents did, I'd make h optional. If they asked me, "Do you want to
do this?" And I said yes. If my child were to come to me and say, "Mom, can IT" Then
I'd say yes.
B-Desphe this whole history whh the pills?
A-That was never an issue whh me! Because I reaUy thought they were vitamms. Many
thought we were being doped and everyone knew h of course, but no one said anything.
B-But you thought that was...everyone knew!? Didn't anyone taUc about this?
A-No. No. Because, with the weight lifters for example...I, for one, had done strength
training for years...(unclear dialect). When a person first comes to the sports school and
they've never had much stress, say on thefr arms before this, and after three months they
look Uke Amold Schwarzenegger, then somethhig's not right.
B-Yes, yes. Did you ever have to sign anythhig to indicate that whatever you did there
would be considered secret?
A-No.
B-Were you allowed to taflc about any of the frahung methods outside of the school?
A-Yes, but I never did h because no one ever showed any big mterest m h. My coach m
my club after I quh, asked me what khid of thhigs we did and I told him, the methods and
how they were enacted. But other than that...
B-But StUl you didn't have any contact whh foreigners...
A-No, I never had any contact with Westemers. My family m the West, aU they knew
508
was that I was athletically hivolved and that was the extent of thefr knowledge.
B-What would have happened to you if you had not fiilfilled your trainmg plans, if you
had not achieved the goals?
A-With us the shuation was that you wanted to go to the con^iefhive events because
you'd be meetmg up with your friends and you were checkmg out the other athletes
(boys), and then you wouldn't be able to go to these events because you hadn't met your
perfonnance goals. And that was tough.
B-That was Uke punishment.
A-Yes, that was like punishment.
B-But did you then have to train even harder when you didn't achieve your goals?
A-Yes, two or three thnes. And you sat there in your room and knew what was gomg on,
exactly this person and that person that you wanted to meet up with, they would all have
been there [at the competition.]
B-Did the possibility exist of wavermg from the fraiiung plans?
A-ActuaUy I adhered to them pretty strictly unless I had something happen Uke a
stretched Ugament or something because the frahung plans were afready estabUshed.
B-Somethnes you'd fram hard, sometimes not so hard...
A-Yes that all depended on how the compethive events were set up. We oriented
ourselves around the methods of the coach, then he ordamed the mtensity of the trahiing.
B-Nothmg was oriented around mood or feelings...
A-No!
B-It was always black on white...this is how it's going to be done.
A-Everything was written down. So that no one could say, actually we told you to do
such and such and h wasn't done that way.
B-What was the big reward for you in this whole story?
A-I had the greatest runnhig shoes, great sports stuff! [laughter] And I got to meet new
people (unclear dialect.) And I got to meet some reaUy shrUl types.
B-ShrUl types. What do you mean by shrUl types?
A-Some athletes are so crazy that h's, yes... simply genius! [laughter]
B-What were the advantages for you in this system?
A-You got to practice any profession you wanted. Say you wanted to become a physician
and your grade pomt average was only 2 (American: B), then you got to become a doctor
anyway.
B-And today that's not possible?
A-No. You'd have to wah a long thne whh that grade pomt average [to get mto medical
school] if you want to become a doctor with a 2 [GPA]. That's only average. Two is
average. It's goocl but h's not real good.
B-I see.
A-And you got sporthig goods which were westem standards. And some of the specialty
running shoes were developed. And then you'd get them. We had to tum them back m
though.
B-Tum them back m?
A-Yes.
B-You weren't allowed to keep them?
A-No.
B-And then they were given to other chUcfren?
509
A-Yes. Evety sports shoe had a certam color. Magdeburg had, for example, blue whh
white stripes and these thhigs you'd have to give back, the runnmg shoes and tramhig
clothes. Ok, yes, so you'd get the sports thhigs, you'd become very mdependent quite
early (from parental strictures), you'd have a large cfrcle of friends.
B-Ok, we want to taUc about the individual aspects of why that system was so successfiil
m your opinion.
A-You feh vety mcluded m thmgs. You feh very secure. You knew that even if you did
somethhig stupid, you'd stUl be taken care of You were m a big family. Evetyone looked
out after evetyone else.
B-And the care was vety good...
A-Yes.
B-Preventive medicine was vety good...
A-Yes. You were taken care of from beghmmg to end. You didn't have to worry about
anything because everything was afready taken care of
B-Didn't you find that to be a little oppressive? You were aU children anyway so that
probably had to be done that way, that much care.
A-Not necessarUy m sports, I thought that that worked out good to have my plan afready
done, if I would have had to have conceived it then h would have taken way too much
time. And how would I know what [amount I needed to do] and for how long?
B-I know what we've forgotten: with the goals that they established in training, what
happened if you didn't fulfill them?
A-Okay when they haven't been achieved, then you weren't allowed to go to certain
compethive events, for example, or go to something you absolutely wanted to go to, or
your fraining would be increased.
B-And you'd have to train harder...?
A-Yes.
B-...and do a lot of repetitive work...?
A-Yes.
B-Did the possibilhy exist of makmg the trahung plans harder or wavermg from them?
A-Well they depended on whether you were mjured, whether you had tom a Ugament or
tumed a jomt, then your trahiing plan would have to be redone.
B-But h rested only on mjuries, never on mood or whim.
A-No, if you ever said to your trahier, "I don't feel lflce this today," then he'd get the idea
that today I'll reaUy make you work extra hard, [laughter]
B-Did they ever do that to you?
A-Well now and then. He'd say to me okay, "Run 400, then run 100, then 400 agam"
and after the 4* or 5* thne Uke this. Then you say, "Listen Geezer, you can kiss my
behmd, I just don't feel lUce this today!" And he'd say, "Okay, do h three more thnes, one
after the other."
B-What are the reasons that the East Germans are prhnarUy the ones who are wiimmg the
medals, say at the Barcelona Olympics and havhig the most success at other competitive
events?
A-I'd say h's due to our build-up, how the sport was organized. Those are stUl the
athletes from that time.
B-...and this atthude or this perspective that one should "not leave anythmg to chance,"
one must really adhere to the frahung plan, frrespective of the vacillations of mood and
510
whim, and also overcoming one's own lethargy...
A-An athlete has to be discipUned. An athlete without disciplme is not an athlete. And
why are there methods and frahung plans and why are there aU these weU educated
coaches if they aren't put to good use?
B-Oh yes, Anett POtzsch also said, she thought the goals were high and tough, but she
thought they were good.
A-I thought they were good too.
B-Even though you quit?
A-Even though I quit, yes. But without a goal, you have no estabUshed thne, you can't
systematically work towards h. But if you do and achieve h, you can be very proud of
yourself Because if they teU you to run faster and don't teU you how fast, then you don't
know how fest your supposed to nm. You can orient yourself on some compethor, but
every goal was mdividually planned. All those m my group, the four others, they all had
different thnes and different goals. It wasn't just a blanket decision, "You all have to run
a 12.0." The times were aU specifically planned.
B-Both Udo Beyer and Dr. Erbach, I asked them both, if they thought there were certahi
cultural characteristics, specificaUy German characteristics, which made the system so
good, for example, that the Germans were more thorough, more scientific, more
organizecl [all of which] which made the system so successful.
A-We had alot of organization, there were aU these various [administrative] poshions,
and above those positions, more positions...
B-This view of "leavmg nothing to chance" I find that...
A-Everythmg was completely and thoroughly planned out with us. Everythmg.
B-From morning to evening. To what you ate, what you did...
A-EspeciaUy at the sports school that was completely planned out. You had your free
thne where you could have fun, but stUl everythmg was planned.
B-There was this aggressive search for talent. That was also unique for the system. And
there were three possibiUties to fmd the talented children, right? School sports, the
trahiing centers and then these compethive events (Spartakiacfe) which you e^qjlamed to
me previously.
A-Yes, regional championships, district championships and then school championships.
And then the highest was the GDR Spartakiada or the European championships, which
came after that.
B-And h was possible to go from one athletic disciplhie to another, according to how
weU suited the athlete was for the different athletic disciplhie.
A-Yes, for example if an ice skater was no longer suited for ice skathig because the
expectations weren't met or the medical prerequisites aren't met then as one had planned,
perhaps that person would make a good cyclist or a speed skater. Look at me. I went from
being a swimmer to a frack athlete. That's also very unusual.
B-Look at the bobsledders, they would come from a wide variety of sports, for example,
track. Dietmar Schauerhammer was European Champ twice in the Decathalon and he had
a number of mecfels m bobsled and he has two gold medals, two silver...
BREAK HERE
B-What would you tell a West German he absolutely must appropriate from this system?
A-The carmg demonstrated for each other, how we got along. That's very hnportant. Not
that one teUs each other, "He's from the East, he doesn't have alot m the cherry to begm
511
with..."
B-Meaning?
A-He's not vety mteUigent! The social securhy, the way people got along. I thought that
was reaUy great.
B-We're taUcmg now about sport.
A-Yes! Many West Germans put too much value on externals...on the brand of thefr
shoes, on thefr T-shirts, or a snazzy tight fittmg track suh.
B-I see. What would you absolutely leave out of the system? Or reject.
A-The coach knew how to put you under so much pressure, that somethnes you just
couldn't do anymore. You were so psychically stretched that you couldn't always just
caU your parents. And when you're young, your primary relationship m life is your mom
or dad. And there you had your friends, but the situation for your friends is the same as
your own. I cried oftenthnes because of this pressure.
B-Is that too hard for a chUd?
A-It depends on the child.
B-It's a completely individual thmg. You can't generalize Uke that.
A-Yes, because some people really needed to be put under pressure Uke that. They
perform thefr best then. I just happen to be the kind of person who, the more sfress there
is, the less I can do. It just creates a block.
B-You see how different the psyche is of different people? One can take something that
another absolutely can't. If you could do this again, would you do h?
A-I'd do h agam, but differently.
B-And how?
A-Some things I would force myself to do that my coach told me to do.
B-Is there something else you'd Uke to say?
A-I would Uke to say that h wasn't so bad, the sport system ActuaUy, I'm pretty proud of
the fact that I was given the opportunity to go to such a school
B-The West Gennans bedevil the system. Do you think what they write about h is
accurate? For example, you made a few comments to me once on (sports history
Professor) Dr. Teichler. What do you thmk of what the Potsdam (Univershy) people have
written and said about the system?
A-They themselves weren't there. They don't know what good thmgs and what...they
only know what the bad thhigs were m our system They don't know what the good
thfr^s are. And if any East German said "This was bad." then they take that and state,
"You see, 95% of East Germans have said h was bad." But that's not the way h is. They
have this attitude of, "If you know the ophuon of one, then you know the opmion of aU of
them." I thhik that's terrible.
B-Do you thhUc that what Dr. Teichler says are exaggerations?
A-In many respects, yes.
B-Which respects?
A-We were taUcmg about the sport teacher's education at these camps...
B-Which camps?
A-Some where the sports teacher's went, I don't know them that weU. Many of his
(Teichler's) statements were exaggerated. I could not agree witii hhn, because I
experienced (the system) much differently. Perhaps because I did not find h to be as bad
as he claims.
512
B-As a student, you're not really allowed to contradict your Professor ehher...
A-I've done what I need to do with him and I shall not take anymore sport histoty classes
from him. I've cfrawn my own conclusions.
B-Have other people said not to take any more sport histoty classes from him, or what?
A-Other people...we have discussed this matter quhe frequently, my colleagues and I, and
we are unanimous m our decision that we do not want to take any sport histoty classes
from this man.
B-But you told other people not to take a class with Dr. Teichler?
A-I never said, "You shouldn't take a class from this man." But we did exchange
ophuons and if I was asked, "What do you thmk of hhn?" then I told them my ophuon of
hhn. They should go check h out for themselves and they will know what h's all about,
because the first hour is the same as the 10*** hour with him. You have to leam some
sports festival held at a certam thne of the year, look at some TV broadcastmg and that's
h. But that's not sports history for me.
B-Do you thmk he exaggerates m that he depicts the (GDR sports) system in such a poor
light?
A-Many times, yes. Because he gets his documents from some archive, usually
something the Stasis wrote up, and then he thhiks that that is exactly the way h was.
Many times what was written up in those documents were exaggerated.
B-Exaggerated. And you're not allowed to say to him...
A-I mean, I can't judge him, because he doesn't know any better. If I sharply disagree
with my Professor, then maybe my tests won't be recognized (acknowledged). It could
become difficuh (for me.) You never know...I never said to him don't do that!
B-What if you were to let him know anonymously?
A-No, he should say what he wants. It doesn't matter any more because I have nothing
more to do with him.
B-One says, the victor writes the history. The Westemers won the war.
A-I myself am part of this history. And m that respect...who knows what would have
happened if that (die Wende) [FaU of the Berlhi Wall] had not happened?
B+A-Then we wouldn't be sittmg here!
B-Then you would have been penalized for even havhig any kmd of contact with me.
A-Yes, for voluntarUy discusshig whh the class enemy here.
B-Is there anything else you'd lflce to say? I have no more questions.
A-No, when you have no more questions.
B-I haven't any. Thank you.

513
 APPENDIX G
INTERVIEW WITH
GERHARD GRUNER

514
 Interview with Gerhard Gruner
Former elite athlete in Swimming
June 16,1997 in BerUn
Interviewed, Transcribed and Translated by
Barbara Cole

B=Barbara; G=Gerhard

B-Ok, teU me first your name, athletic disciplme and the years you framed and the
success you had or didn't have.
G-My name is Gerhard Grfiner, my athletic discipUne is swimmmg and I started
swhnmmg hi 1967,1966, '67, just when I started school.
B-'67?
G-Yes, and I stopped m 1978, or thereabouts. Although, I'd have to say that the first few
years of performance sports, were m the school years, and then the question arose as to
whether I wanted to go to the KJS or not. This started for the swhnmers and the gymnasts
hi the 5* grade and for the other athletic disciplmes h started m the 7* grade. So after the
4* grade, the selection was made and then h was delegated as to who would go to the
KJS or not. And I stopped, no '78 was completely wrong, h was '73-'74.
B-You stopped then.
G-I stopped and that was because of problems whh my spinal cord. If I had wanted (to
continue) and should have allowed that aU to cure, then I wouldn't have been able to
continue the full framing and then I also wouldn't have produced (the desfred)
perfonnance levels. Then we said, "It's over." The mahi thing is, is my father was there.
He was a strict one when it comes to health matters and he was very attentive to this.
When it came out that injuries had occuned to the spinal cord, then we said, "The
training shaU stop."
B-How old were you then?
G-At that thne I was 14.
B-At the age of 14 you afready had problems whh your back?
G-Yes, yes. But that aU has already been conected. I was m a Charhy Treatment. And the
specialists said, "Just bowed, we'U stretch h." (Laughter) But h wasn't very crhical.
B-The hijuries trace back to swimmmg?
G-One always says that swimming is good for the spmal cord, doesn't one? Oftenthnes
that's tme, but one conducts framing for high performance sports with considerable
strength training. And that was not my salvation.
B-...with weights...
G-...with weights. I would say that an approxhnate 40% of the tramhig was strength
training.
B-At the age of 14 you stopped, at age 10 you started?
G-Yes.
B-As of 10 years of age you were hi the KJS school?
G-Yes.
B-That young?
G-Yes.
B-Was that a boardhig school or did you live at home and go from there to school?
515
G-That was a boardhig school. EarUer when people did not Uve m BerUn, they could live
at the boardmg school. But I Uved at home, shice we lived m Berlm then h was not a
problem.
B-And then your parents were aware of your daUy affafrs.
G-Yes, yes naturaUy. They were very strongly hiterested m this. If a child is gomg to a
KJS then one wants to see what happens and if there's some success or not, or if h is even
fiiihfiil to beghi whh to contmue, or if one should go to a normal school. They were very
mterested and foUowed h aU with very crhical eyes, as one saw towards the end there, as
my father was the one who saw that the thing should come to an end.(coniment unclear)
B-How many hours a day did you have to train?
G-We frained three tunes a day...
B-Three thnes a day!
G-Yes, early for about 2 hours in the water.
B-Two hours hi the water?
G-Yes, two hours hi the water, then there was 2-3 hours schooUng, then agam
approximately one and one half hours trahiing, and then another 2-3 hours schooUng and
then again approximately 2 hours more of training. So you left at approximately 7 am
and were back home at 7 pm.
B-Do you think that's too much for a chUd?
G-If the child is properly motivated, then it's not too much. No one was forced to do this
and whoever doesn't want to do it, can quit. They don't have to do it. There was no
pressure.
B-You weren't told that if you don't carry on then you won't get a place m the
Gymnasium (high school.)
G-No. No. I had absolutely no problems at all.
B-You never heard, "If you don't participate, then you have no future prospects."
G-No. It was completely...(comment unclear). Such things didn't exist. It was Uke this,
that if you didn't produce a certahi level of perfonnance, then at compethion, such as the
Championship compethions, which were the high pomts, these would be just lflce the
state championships but with age limitations. Among aduhs h was everyone versus each
other, but among children, then h was chUdren of usually the same grade level competmg
agahist each other. Then, I thmk h was with age 16 or 17 that you competed as and with
aduhs. But if you didn't brhig forth the good (performance) thnes, then you left the KJS
and started hi a normal school. There wasn't a lot of pressure. Well there was some
performance pressure.
B-What were your abUhies Uke? Were you pretty good?
G-Yes, actually, I wasn't bad. My biggest success was towards the end as GDR
champion in the 4x200 meter relay...
B-GDR Champion? ^
G-Yes, and as second place m the 1500 meters free style. That was at the end of tiie 7
class, [and was] the high point.
B-Did you keep pace whh Roland Matthes?
G-No, no not completely. He was swimmmg as an aduh then and was a back stroke
specialist, which is a stroke that I couldn't do well at all, h was tenible for me. But from
this standpomt, I was relatively successfiil Opportunities existed for me to go to England
for the European championships, but then the thmg ended for me. I was m this youth
516
cadre, but then h was broken off.
B-What actually motivated you?
G-It was fiin.
B-Ok, so purely sports. Not any particular future prospects that you, for example, would
be able to fravel abroad or that you would be able to eventually provide a larger
apartment for your family, or that you could get a car quicker? You were too young for
such things, huh?
G-I wasn't thinking that far ahead then, none of that was relevant. It was just that you
wanted to perform the best among the people you were with and you notecl "He just
swam 1500 meters ten seconds faster," then you wanted to do h too and beat your own
classmates. At some point you can do h and then beat others m other clubs. The other
motivation was, of course, to fravel abroad, which wasn't such a usual thing for a, what
did they call it? NSW...non socialist world system. (Laughter.) That was a great thing,
which you hadn't accomplished beforehand.
B-You said beforehand that you were a GDR champion.
G-Yes, in the relay.
B-What is the relay?
G-When 4 people swim together...
B-Oh yes, yes, yes! Were you that one thne or many thnes?
G-I was h once, towards the end. And then second place (Vice Champion) for the GDR
championships for the 1500 meters, which is actually the longest sfretch.
B-And that was m'73?
G-'73,1 believe, yes.
B-At that thne the GDR led the world m swimmmg. Then you led the world [for your
age, gender] m swimmhig?
G-No, no, we were too small at that age. We looked around but, 3-4 years would have
had to transpfre then to reach the phmacle of swimmmg for men m the GDR ...men in the
GDR were never that good at swhnmhig m the world rankhigs, with the exception bemg
Roland Matthes. There were exceptions. But the GDR male swimmers were average
[among the world rankhigs.]
B-...average, hi contrast to other male swhnmers.
G-...average, m contrast to the USA, for example.
B-We had Mark Sphz.
G-Exactly, he was khig.
B-My brother said that his success was due to his bemg double johited. So he had a
greater kick.
G-Yes, his technique was particularly unusual. The trahung was particularly emphasized
with trymg to fmd the opthnal technique for one's self and then [trymg] translate that mto
action m the water, without floundermg around m the water. You need to be able to glide
m the water, vcty elegantty, without a good deal of exertion. That's very decisive as h is
with any sport, especially with endurance sports, that you can expend your energy
properly with a good technique.
B-Did they fihn you?
G-Yes, yes...
B-I mean whh biomechanical anafysis, and observed all your movements and told you
which movements you needed to change, and so forth?
517
G-Yes, ffrst of all the coach looks at you from the side [of the pool] always and he sees
many thmgs: whether the elbow is up or under, or if the arm pulls properly.
B-He looks at the thmgs you do unconsciously.
G-Exactly, but m order to get the last bh of potential developed, they did what was at that
tune for us unhnagmable, bio-technique, which was not done whh a cam-corder but a big
fat recorder (laughter). The research began hi '62, or '61, such technology was started.
Underwater cameras were mstalled and you saw yourself jump in water and swimmmg
and that was never seen before!
B-I thought there was an [under water] long wmdow and the camera fUmed along side
the window.
G-There was a big wmdow but the camera was stationary and then as you were
swhnmhig, the camera just followed your swimmmg.
B-Was that a waterproof camera m the water hself or was the camera behind the
window?
G-Behind the window. In the swimmmg hall there were many underwater windows and
one could observe...
B-And you could analyze yourself
G-Yes, you could look and say "Aha, that needs to be changed and that isn't opthnal..."
and so forth. And then there was a second technique. That was actuaUy very impressive
because no one had ever seen such a thing, this video-apparatus. That was reaUy
incredible. And then there was this so caUed Ught trace procedure. You're cabled whh a
special light, one on the hand and one on the hip and one on your foot. Then the whole
indoor swimming pool facility is darkened, or they wait until dark, and then the camera is
set up again and you swim and the camera foUows you. The end effect is (filmed) light
patterns.
B-That's very interesting.
G-Then, from these patterns you can see, for exan^le, that the foot has to be as close to
an arched baU as possible and the arm may not be m a cfrcle but as paraUel as possible.
That's an excellent display of this.
B-But if h's aU so mechanical and uncomfortable, then the swhnmmg can't be done so
weU either.
G-You just have to leam h. Sure everyone has thefr own technique, but at any rate...
B-You certahUy know who Bjom Borg is don't you? He was told that his entfre
biomechanics were wrong. He won Wimbledon, what, five tunes?
G-CertahUy, but somehow you have to figure out how to go faster and, that's what this
method does. You have to use the technology m an opthnal fashion to exploh your
abiUties. I thhdc that's okay. And if h can be done with even less exertion and you realize
how h works, that's the genius behmd h...that you're actually faster. My goodness, you
can't just analyze h and say h all depends solely on technique or solely on strength
trahung. In the end effect, h's the resuh of everything.
B-This motivation agam, you said beforehand, that h was purely for [the love of] sports,
but they actually encouraged you to beUeve otherwise, that is, not to love sport for sport's
sake as a motivational reason, but to develop the sociaUst personaUty. You were to
embody the socialist personaUty, through the success of sport, as a quasi reUgion.
G-Yeah, good.
B-Did that motivate you at aU?
518
G-No. No one believed m that, at least not in earnest. You can forget that altogether.
B-It was just poUtical speech makmg...
G-It was just what evetyone said, but in the final analysis, no one was interested m h.
B-You weren't either?
G-No.
B-All these poUtical speeches you had to listen to...
G-Ok, goocl we were raised with that stuff and I had to take h, but that h motivated me?
(laughter) I doubt if anyone believed m that.
B-A few said they believed m h, but most of them said "not much" and most of them said
h was just peripheral to the whole flung.
G-Of course this is all whh hindsight and h's been so long h's hard to say and to
conectly evaluate what one thought as a chUd. But for the most part, h did not play any
big role for me.
B-But the esteem of society, that was something, wasn't h?
G-Well ok if you put h Uke that. When you stand on the victor's step and...
B-And the high esteem of society...
G-That is tme of any country though, isn't h?
B-Accompanied by these socialist poUtical speeches...
G-Whether that was, weU if you say h Uke that. But if you're raised m any other country
and achieve a certam success than that would be reason to be proud of one's own country
also.
B-But h didn't have anythhig to do with the poUtical education?
G-WeU, what do you mean by poUtical education? You're hi the country the whole thne
and are constantly hifluenced by h. But at some pohit h gets to be too much. (Laughter.)
B-And at any given athletic event there were always these poUtical speeches.
G-Yes and h wasn't even just at athletic events. No matter where you were, the Party was
there. The whole society, the socialist society was everywhere. If you wrote a dissertation
or a thesis, the first sentence you had to write was always to the honor of., or to some
effect of how the State contributed to h and how great h was. It didn't matter what your
field was or what you did, that was inelevant, h all was always how the State affected h.
And you were raised like that.
B-You were more or less purety heart and soul athlete, and that's what motivated you and
not from this poUtical mfluence?
G-Yes certahUy. No I don't beUeve that many were under this poUtical mfluence.
B-I thhik an athlete is an athlete is an athlete, whether hs communism, socialism,
capitaUsm... . A j -^
G-It's certahUy contmgent upon where you are raised, then h's just lflce that. And if you
are raised lflce that, then you become accustomed to the fact that this is your reahty.
B-Did you ever beUeve that there was a genume socialist personaUty, and that athletes
embody this? .
G-I never broke my head over this. (Laughter.) Whether a person was honest, and if you
got along well with them, then you said, "okay!" And if he didn't betray you or Ue to
you, then he was a good guy, you can't pm h on this sociahst personaUty.
B-What were the advantages of this system for you?
G-Ffrst of aU, you didn't have to wony about the fiiture. It was all secure and planned for.
B-I mean whh the sports system.
519
G-Yes, I mean with the sports system. Oh, ok, with the sports system ActuaUy, you
didn't have to pay anythmg for h. Your parents never had to say, "We can't afford this,
you can't go anymore, or we can't buy the trammg clothes." The clothes you did have to
buy, but they were so ridiculously mexpensive, you can hardly hnaghie h. For a complete
outfit, bathrobe, swhnsuh, sweat suh, shoes, altogether h didn't even cost 50 marks,
which was a ridiculously [low] sum for these things. And...
B-Travel?
G-No, you didn't have to pay for travel expenses ehher. It was a socialist world system.
(Laughter). You don't have to pay for anything. Except for pocket money. There was a
few marks given out for pocket money. The parents would always give you a little but
you have to remember you could not exchange an unlhnited amount of money. No more
was allowed. From that stand pohit, h was a little bh Ihnited. From the dfrection, m the
West, for example, you couldn't exchange money anyway. It just didn't work. We got
our money from the sport club.
B-Was the care you received pretty good?
G-Yes. It really was good. You could say h was contmgent upon the coach you had and
h's possible that this was not tme with other coaches and h could have been different
elsewhere. But with my coach, I have no complaints.
B-And you never had the feelmg that you were heckled or overtramed, or pressured?
G-No. Naturally everyone is pressured or you're not going to be successful, that's what
the coach is there for. But in a massive form, or pushed into a comer, h was actually...no.
It was tme that there was success, that's why, maybe, I don't know, that I've become so
perceptive. But I noted from my comrades that this didn't work so weU. There were 2 or
3 classes where I was with swimmers, about 30 is what we started with, and this
[number] gradually diminished.
B-I see.
G-In one club, there were 30 swhnmers and there is always a natural selection from
these.
B-The disadvantages then...what were they for you?
G-The disadvantages? You notice these only whh hhidsight. Ok, you don't have a lot of
free thne as you've afready heard, you're en route from 7 am to 7 pm. And then there
wasn't a lot of free time. But the disadvantages were not dfrectly perceptible. I did not see
any as a child. I would be frustrated, for example, perhaps that maybe I couldn't do
certam thhigs.
B-If you had a child, and I don't even know if you have one, but if you had one, would
you send your child to such a school?
G-No. I wouldn't do h.
B-Why not?
G-Because, because the heahh matters were not completely paid attention to, only the
parents were reaUy attentive. And the matter whh the spmal cord was not noticed. And I
thmk if you put your child m such a sports school then you lose the conttol and unless
you really trouble yourself and look at what is gomg on, then there's gomg to be
problems. The child is gone 12 hours a day and only comes home to eat and sleep and on
weekends, of course. Then you have to mvest all your thne to mamtahi control or to even
see what is gohig on there with your child. And I thmk that high performance sports is
not necessarily somethhig that one has to do. One can do sports and that's okay...
520
B-Someone told me that high perfonnance sports is damagmg to one's heahh. But does
that mean then that we're supposed to elhnmate the Olympic Games?
G-No, whoever wants to do h, I have absolutely nothmg agamst h. If a child has the
capachy for such a thmg, and my chUd has absolutely no capacity for this, then I would
have no problem if my child wants to go to such a school but I would never pressure hhn
mto h. He has to decide that for hhnself He has to say he wants to do h and wants to be
good, then I'd never say anythmg agahist h. But I'd never try and taUc hhn mto h and
convhice him that he absolutely has to do high performance sports.
B-If you could do h all over agam, would you do h?
G-That's a difficuh question, that's askmg me as if I were small agam and had such a
choice agam. I do have to say that I don't regret havmg done h. I had the experience to do
sports.
B-ActuaUy h's a hard thmg for a child to be so motivated, goal oriented and stick to just
one thmg, isn't h?
G-Yes, but that depends on how much your parents are hivolved whh h, what other
thhigs they do with you, if you do other sports, not so extreme but stUl maintahi a Uttle bh
of hiterest m h on the side, then I thmk h's ok. Sports had predommance, but that was
always good when everything wasn't just the sports. Have a little more balance.
B-Did you also train with gfrls?
G-Yes, yes, we framed with gfrls. The class was a mixed class.
B-Did they give you vitamms?
G-Yes, they gave us vitamhi tablets. That was normal the same ones you could buy m
the store. What were they called? (Comment unclear.) Yes, absolutely normal vhamin C
tablets and they also had such a penetrating flavor that one noticed...
B-...at first they were sweet, then they were sour.
G-Yes, that's how they were.
B-And did they give you anything else?
G-Me personaUy, they gave us a, yeah what do you call h? A vhalohn (sp.?). You could
buy it next door. If you're ttying to steer towards doping, I would say, or I would say at
least at my age, that that played no role whatsoever...exactly 100% for certain you can
never say for sure.
B-Did you see ff the gfrls got the same things you did?
G-One was not so concemed whh such things because you got your pills m the hand and
they all came out of the same container as everyone else's.
B-I see, then the gfrls got the same thhigs you did.
G-Yes, but we never looked so carefiiUy at what others were domg, because this issue
was not decreed on any written schedule. It didn't exist m the public consciousness:
dophig, what is that?
B-What would you say was the reason for the success of this system?
G-The sports system? Above aU, at least at our level, I would have to say h was the
rigorous hard training. And whether...
B-And so early too that one startecl so young I mean.
G-Yes, also that they went around and observed at the school athletic compethions as to
who had talent and hiterest at a very young age, and if this child should be sponsored
further and supported m any way. They went to fmd talent at the schools and [they]
would see what each one did, afready m the 1^ grade. In addhion to that, there were many
521
factoty sports communal centers. I don't know if you know about that.
B-Yes, also framing centers.
G-Yes, but m addhion to that you had the factory sports centers where you worked,
where you could, for example, go swimmhig for free, or whatever, play voUey ball or
whatever. They [the employees] naturally also brought thefr children whh them And then
the chilcfren would be observed...
B-Talent selection.
G-And when I stopped, h wasn't a big deal, but you had to "down ttam" and then you
might want to conthiue dohig sports after that, so I was m one of those factory sports
clubs. Once or twice a week I'd go, and then I'd participate in the compethion events.
There were many people I knew there, also many who had also quh [elite sports]. They
continued on in these sports communities. The BSG had a very broad basis with many
types of sports. (Comments unclear.)
B-Uta Pippig, she had more success after the Wende than she did before the Wende. She
won, as you know, the Boston marathon three times, she dropped out of the Olympic
Games due to muscle problems and in Boston this year she was only thfrd. She ttained,
however, 180 miles per week, 30 mUes more than her opponents. Do you thfrik that fraces
back to this system, to train more, that one had in mmd to ttain more, to do more, to do h
more scientificaUy, to be more goal oriented?
G-Yes, exactly. You probably didn't see h so as a chUd, because as a chUd, naturally, you
don't have that kind of oversight, but the coaches were mostly former elhe athletes
themselves who had done a degree at the Sports College [m Leipzig]. And I think there is
a basis there for havhig reasonable consequences.
B-You had meso-cycles, macro-cycles, Olympic-cycles, whh certam goals as to what you
should accomplish in those respective time spans...what you're supposed to accon^Ush
in a week, what you're supposed to accompUsh m a month...
G-Yes, there were precise trahiing plans.
B-And you had to fulfiU those plans. You had to fulfill them
G-Yes, well you had to at least strive to fulfill them. That is, there is the one matter of
strivmg to swim say, for the national championships, m a certam thne and then you have
on the other hand then, your trahiing schedule which says you have to, or should,
complete a certam number of kUometers per day. We'd go to a frahung camp. There's a
real nice one not too far here from Berlhi whh a very modem m-door swimmmg pool and
a divmg pool also, Lmdau, not too far from here. You come to h if you drive out towards
Oranienburg. Unfortunately, h has been closed because they can't mahitahi h. Somethnes
we went to Bulgaria, also, for high climate trahung. That was somethmg that not
everyone could do. Only the select few.
B-Only the best.
G-But the trahung center was vety mteresthig. Because we had, weU Lmdau had many
bridges.
B-Many bridges?
G-Bridges, yes. You normally had a swhnmmg pool with 4 lanes. And here you had 9
[lanes] and m the middle of the pool there were many bridges so the coaches could stand
there and observe your technique.
B-There were also swimmmg canals.
G-Yes, there were those too. Anti-cunent canals.
522
B-Did you ever participate m one of those?
G-No, tiiey were buih about the thne that I stopped. They were buih m (comments
unclear.) There were many metiiods to test the contmuhy of swhnmhig. There was a so-
called pace maker. (Comment unclear). For example, a child had to swhn after a Uttle fan
and blow on h to make h go around. The longer you swhn, the more you can make h go.
Those were some of the tricks. They'd tram the arms for example, and not the legs.
They'd put a big mbber band around your feet so you can't move your legs apart.
B-...only for the arms.
G-Only the arms. (Comments unclear.)
B-They did, what you call m English, mter-discipUnary cross tramhig. Also runnmg?
G-Yes. Mainly...
B-Bicyclmg?
G-No.
B-They did whatever they could to hnprove your aerobic capachy.
G-Yes, yes exactly. Whatever hnproves endurance at the sports center, runnmg,
endurance mnnmg. LUce I said, 40% of the trahung was weight frahung.
B-Was that not more hiteresthig for you foUcs to do different types of tramhig?
G-Yes, yes. There were always some things you Uked but runnhig for me was miserable.
B-But swimming long distance is so boring.
G-Yeah you don't just swim nor do h all at once, h was divided up mto many disciplmes
and with many different trahiing methods. They didn't just say, now swim three hours
and the thing is accomplished. Every sport disciplhie was done differently, but there were
different styles of runiung.
B-Just Uke at a univershy where you have a major and other courses you for take your
minor.
G-That's right.
B-And they tried to do it creatively and use many different methods so h's not so boring
and so you're better motivated.
G-Yes, of course. You also had such a thing, such as one hour of swimming whh
perfonnance tests, then every two minutes to do speed work, say swim 100 meters. The
fzister you are, the more of a break you get. If you do h in 1 minute 10 seconds, then you
have a 50 second break.
B-Then there was competition so that you have this competitive mentality don't you?
G-Yes, at this level not so much, but you had that then anyway. Nobody wants to be
behmd, that's logical. Clearly, there was compethion.
B-Do you think there were, let us say, cultural characteristics which we were appUed in
order to make this system good? That the East Gennans took over the Russian system
and did h more thoroughly, more scientificaUy, more consistently? Do you flunk the East
Germans used these cultural characteristics to make the system as good as h was?
G-Cuhural characteristics...! don't know exactly what you mean by that.
B-Okay, one says of the Gennans that they are thorough, more scientific, more exact,
more consistent...
G-Yes, yes. CertahUy, if you say h like that, then that is exactly how h was. We had vcty
precise training plans and we had to adhere to them. Thoroughness was somethmg we
worked with constantly. It wasn't up to the athlete. The athlete is human and sometimes
didn't want to tram but one couldn't just say, "I don't feel lflce h today," because the
523
coach was there, one would be observed whether the swhnmer wasn't domg anythmg.
(Laughter)
B-Aha!
G-That's natural it happens to evetyone that somethnes you just don't feel lflce doing h.
But everything was vcty carefully prepared.
B-Udo Beyer told me that everythhig was planned so that "Nothmg would be left to
chance."
G-Yes, that's tme, everything was planned.
B-Timmg was everything.
G-Yes, I thhdc so. On the other hand, one couldn't judge that because one did not have
the opportunity to get to know otiier countries' systems. You were raised with that system
and just assumed that that was normal. Now, if we had had the opportunity to tram m
another countty, then h might have been different. We could have said "They do h Uke
this." But we didn't have any possibiUties to compare, as to how the others do h.
B-Outside of the GDR, [m the West] h was caUed the "Sports Machine," "The Mfracle
Machine," or "The Mfracle Sport Machme," but actuaUy one was dealmg whh humans
and not with machines or machine components.
G-Yes, that's tme.
B-...and with vety normal people, with normal fecUngs, whh normal life cfrcumstances...
G-But so long as you don't consider h to be a horrible burden, you know, then you don't
get these ideas that "This is totaUy shitty. I just don't feel Uke h." If you do something
and you're successful, than that's good. If you do something and never have success, then
you say, "Something is wrong here. We've got to do something different." But as long as
you're successful then evetyone is happy about h.
B-What do you think of these reports from the West German press that the (GDR Sports
System) was constantly mtertwined with the Stasi and they were dopmg and who knows
what else? Was it as bad as the West Germans present it?
G-I flunk the tmth Ues somewhere m the middle. When you see women whh such a
(muscular) build and voices which are...
B-...deeper than a man's?
G-Deeper than a man's. And I can't hnaghie that that is a frait they were bom with.
B-They (the athletes) were not all universally doped m aU reahns?
G-I don't see h Uke that. There were select people who were on thefr way and they were
"made fit" for the last effort. But they say that "They were only so successful because
they all were doped," I can't see that. Ffrst of aU, there was very hard trahung and...
B-...a scientific system, supported by the State.
G-...and if you haven't done h by then, then I can say that maybe other methods were
tried. Later we'U have more msight mto this. I can't say this from my owm experience
because we didn't experience that. Maybe we just didn't have the msight. Dophig doesn't
help ehher if you've reached your maxhnum potential anyway.
B-They had success m gymnastics, m handball, in biathlon, m shootmg and according to
what I know, dophig doesn't help at all m these realms.
G-Absolutely. I thhdc that certahUy m such an athletic disciplhie as swimmmg that
dopmg could help...
B-...for women, but not for men.
G-Lflce I said, I have a hard thne evaluatmg this. I read the Der Spiegel article where the
524
people received the stuff. There is certahUy some evidence there. But the second article
was, well made for sensation.
B-LUce a smear press. Do youtiihdcthat the West German press exaggerates because h's
a stoty they'd reaUy Uke to seU?
G-Yes, of course.
B-They overplay thefr hand?
G-I thhdc that there is some tmth there, but h's also untme that onty these medications
made them good. I can't hnagme that.
B-What would you take from this system and save?
G-Yes, from the sports system h would be good to have that real communal sensation,
where you reaUy feh Uke you belonged; take a lot of people off the streets. Today you see
so many youth with whom you don't know what to do, you know. They sh out there m
front of the Kiosks and cfrink a lot of beer...
B-And children who smoke! That makes me sick.
G-That wasn't the case whh us. No one hi our class smoked. Ok, so once in a while
someone would brmg one and we'd try h, but no one really smoked. The same with
alcohol. It was taboo. I think we have the problem as to how h would be paid for. The
state paid for everythhig. The state can't or won't pay now and that means a lot of free
time activities are just not there.
B-A lot of people dfrectly after the Wende, and I mean dfrectly after the Wende, were
angry whh the successful elhe athletes because they thought they had more material
goods than the average chizen and they didn't even earn h and they were also treated
better than the average citizen, then they were to represent the socialist personaUty and
yet they were motivated, and rewarded, with capitaUstic forces and goods. Is that fafr?
G-It depends, because if you look at what a tennis player cams here, then that was
peanuts (compared to) what they got m the GDR.
B-...and what the average West German soccer player earns...
G-Yes, h's utopic.
B-...and I wanted to say, even so, that's tip money in comparison to what the successful
American athlete earns.
G-Yes and as long as you have an athlete who has an affect on the public, or a sports
discipline where a lot of money can be earned, weU the money has to come from
somewhere, (comments unclear.) In phig pong salaries wUl never be paid Uke they are for
tennis or basketball or Formel 1. The relationship is no longer there. Then, as an athlete
you wUl have some advantages. The whole (GDR) system existed m a system of
deficiencies, so they administered the deficiencies.
B-...adniinistration of deficiencies, that's good.
G-You had sufficient thhigs to Uve on, but apart from that, somethhig a little out of the
ordmaty, you always were glad when you got somethmg and if you didn't, then h was a
Sony state.
B-The West Germans characterized this as an island of caphaUsm m socialism.
G-Yes, but h was that way hi evety reahn. If you were a good general medical
practhioner then you also had possibiUties, at least from our perspective, relatively
speakmg that is, to afford luxuty hems. Ok, good. But m relationship to how athletes m
other parts of the county lived, then h really was nothhig.
B-Back to this question of what one should save from this system: the communal feelmg,
525
that the youth might have a Uttle more disciplme, a greater sense of purpose
G-Yes.
B-...but not the framing plans?
G-Yes of course the frahung plans. But you should have the option to say, "Yes I wUl do
that," or "No I won't do that."
B-And you didn't have that?
G-Yes we did, but well, okay as a child you can't assess that as weU. If you're older,
you'd probably say "I'm not gomg to do that at aU." (Unclear comments) But as a chUd
you're more mfluenced by parents and other kids. The hfrluence possibiUty is different
than when you're an aduh. But stUl I thhdc without the tramhig plans you won't achieve
anythhig. For example, with high performance sports such as Formel 1, they don't just sh
hi the car and go around three thnes. They need to do more to do h so perfectly. If you
don't want to adhere to h (trahung plans) then they shouldn't do h. Where there is a lot of
performance expected, than one should work towards that. Or, you just do sport as a free
thne activhy. But if you have the goal of achievmg performance at a world class level
then you have to do it.
B-Apparently, from what I understand of your perspective, is that the children are too
labile to say "No. That's too much. I don't want to do that anymore."
G-Yes, on the other hand, that's difficuh. If the child says he's had a bad day, and that
happens, or one should see that h is too much for the child, then h reaUy is finhless.
B-How many days in the week did you train?
G-Five.
B-Five.
G-No, six. On Saturdays, just moderately. (Comments unclear.)
B-If you want to be someone then you have to fram a lot.
G-CertahUy, that's tme of anythhig hi the economy. You have to work your way up.
B-The West Gennans try to emulate some of the system: they do have sports schools. But
I was also told that h has substantiaUy declmed and that h is not nearly what h used to
be. They've broken what existed and then created somethhig which does not conespond
to the quaUty of what the earUer system was.
G-I can't judge that because I'd have to see h.
B-It's too lame.
G-It has to be rigorously organized. If you don't have a little pressure then, weU, h has to
be organized.
B-But you yourseff would not do h agam?
G-I can't say that, I'd have to see some ahemative. What else would I have done? You
have to do something with your life, besides just...
B-I started domg sports at the age of 19.1 came to love [mtensive] sports when I first
became an aduh, but I don't thhdc I could have endured h [at that level] as a child.
G-I never thought of h as a burden, or at least I can't remember h as such. I went there,
my friends were there. Sure you bad to exert yourself (comments unclear.) It was a good
thne. I can't remember that h was such a tenible stmggle.
B-You never thought, "Oh man, I gotta go swimmmg agam."?
G-You thought that too, and somethnes you were fed up, but h didn't last for days.
B-One says that today at work, "Man I just don't feel lflce h."
G-Comments unclear.
526
B-I have no more questions unless you'd lflce to add something. Thank you.

527
 APPENDIX H
INTERVIEW WITH
FRANK HARTMANN

528
 Interview with Frank Hartmann
Otympic Athlete and both GDR and FRG Coach in Wrestling
GDR National Champion
Schifferstadt, July 4,1997
Interviewed, Translated and Transcribed by
Barbara Cole

F=Frank; B=Barbara

B-Ffrst of aU, I would Uke, just for the beghming of the cassette, to have your name,
athletic discipUne and the success you've had.
F-As a coach or as an athlete?
B-Ffrst of aU as an athlete, and then as coach.
F-My name is Frank Hartmann.
B-Frank Hartmann?
F-Frank Hartmann.
b-Yes.
F-I'm 48 years old, married with two chUcfren [laughs].
B-Tramer in the reahn of wrestUng.
F-Trahier m the reahn of wrestUng, Greco-Roman style.
B-And hi the Olympic Games in '72.
F-Ok, as an active athlete, as a wrestler, I was the GDR national champ both for the
Juniors and for the Men. I was 7* m the World Championships m 1971 and m 1972 at the
Olympic games, I took 6"" place. After that I had a bad accident.
B-A bad accident?
F-Yes...
B-What kind of an accident?
F-Yes, everything possible was busted in my knee, in the jomt. And that was operated on
before the Olympic Games. For the Games I wrestled one last thne, and after the Games,
everythmg was busted agam and the doctor advised me to quh as he said that "You stUl
want to work and Uve another 50 years." So I finished my studies and became a coach.
B-And [you've been a] coach now for 20 years?
F-WeU, coach smce 1973 m many age groups. I worked at the KJS with various age
groups with chUcfren 14 years of age up to 18 years. And smce 1976 in eUte sports, I was
the head coach for athletes m wrestUng m SC ZeUa MehUs, which is m Thuringia. then,
paraUel to that, I finished up my studies at the DHfK m Leipzig.
B-Within the realm of sports science apparently?
F-In the reahn of sports science, as a sports teacher with a major m wrestUng.
B-And then you could proceed [to work] as a coach without any obstacles?
F-Yes. And then I also worked with the national team for many years m both tiie Junior
and Men's reahn. Then, in 1990, the Wende occuned.
B-Yes...
F-Up imtU then, we were two states and then I became unemployed.

529
B-Lflce many others.
F-..,because the sports system of the GDR then, as the DTSB had h, could no longer be
financed. The DTSB was dissolved. And I looked to see ifl could find another poshion as
a coach. So I came here to Schifferstadt. So I started workmg here m this system
B-Did you have contact with Klaus?
F-Not at aU. I got to know hhn here first.
B-I see. That's mterestmg. Where were we before I intermpted you m respect to sports-
poUtics? That the best thmg about h m the GDR is that sports were sponsored by the
state...and that you can't separate sports and poUtics...
F-Yes...
B-...and that that's a better system when the state sponsors sport...
F-WeU, whether h's a better system, I don't know. But I can only speak from my own
experience. I started at the O S m the 8* grade and left my parents home.
B-At what age?
F-13 or 14 years.
B-ActuaUy, on average, one is 14 years old when you go to a KJS.
F-Yes, the 8* grade. You're 13 or 14 years old.
B-As a wrestler.
F-Yes, as a wrestler. That was also a long ways away from my parents house, at least 400
kUometers away from my parents' house. I only went home every 6 weeks. But h was
reaUy great there at the KJS. There was supervision the whole day for you. The main pomt
was, naturaUy, your athletic education. But schooUng and education, h reaUy worked out
weU.
B-They had it organized so that sport was a primary focus and then came your education.
F-Yes. You had three hours of school in the morning and then two hours sport and then
another two hours school and then sports again. So that in one day, you could train two to
three times. School and sports were coordmated very weU together. So I did my Abhur
(high school diploma)...
B-And one needed on average, one year longer for that...
F-Yes, I went 13 years and that was good, because the schooUng needed to be lengthened.
Because of the sports. We had to do the same amount of work as other students but you
had a lot of trahung to do hi addhion to that. So you didn't do 8 hours of school a day,
but 6. And so that's why h was lengthened one year longer. So that worked out weU with
the sports with the national team. And what do you do after the Abitur? WeU, the most
natural path seemed to be a program of studies at the DHfK which lasts 5 years with a
diploma for sports teacher. So I did aU that paraUel in this thne period, and I did this with
my athletic responsibUities. And h was a secure Ufe. And after I got the diploma, then I got
the usual job as a trainer. The state made sure that you could do aU this, without any
external distractions whUe you concentrated your energies fuUy on everythmg related to
your particular sport. I bad no problems as to worrymg about whether I'd have a job after
that or not. Thhigs would work out weU. You'd have an apartment. Everythhig was
wony- free for people who were employed in sports in the GDR. In the new Gemiany,
after the Wende, thmgs are more difficuh. To get back to the GDR, as I was m ehte sports

530
and done with high school I then did my academic studies. I had, m prmciple, the whole
day to dedicate myself to my sport. Because, I thhdc when you are m high performance
sports and you Uve and trahi in that, as a coach as weU as atiUete, then h's reaUy afiUlthne
job. You can't just do h evenmgs after work if you want to be among the world's best, h
just doesn't work that way. In your job h doesn't work Uke that either, if you thhdc you
can do somethmg real quick m just one hour, h just doesn't work Uke that. Now, here m
Germany, h's a bh different. Most of our atiUetes have to see to h that they get thefr
education done, or thefr apprenticeship and only have thne in the evenmgs to be active m
thefr sports. That has become much, much more difficult.
B-That was actuaUy the intent of the origmal idea of the Olympics, that those are tme
amateurs who, on the side, do sports. Isn't that right?
F-But when h comes down to higher, faster, sfronger...
B-Yes, but the contemporaty Olympic athlete is not an amateur anymore.
F-PracticaUy not, because h won't work out that way anymore. If you go to the Olympic
Games, then you go because you want to succeed and not just because you want to
participate.
B-The West Germans also are of the ophuon that the chUdren should not tram too much,
because the perception is that, that is then hdiumane. But if you consider that the best
athletes m the world, frrespective as to what country they come from, aU start as chUdren
to do sport...
F-NaturaUy. It wouldn't work otherwise.
B-Then how are you gomg to become the best unless you start that early? For example,
I'U give you an exanqile: the Africans. They are the best runners m the world. Aren't they?
F-And they run afready as a chUd.
B-And they nm from one village to the next, to go to school then back home for lunch,
then back to school after lunch, then back home after school and then m one day maybe
they've done 30-40 kUometers! And that's just to go to school and back! When they've
reached adulthood, then they're afready ranking among the world's best.
F-Or look at the numbers of chUdren who run there...m our country, running to school is
unthinkable. You look at our school m the morning: our front there'U be a thousand cars.
AU the parents bring thefr kids.
B-Because that poor chUd should not be stramed too much, he shouldn't move too much.
It's the same in my country and there are so many chUdren who are overweight.
F-Oh? That is aU contmgent upon the development of the countiy. I've been to Afiica
many thnes and there's usuaUy only one street. That's just the way h is. So what else are
people to do? They have to go by foot.
B-And they have the advantage then...advantage in thefr economic disadvantage.
F-Yes. And they see the possibUity of ahering thefr future prospects (with sports.) UsuaUy
not as a chUd. UsuaUy when a coach approaches them, then they see that they have the
opportunity of cUmbmg out of that hfestyle.
B-And what they win in prize money, say prize money for some compethion, they can
buUd a school or a hosphal or support an entfre vUlage.
F-If they want to. Or a tramhig center to prepare the way for the next onc.the trainhig

531
 condhions then wUl be much better for the others. Whether that's mdeed better is hard to
say. Because, they don't reaUy Uve anymore m thefr origmal manner, but m an artificial
manner. Whether that's better and helps them mn faster, I would doubt. They probabty
don't nm faster.
B-But back to this topic of the GDR, they had a system which sponsored the chUdren
and...
F-Do you know the system, how h was?
B-Somewhat, they had a talent selection. Then the talented chUdren would go mto the
KJS at age 14...
F-Not just at 14, there were some sports where they came earUer, 6 and 7 years of
age...gymnastics and swimmhig, and those types of sports.
B-They went m that young?
F-Yes, they adapted to h and m gymnastics, some of them would be Olympic Champs at
13, 14 years of age. In wrestUng, they'd come m m the 8* grade because you can do that
untU you're 30 years old or even older, untfl you're 40. The abflity to develop m that sport
lasts very long. It doesn't work Uke that m gymnastics. Most gfrls are at the highest level
at 15, 16, 17, 18 or somethnes 20 or even older. But I've never seen a woman at age 30 hi
gymnastics.
B-Yes, that's tme. They're considered grannies by that time m that sport.
F-Yeah, that's it, finished.
B-Shannon MUler was 19 [when she won her gold medal]. But that was supposed to be
the high pomt for her.
F-The female swimmers say at age 19 that tiiey feel Uke a Kmdergarten teacher. 'I feel Uke
a grandmother among Kmdergartners.' That's just the beghmmg (age) for wrestlers. With
age 31, 32 m wrestUng, you're at your prime.
B-How many hours a day did you fram?
F-IntheGDR?
B-Yes.
F-Trahimg two thnes a cfey was normal. So two times for two hours, somethnes also three
times, somethnes also one time. It depended on the time period. But on average, I'd say
between 4 and 6 hours daUy.
B-Is that more on average than what is done in the Federal RepubUc?
F-Much, much more. Here h's only half that, perhaps.
B-Is h done here just as scientificaUy where they analyze h and fihn h and observe h with
biomechanics, such as Klaus does, and analyze aU the movements and this movement
could be done better and thereby you'd have an advantage, do they do that here?
F-Yes, they do some of that here too. But h's not as emphasized as m the GDR. There
was this scientific center in Leipzig and there, at the FKS, for the athletes there would be
regular...after a period of thne, tests would be done. What kmd of an effect did a certam
kmd of tramhig have? What kind of condhion resuhed from h? This system in only
possible here (in the FRG) for a very few, for the national team and always when there's a
central yearly procedure done. But it's not done in the greater order of thmgs, in this big
ongomg thing, only m Uttle ongomg tests or other Uttle tests, not as comprehensive or as

532
widespread as was done m the GDR. Ffrst of aU, that's notfinanciaUypossible and h's
mconceivable.
B-Would you ascribe the success of this system to the sponsorship concept, this support
system, tiiat the kids were thoroughly sought out and that they were m school with an
emphasis on sports and they were scientificaUy...
F-In that respect, I'd Uke to say something. I thhdc that h was good m the GDR. Do you
know why? I didn't know h tiien. AU chUdren, who were healthy, were encouraged to get
mvolved m sports. You know? It was a means of getthig the chUdren heahhy and many of
the problems that Ufe presents, which exist here, they didn't know about. Here kids of the
same age hi school are smoking, smoking joints...
B-Oh no...
F-...shootmg up and who knows what else.
B-Here? The chUdren?
F-And that's a problem. They have h here m the sports school these problems.
B-But seldom.
F-No, I wouldn't say that. That's become a social problem m the meanthne. And h's
gettmg worse. In the GDR that was unthhdcable.
B-In my countty you'd probably go to prison or somethmg. ActuaUy, I don't know what
the penalty is...
F-It's forbidden here too. You go to prison too. But the chUdren (m the GDR) were
encouraged to go into sports very young. They were ideologicaUy dfrected, that means
they were told that smoking and drinking was bad for them...on the dangers of pot there
wasn't much said because it hardly existed in the GDR. But the chUdren found, by way of
the sports clubs and through daUy training, a way that was healthy. There were far fewer
obese and overweight people. I look at the schools here, because I work with kids, and
60% to 70% of the kids are this big. They're overweight. They can harcUy do anythhig.
And sports is the biggest side issue in the world. It's become uninteresting. Sport can be
dropped as a subject in the schools. But Math and Physics cannot be chopped. The
relationship of this isn't right anymore. And the end effect is that the medical system here
slaps hs hand to hs forehead and clahns, "We have to invest more money m the German
people so that they can make it to thefr elderly years in a normal manner."
B-But getthig back to the GDR, they had this scientific system, they had this talent system;
they had the KJS; and what I find pecuUar, which we discussed previously, h was aU
emphasized vety poUticaUy and ideologicaUy. The athletes were the so-caUed "diplomats in
frahung suhs," and the chUdren received a good deal of poUtical education whereby they
leamed that they were to embody the sociaUst personaUties and that was practicaUy a
reUgion for them. Wasn't h? Did that motivate them somehow? Did that motivate you
somehow?
F-Yes h did. One was proud to be...
B-Is a person a better athlete because of bemg more poUtical?
F-I don't know, but one is proud of being a GDR chizen...
B-WeU yes, who isn't proud of bemg say, a German or an American or Canadian...but the
system, did the system motivate one better?

533
F-Yes, I thhdc so. They system gave you a feeUng of security. This, let us say, fear that I
experience here, for job security... what's gomg to happen ifl lose my job, what wiU
happen to my famUy? How wUl thmgs proceed from there? WUl I be (homeless) out on the
streets ifl can't pay rent anymore? These kmd of problems did not even concem me thea
B-But Udo Beyer told me once...you know Udo Beyer?
F-Yes, I know Udo Beyer.
B-...sport conesponds more readUy to caphaUsm than to sociaUsm...
F-Yes...
B...because h operates on the performance principle and, then m Potsdam, where the
people are writmg the histoty of tins system m the GDR, they describe h as an island of
capitaUsm m socialism.
F-lt was bmtal...
B-They used capitalist forces to motivate sociaUst athletes. In that respect h was a big
paradox that they used caphaUst forces to prove that sociaUsm is superior.
F-I'd Uke to adcfress that. In sociaUsm there was the effective performance motivation,
which was capitaUsm m eUte sports, that's tme. However, I experienced that too. I was
the head coach for 10 years and then they told me that I had to step down because there
were problems. Just Uke that: You're gone up there and there's a new coach. However,
then they said, "We'U offer you this or that other job." I had no concerns that tomonow
[perhaps] I wouldn't have another job. I continued to work in sports. I did methodology. I
continued to work with kids. I never worried that maybe tomonow I won't be able to pay
the rent. I stUl had the security. You're caught up m this security package. You were
never out of this package. Here and now, you're out (of that security.)
B-WeU, the situation is unique in Gemiany right now, and h's a difificuh economic
situation because of the whole unification process.
F-I don't know if you can say that quite so shnply. At any rate, the system was
unbeUevably bmtal the eUte sports system m the GDR, withhi hself, h was unbeUevably
bmtal. Everythmg revolved around performance and the highest level of performance.
B-In the GDR?
F-Yes. It was concemed with provmg the GDR to other countries...
B-But you yourself were motivated by getting a bigger apartment, gettmg a car quicker...
F-Yes, naturaUy.
B-...traveUng m the West where other GDR chizens could not.
F-That's the island, that was the island. The eUte athletes Uved purely on an island. That
was somethmg completely special. No chizen was aUowed to travel to the FRG, or
Sweden, or the USA. It was only the athletes who could, apart from a few scientists
perhaps, or a few mUitary people. It was only athletes. That's why they Uved on an island.
You're right. That's why I got an apartment. I went to the Otympic Games and my wife
got to make the move (to a new apartment). We got an apartment.
B-I see, she wasn't aUowed to go with you.
F-No. Not even my mother, although my mother was from here (FRG) she wasn't aUowed
to go ehher.
B-Goodness.

534
F-They said she did not measure up to the security...
B-They observed the athletes vcty closety because there was so much mvested m them
financiaUy. In tiiat respect, tiiey were to be prevented from defectmg because tiiat would
be a capital loss.
F-WeU, not just a caphal loss, but also a loss for the whole hnage of the system. "We offer
you the best. We give you the best. We developed you. We made you what you are. You
give h back to the state with your performance. If you leave this system, then you are
mdicatmg or somehow documentmg that there is somethmg broken with the system, from
withhi."
B-Did you ever want to leave?
F-Ummmm. ActuaUy, I'd have to say no.
B-WeU, you were afready manied.
F-I was married. I had a kid. I had an apartment. I had a garden. I had a bungalow situated
there. Thmgs were actuaUy gomg pretty weU for me m the GDR. We had, to be surc.weU
when you could see how I Uve now, you couldn't compare h to my former Ufe. You
know?
B-How come?
F-WeU, ok, because you have a bigger apartment, the furniture looks different. You drive
a bigger car. I take off on trips twice a year. I've been halfway around the world with my
famUy. There are greater conveniences for my famUy which we did not know about. You
dichi't know aU that.
B-And what you don't know, you don't miss either.
F-You don't miss it and you're satisfied with what you've got. You see what you have in
relationship to what those around you have. How do they Uve and how do you Uve? And
m the GDR, your lifestyle as an eUte athlete was better than that of other people hi the
GDR. So you were satisfied somehow.
B-Were you ever observed by the ...[Stasi]?
F-Always. Every team which traveled abroad was constantly under the observation of
someone to keep us m check. What was so funny was, when we flew, say to Sweden, and
then you'd done h two or three thnes, oddly enough, there was always the same man
sitting by us. [Laughter.]
B-Ostensibly one of the spectators.
F-Yes, yes. [Laughter]
B-And he was taking notes. And you didn't know hhn.
F-That's exactly the way h was. The Une given us was always, "It's for your security, for
your safety. Someone to keep m touch with the embassy and the team dfrector." They
always told us. "It's for your security," but h was also always someone who made sure
that no one spUt.
B-I'm readmg the documents at the archives m BerUn on this whole GDR sport history,
mcludmg the defector cases. They're very exchmg to read, because tiiey're [either] Stasi
reports, [or written up as such]! And they describe how they question the famUies, what
happened there and what kmd of relationships they had with the defector athletes, whether
there were problems m the maniages or not. And some of them had problems and that's

535
why the athletes risked an escape, and such thmgs. But those were real Stasi reports.
F-Ok, m tiie final analysis, those thmgs were processed by the Stasi. They hfred those
people to begin with.
B-They even looked through the [athletes'] maU.
F-That's true. One had to....rd have to give you an example. Because my mother came
from Cologne, she had her fatiier, my aunts, evctybody for me was here m the West, so I
had to write an explanation, as an athlete, tiiat I would rescmd aU contacts with my
relatives, my famUy m the West. No contact by letter was to be aUowed. I was not to write
them a card, receive a letter from them, receive a package from them. When my parents
had bfrthciays or someone got married and my relatives [from the West] would come, I
had to write reports afterwards mformmg them [the GDR authorities] what I said to my
own famUy members, the contents of what we discussed. "What did they want from you?
What did you receive from them?'
B-You had to report on your own famUy?
F-That's how h was.
B-That's hard to deal with.
F-That's hard to deal with. It was hard to understand. I'd have to, that problem was
very...
B-Didn't you ever ask them why you had to do that?
F-Sure. "For your security." Was the answer...
B-As if you had to be safeguarded from your own famUy.
F-Yeah, on a regular basis. You'd be sittmg there the whole evening at some weddmg
party and my aunt, she's from the West...What am I supposed to wrhe afterwards? I'd
always wrhe "She asked me how I was doing. And I would respond "How are you? Nice
weather we're having today." And then I'd tum h in. You had to do that. And if you
didn't do that, then the possibiUty existed that at the next competition abroad, that they'd
teU you you couldn't go anymore. You'd stay at home. And that would be the end of h.
No more ehte sports.
B-And aU that work for nothing.
F-And aU those years of traming for nothmg. But that was hard to understand. For
example, look, I went to the Olympic games in'72. My mother wanted to go as a tourist,
but they wouldn't aUow h. It was 300 kUometers away. She wasn't aUowed to go. My
mother did not understand the world anymore then. It was a very difificuh shuation at that
thne. But there wasn't anythhig I could do.
B-But gettmg back to the trahung...that was 4 to 6 hours of trammg a day. Was that too
hard? I mean for a chUd? You were 14 to 16 years old.
F-No, I thhdc I developed weU. It also depended on the trainer, what he did.
B-Would you send your own chUd to such a school?
F-My daughter also does high performance sports.
B-In which reahn?
F-She's m the Gennan championships today. She sprints. She does the 100 meters.
B-ReaUy? What are her chances?
F-Yes, weU, her chances aren't that great. This is her first year m track and she's unproved

536
substantiaUy this year. She just did one round successfiiUy and she needs to do h m 12.60
(sec.) (Unclear.) She's shcteen years old and just did [the distance ] m 12.60, barely
quaUfymg. But she's havhig fun and I strongly support her in h.
B-But if she had been m the former GDR sport system..
F-I would have supported her in h 100%.
B-And even aUowed her to go m the KJS?
F-If she wanted to do h. If she had tiie [strength of] wiU to do high performance sports.
You have to have that or h's a waste of thne.
B-But h was exactly m that area that dophig was considerable, even for the mmors.
F-It depended on what you did. I'U give you an example, a paraUel example. Say you have
a chUd who's musicaUy mcUned. Vety musicaUy mcUned. And tiiat chUd has the goal of
becommg someone great...whether h's with the vioUn or piano, whatever. You have to
practice on the vioUn 4, 5, 6 hours a day. That's normal You could also say, "That's
hdiumane! Sbc hours a day the gfrl is sittmg there!"
B-No, that's not hdiumane.
F-WeU then, what's the difiference?
B-I know that the chUdren, the mmors, in the realms of swimming and track were most
certainly doped.
F-Dopmg was done under state pressure. It was a supportive substance which was appUed
in aU [athletic] reahns at that thne m the GDR. That's tme. But stUl I don't want to just
Umit that to the GDR. That's not a problem that concerns the GDR. It's a problem which
concerns the whole world.
B-But hi the reahns of swimmmg and track m the GDR h was...
F-...universal.
B-...oidy in the reahns of swimming and track, because m other athletic discipUnes, h
doesn't do that much. It doesn't do that much m other reahns because it doesn't help that
much. It doesn't do that much probably in wrestUng or, let us say, in gymnastics...
F-Ok, good, m motor skiU sports, h's difificuh to apply. Because if your muscularity is too
strong, then you lose your motor skiUs, you lose your rhythmic feeUng. Wherever there is
such coordinative feeling and...
B-In shootmg for example, h wouldn't do much either.
F-In the meantime there's been, however, not just muscle buUdmg preparations, but also
other preparations which can be appUed for endurance which help you to regenerate. In
the meanthne, science has advanced so much that you don't just get strengthened muscles,
but muscle growth. There's more than just buUd-up preparations. There are also
preparations which enhance and prolong a person's concentration abUities say, when
shooting, for example.
B-I see, but that wasn't appUed in the GDR because h wasn't that advanced then...?
F-Oh, I don't know. I don't have any mtensive msight mto that particular sport. I do know
this: what fiiistrates me is one thmg, is that the GDR is always seen and taken as the
example for how the world is doped. And the GDR is the world's number one doper.
That's not tme. ActuaUy what could be said about them is that they were clever.
B-[Laughter.]

537
F-Because no one has found any GDR athlete guUty of dopmg. They only found others
guUty of h. Now why is that? NaturaUy, they used dopmg as a trammg substance But they
never caught a [GDR] athlete because before an athlete was granted pennission to leave
the countty, he/she had to be tested to be free of h. No athlete left the countty who did
not go through this dophig control.
B-[Some of] the women who won medals m the Barcelona Games m the throwmg sports
were East Gennan women.
F-Hmmmm.
B-And h's possible that they're clean.
F-They're clean, naturaUy, they're clean.
B-However, if they were raised m the KJS then they had the advantage that they had
muscular buUdup through dopmg means...
F-...forcefliUy mduced. CertahUy...
B-...then they have the advantage, even though h's stUl 10 years later.
F-CertahUy, they had the advantage. CertahUy, they had the advantage.
B-You certahUy wouldn't have put your daughter in such a KJS tfyou would have known
that she would have been doped.
F-I don't know if the parents of the kids knew.
B-They most certahUy did not know.
F-They most certahUy did not know, then those are thmgs that were dealt with the athletes
m confidentiaUty. There's no thfrd person. There was a doctor who distributed the
substances and I don't even know if the athlete knew what he was takmg.
B-They were always told that those were vhamm solutions.
F-Those are hnportant solutions which buUd up your body and help h endure the cfeUy
trainmg, help h regenerate more quickly after a certain amount of stress. I don't beUeve
the parents knew exactly.
B-Yes, I think so too. WeU maybe towards the end they suspected and then they took
thefr kids out of the sports schools.
F-I can only speak for wrestUng. We didn't have that problem there. In wrestUng, I
worked with kids from the 8* grade on up to thefr Abhur (high school diploma) and there
was no supportive substances used. In the ehte sports [at the highest compethive level] h
was there too, but not in the KJS [among the chUcfren]. Because the problem is this, with
the use of such supportive means, the body develops hi unsuspecting ways. They'd gam
about 10 kUos. There were also problems which were undesfrable at that tune also, say,
for trymg to fit into certain weight divisions. You can't just storm from one weight
cUvision to another, then you lose the abiUty to perform too. And the phenomenon which
resuhs from this that I afready mentioned, this tactUe feeUng and coordmative abUity
would be substantiaUy worsened with the infusion of hormones. Therefore, this was not
much of a way of extracting greater performance m such athletic disciplines.
B-There are also many sports which can not have any advantage with dopmg m which the
GDR enjoyed considerable success. For example, long distance running...
F-Whether there's no advantage there, I don't know.
B-It's only tme for the quick power burst sports.

538
F-WeightUftmg. [Unclear.]
B-Bobsleddmg?
F-Ummmm, bobsleddmg I could hnagme because there's ...
B-....50-60 meters of fest runnmg....
F-And power. But unfortunately h's also tme that the GDR was way advanced anyway. I
don't beUeve that's tme so much with these supportive substances, but rather, the GDR
was the first countty which recruited the athletes from the track and field scene, and
predommantly from the decathlon, Woffgang Hoppe, and aU those, whoever they were,
were track athletes. In retrospect...
B-...Dietmar Schauerhammer...
F-Dietmar Schauerhammer. You can look at the statistics. They were nearly aU sprinters.
[Unclear.] AU of them, whoever they were, were nearly aU sprinters.
B-Dietmar Schauerhammer wasn't even m a KJS. He first became an ehte athlete at the
age of 19. Although, h could have been the case that they distributed stuff to hhn.
F-But I'd Uke to say tiiat m this reahn, bobsleddmg, that I don't thhdc thefr primaiy
success was because they were (artificiaUy) stimulated, but rather that they found a way
from other athletic discipUnes, appropriated "finished" athletes from other discipUnes and
enabled them to leam how to steer the bobsled and the others used thefr previous tramhig
over the years [from the other athletic discipUnes] for this athletic performance. Other
countries, Switzerland, Austria, Gemiany, also America, Canada, bobsleddmg was a spare
time sport.
B-It is because how can you...
F-...and now h has become an ehte sport. The bobsleds from that thne and today...those
from 20 years ago are now sitting in museums. Bobsleds were made of conventional
materials. It's changed unbeUevably, and not just in the material alone. Ffrst, [the GDR]
started by using "finished" athletes, athletes, reaUy weU-trained athletes. Then, they
hnmediately unproved the sleds. And thereby they, [the GDR athletes], were forerunners
in that respect and aU other countries foUowed suit. For the support of bobsledding, what
materials were used, weU I don't know, I can't say, but I do thhdc efforts were made to
make exquishe sleds to keep them at the highest possible level
B-The traming methods were regarded as top secret, highly classified mformation.
F-Yes, top secret.
B-They were practicaUy on par with mUitaty secrets.
F-Yes, that's tme.
B-You weren't aUowed to say anything to anyone what went on m trainmg.
F-Yes, tme.
B-And aU the tramhig methods, reports, and so forth, nehher athlete nor coach was
aUowed to taUc about these issues except to others in the athletic reahn.
F-Yes, aU of these trainmg methods were classified, partiaUy confidential because the
yearly plan, the four year plan, was to only be known to those m the sports branch.
B-Did you have to sign anythmg to that effect that h was to be kept confidential?
F-Yes. When you received the Olympic plan you had to sign h. That's h.
B-And what was written there?

539
F-It said h was brmgmg to your attention that this was strictty confidential material only to
be discussed among the concemed parties m the sports branch and that this was not to be
revealed to the pubUc. That was normal.
B-Just Uke in the miUtaty...
F-That was normal and accepted. Ifl have a good plan, why should I betray h to my
coUeagues [for example] m Switzerland? Ifl have a good plan, then I'U keep h to myself,
as a coach or as an athlete.
B-But did not athletes get together say, when the occasion arises, at Olympic Games or
whatever, and sat down together for a beer and then exchanged ideas?
F-Sure. We exchanged ideas. Of course that wasn't aUowed and we weren't supposed to
do h. It was forbidden. There were some real strange men [observers] m the locker room
at a [West] German wrestUng match, Russians and West and East Germans together and
no one said a word...
B-...and Manfred Ewald was there and was observing the whole thmg quhe keenly...
F-[laughter]-But we sure did taUc to the other athletes, not so much though about trainmg
contents and trainmg methods. ActuaUy, not at aU. But rather...
B-...just talked about Ufe's experiences, told jokes...
F-Yes, and wrestUng hi general and such. There were some discussions, they happened,
but nothmg in detaU about methods. But I thhdc that the athletes themselves also did not
know reaUy about the methods in detail Uke the coach did. The coach would distribute the
weekly plans and the athlete would read it. The weekly plan was the so-caUed law and h
was worked on.
B-Then you had weekly plans, monthly plans...
F-...yearly plans...
B-Olympic plans...
F-Four year plans...
B-These so caUed micro-cycles, macro-cycles and so forth.
F-Yes.
B-And there were very precise goals that you had to achieve.
F-Yes, that was a problem. That's different here [m the FRG] and h's better here.
B-That's better here?
F-Yes, and I'U teU you why. For me as a coach, every number, every mmute of an
athlete's trainhig schedule was prescribed. And I had to write out a second plan as to what
I accompUshed, whether the goals had been reached or not. In such parameters, I was
actuaUy greatly restricted m develophig myself [as a coach] and could not infiise my own
ideas mto the process. I thought, ok, I see the athlete's condhion and had to make do with
the plan given to me, and the plan was not always the best. Somethnes, what you'd do is
the foUowing, the athlete's plan would state that for a given mommg that he'd have to do
two hours of weightUftmg, accordmg to tiie plan. But maybe the athlete comes m tfred,
maybe hung over, maybe he's got problems m his home, maybe he wasn't regenerated.
You know? Anythmg could have happened.
B-He StiU has to go on.
F-He StiU has to go on.

540
B-Was there a possibiUty of deviatmg from this plan?
F-Sure, you could and do you know how? I'd teU them, take a break and I'U write the
[appropriate] number[s] [m the form.]
B-[Laughter] Then you cUd deviate from the traming plans?
F-NaturaUy. These plans were aU a deception.
B-I see.
F-It was just aU written down as if h had been done and Ewald was happy. He'd say,
"We'vefiUfiUedthe plans 100% agam." But reaUty cannot fimction Uke that. Here, hi this
cunent system, I can reaUy develop myself as a coach. I can do with the athlete what I
thhdc needs to be done. No one teUs me how many hours I have to train with the athlete.
Nobody teUs me what kmd of methods I have to apply. I have to do that aU myself Ifl
want to train 10 thnes a day, that's my busmess, or one thne a day, that's also my
busmess. In the final analysis, the issue is what the athlete achieves. And they do ask about
that.
B-Did the possibUity exist of deviatmg from the [GDR] plan, then?
F-The possibUity did not exist. If you went strictly by the book, there was no possibUity of
deviating from the plan.
B-But no one was observing you...
F-Oh yes they did, sure.
B-...maybe if you adhered to the goals.
F-I had to Ue. I Ued.
B-Ok.
F-If I noticed that I was having a problem with the athlete and he's not developing in
keeping with how the plan was preconceived, then the plan had to be changed. But you're
not supposed to do that. So I'd try, sortof like a fish in water, to find a way for the athlete
to continue to develop. We also had another possibiUty...
B-That was done then, not with an eye so much of adhering to the goals so much as h was
orienting around the condition of the athlete.
F-NormaUy speaking you should orient your plan around the condhion of the athlete.
That's just normal You have an idea of how the athlete should develop, but the
preconception is not a straight and dfrectly upward path. A dfrect path would dictate:
today national champ and then, in sbc years, Olympic Champion on this same path. It
doesn't work Uke that. Lhe is not Uke that. There's a lot of problems m Ufe. There are
many facets to Ufe. After two years of upward cUmbmg, then maybe there'U be a coUapse.
You can't predict h Uke that. You have an athlete and you work out a certain problem m
two years, then you don't see any success for two years. And then, aU of a sudden, day
after tomonow, boom, success. Then you thhdc about aU of this: what could you ascribe
this too? Was h the plan? Or was h your trahung work? And then, do you know why h
worked out weU? I didn't beUeve h, but the athlete told me that his gfrl the gfrlfiiend, said
to hhn that ff he didn't work out the problem properly [Uke the coach suggested] then h
was over between tiiem. And suddenly, he came to trahung and everythmg was workhig. I
just wanted to say, there are coincidental mfluences. Other people enter in and teU them,
"Your coach is right." And suddenly h works agam. There are so many numerous

541
examples Uke this one.
B-But Udo Beyer, I'm mentionmg hhn agam, he said to me that the system was so
conceived, with the trammg plans and such, that nothmg would be left to chance.
F-That's not tme...that nothmg would be left to chance...
B-That was the mtent.
F-The plans, yes. The plans that were given out by the DTSB were 100% safeguarded
from aU angles.
B-But the human is not a machine.
F-I just wanted to say that.
B-You can't just say that m four months, this is what you wiU achieve.
F-Exactly, that's what I wanted to say. You can't tram Uke that. Some clever person is
sitting there and writmg down numbers: you have to weight Uft this and that, you have to
do such and such technique, this much coordination and m this amount of mmutes. Do this
and that. You can program a machme Uke that, but not a human bemg. I'U try h out with
people and h'U work weU for 3 weeks. But accordmg to the plan, you have to work for 6
weeks. But maybe after 3 weeks one athlete has reached his Umit or maybe he's hijured
hhnself Or maybe he's got problems at home. There is no straight path of development.
B-There's a lot of spfritual hnpulses as weU. It's purely an emotional matter as to how
motivated an athlete is.
F-That does play a role. That plays a role. An athlete might trahi for five years, and hasn't
accompUshed anythhig and then he says, "Shit..."
B-In regards to motivation, they used the same motivational principles in the East as they
did m the West, with the capitalist forces and so forth.
F-I can only speak for myself When I was an athlete, I only had one motive, when I was a
chUd, I'd sit in front of the TV and when the Olympic Games came on TV, my hah on my
skm would go up, tears would run [down my face], because h moved me so unbeUevably
much emotionaUy. That was for me the absolute highUght. That was the biggest thing
there was. And my goal as a chUd was, "Just one time I'd Uke to do that and participate.
That's go to be super." And that canied me through. That was practicaUy the only motive
that I had.
B-So many today are just motivated by the money.
F-Look, there are many sports clubs. Many sports clubs. In wrestling there are teams
which compete in the first Federal Leagues. In every round the people are switched out.
then there are javeUn throwers. You look at what you have. It's a big difference. One
looks around m Ufe, because you want to accompUsh somethhig and you want to estabUsh
a more comfortable life.
B-You know Anett POtzsch?
F-Yes, I know her.
B-She was a one-thne Olympic Champ...
F-Yes, I know.
B-...then she got European Champ four thnes and she was World Champ two thnes, two
times World Champ and now she works in an office m financing.
F-And she has nothmg? Or very Uttle?

542
B-And Katarina Witt, she's no better than Anett.
F-But she understood how to market herself, she had fiiends...
B-She's a multi-mUUonafre and has houses aU over the place, weU I don't know ff she has
houses aU over the place, but she has [or had] an apartment m New York, at any rate, and
she comes back to Chemnitz now and agam to vish her mother and probably also Jutta
MtiUer.
F-She's domg weU, she's dohig weU.
B-And she's no better than Anett [athleticaUy speakmg]. That was a difference there of
five years. What a big difference. But the East Germans were fiiistrated m the '80s, or at
least the poUticians knew that the GDR athletes knew what they would get in the West for
thefr accon^lishments.
F-There'd be greater paybacks.
B-And they couldn't keep pace with h in that respect.
F-There were also premiums m the GDR for success. That existed there too. I know that
in wrestUng, I had a companion who got 6"" place at the Olympics, he got 2500 marks,
GDR marks. Let's see, for FRG Deutsche Marks you'd have to divide that by 20...
B-[laughs]...divide by 20...
F-That'd be around 100 DM. The Olympic Champ would get...
B-Oh dear. WeU you have to look at what you can buy with 2,000 marks in the former
GDR.
F-It wasn't much there ehher. For a normal person, if you wanted to buy a car you'd have
to wah 15 years. You could invest that 2,000 marks in the meantime, but h wasn't that
way.
B-Yes, but the esteem of society was also something...
F-It was also good. Look, for an Olympic Championship you'd get 10,000 marks, GDR
marks. For the Olympic Champ, 10,000 marks. That's a joke.
B-Do you know what Michael Jordan is earning this year?
F-A few milUon maybe.
B-A few milUon? That might be tip money, that's not even tip money for him. He gets,
just from the team alone, $30 milUon, and what he gets m endorsements renders what he
gets from the team a joke.
F-I beUeve that. [Unclear.]
B-Because evety kid wants to wear Nflce: T-shfrts, shoes...and when any kid buys some
shoes or T-shfrt with Nflce on h, then he gets, maybe, 10% of that.
F-WeU, the world has changed. I don't know whether I understand that. I don't know ifl
had such a motivation or ff such a thmg exists today. I don't know.
B-WeU, Michael Jordan is an exception. He's not cormpted by the money. He stands by
his famUy. He's a vety good person. He supports a lot of projects with chUdren m poor
cfrcumstances. He does a lot of good with his money.
BREAK HERE
B-What were the mam pomts of emphases for the wrestlers hi the GDR m terms of
hnprovmg themselves? What did tiiey concentrate on? Did they fihn them and analyze
them biomechanicaUy?

543
F-Yes, I thhdc the use of video cameras was a good trammg aid. It helped the athlete to
see how they are themselves and how they are when they wrestle whh others, and then to
develop one's own conceptions. That [latter aspect] wasn't done m my thne [as an
athlete.] [Unclear.] I thhdc that is a vety appropriate aid, especiaUy for wrestUng. You
always have to look at how you yourseff wrestle and how you come to terms with your
opponent and what can be unproved. It's a vcty appropriate aid and we had h then. Even
m my time of wrestUng.
B-Was the GDR more advanced in this respect?
F-More advanced, weU...
B-Because they employed a good deal of science...
F-I thhdc so. We did h from youth on and not only were videos hnplemented, but they did
a lot of httle tests to ascertam tiie level of achievement. They did that routmely afready m
the 8* grade. I can't say how far ahead we were, because they didn't even have the sports
schools here [m the FRG.]
B-WeU they [the GDR] had the swimmmg canals with a (regulatmg) cunent for the
swimmers and they had the underground high althude chambers.
F-WeU, they had that for the wrestlers too.
B-They did? And that gave them the advantage then?
F-Yes, that was the understandmg at the thne, then. They said, 'ok, let's buUd this
underground high altitude chamber in Kienbaum and we'U train under certam oxygenated
condhions, just Uke high ahhude trahung' We did high ahitude tramhig too.
B-And that produced resuhs.
F-WeU...
B-You're actuaUy supposed to Uve m a high althude m order to have this advantage.
F-Some say h's merely sufficient to Uve in a high ahitude. You don't need to even train.
Some scientists say now that ff you Uve at 2,500-3,000 meters, then the body adapts to
this height and the red blood cells automaticaUy [adapt and repUcate] and you don't even
need to train that hard. You can even train at a lower altitude. The main thmg is that you
Uve at a high ahitude. That's enough. And such knowledge didn't exit then [during the
GDR.]
B-I read m the documents that the East Germans had a common trahiing camp with the
Bulgarians [in a high altitude region m the mountains.]
F-Yes. In Behneken.
B-In Behneken, and there the East Germans were aUowed to tram due to the fact that they
helped finance the thing. And then later the Bulgarians renounced this and said, 'no more.'
And Manfred Ewald was so angry.
F-That's tme.
B-When did this happen, that the Bulgarians reneged on this?
F-I can't say precisely, maybe '88 or so.
B-Aha, so relatively late. But one thmg that happened was the Czechs came once to the
camp and noticed that the East Germans had been there for 6 months. "They can't do
that, that long! Accordmg to the mles of amateurism, they can't tram fuU time Uke that for
longer than 6 weeks." And they'd been there 6 months! They were madder than anythmg

544
because they said, "Those aren't amateurs, they're professionals because aU they do is
tram."
F-They were aU professionals, even tf you just went up tiiere for 6 weeks. If you said that
you were an amateur, how many days did you have for vacation? Four weeks, five weeks?
And then you were m a frammg camp for 6 weeks? Even the Czechs, one said, tramed m
state amateur hard condhions.
B-...and then h came out hi the press. Man, the [GDR] authorities flipped out that the
Czechs cUd that. That was an act of befrayal because that was also a sociaUst country.
F-Yeah, there were always a few problems with the Czechs. It wasn't always smooth and
easy gomg with them.
B-[laughter] What kmd of a relationship did the East Germans have with the Russians?
They were the big opponents? They were ostensibly sociaUst "brothers" but there were
StiU points of conflict...
F-I'U give you some examples from wrestUng. In wrestUng, we profited a great deal from
the Russians.
B-Profited?
F-Yes. I was m the Zehla MehUs Sport Club and about 100 kUometers away in Wehnar,
there was a Russian garrison. Russia had some troops in Germany.
B-Right.
F-And m Weimar, there was also an ehte sports training center for wrestling. So the
soldiers who were stationed there could train in army-Uke conditions. And we had a
partnership contract with Weimar and the Weimar athletes (Russians) would come very
often to tram m Zehla MehUs. Thereby, they could leave the garrison and they were glad
to come to Zehla MehUs and we had some exceUent athletes in Zehla MehUs and they
tramed quhe frequently with us. So, for good eUte athletes, that was exceUent trahung. In
wrestUng, you can only develop tf you have a good trahimg partner. If you run, you go on
the streets and you have your pace, but in wrestling, you can only develop tf you come to
terms on a daUy basis with other people. And that did an unbeUevably great deal for us.
We bad set up a common tramhig camp.
B-And you leamed Russian hi school and so you could taUc to them.
F-I speak a Uttle bh of Russian and Klaus can speak Russian too.
B-Yes, he studied there. He did his doctorate hi Moscow.
F-Yes, he speaks very good Russian. I speak some Russian and can speak some with the
athletes. I took h up untU the end of high school so I had h 8 years in school.
B-And there was no feeUng of anhnosity with the Russians?
F-It was Uke this: m trammg h wasn't there. There were good friendships. But compethion
is somethmg else altogether. That's normal. Anhnoshies between countries...I can't testify
to that personaUy, but I heard that m cycUng there were always problems. [Unclear]...but
h was always to stay ahead of them athleticaUy. In wrestUng, we were never as good as
the Russians, one could say that with aU certamty. But tf an athlete beat a Russian, that
was somethmg reaUy special. And I thhdc, m regards to this power relationship, they were
far ahead of us and we were far behind, you know. There was no hnmediate confrontation
there. We leamed from them. But they showed us thmgs voluntarUy and h was a very

545
good relationship. I'd have to say...even with the coaches.
B-It wasn't the kmd of sittiation where the coaches said, "Trammg methods cannot be
imparted to the Russians..."? You were aUowed to exchange ideas?
F-Methods too, regarding framing.
B-It was vety open.
F-Yes, yes. There no problems hi that respect.
B-Dr. Wonneberger said to me once that the goal was always to beat the Americans.
F-That's tme. They were the primary opponent, opponent number one was the West
Germans.
B-The primary opponent?
F-That's right, the mahi opponent was the Federal RepubUc [of Gennany] and then the
entfre West system.
B-So hi the first case, the Wessies [West Germans] and then the Americans...
F-Yes, those were the mam goals. The fiiends of Russia were not the opponents, naturaUy
we wanted to beat them too...but...
B-Were the poUtical events any kmd of motivation...for example, during the 1980's when
the poUtical rhetoric under Reagan sharpened, did this provide any kmd of hnpulse to beat
the West, was one supposed to bring forth greater accompUshments?
F-It was an ideological problem which was home out in the athletes through education.
And h was a repeated primary theme. The methocUcal education was one of propaganda.
It was an essential responsibUity or task of the coach who was supposed to mtegrate these
propaganda elements mto the training. There were meetings held on theory where athletes
were to discuss purely polhical issues. "Why are we tramhig so hard? Who are we
supposed to defeat: We are supposed to reveal that our system, the socialist system, is the
superior system and we can only do that when we bring forth higher achievement than the
people in the other system. We have the more humane system, with a government that
does everythmg for its people, for hs athletes, to give them the opportunity to Uve
securely and so that they can fram and to demonstrate the status of socialism to those who
Uve 'outside' one's abiUty to perform under sociaUsuL And this is shown through our
exceUent achievements."
B-What were the hnpressions you had when you first traveled in the West?
F-Oh! My first hnpressions were in...
B-...m '72?
F-No, I was out before then, in Sweden or Finland or Denmark. What was impressive
was...
B-...the prosperity?
F-The prosperity. It was unhnagmable. I tried to teU people about h at home, but they
couldn't reaUy imaghie h because they themselves had never seen h. Then you ask
yourseff, tf that's a worse system, then why are they domg so weU? Why do they have so
much? You don't even have sports shoes...
B-But they always hyped h up with, "Accompanyhig capitaUsm is poverty, unemployment
and high crime." And what's happened smce the Wende? In the East you now have high
poverty rates, high unemployment rates and high crime rates. Everythmg you were taught

546
has come to pass.
F-Ok, good, those were the arguments used to protect yoursetf, to represent your system
to the outside world.
B-They also made this big production out of vishmg the memorial shes such as Dachau
with the athletes.
F-We always did that.
B-What kmd of significance did that have that they were always vishmg the memorial
sites?
F-I thhdc that had to do shnply with the processmg of one's own history, not caphaUsm,
and with the young people, that one doesn't forget that many people died in the fascist
dictatorship.
B-But the West Germans and the Americans consider the GDR as, maybe not fascist, but
at least as a dictatorship. A crimmal state...one that imprisons hs own people, which when
anyone tries to escape, they'U get shot, and by one's own feUow countrymen.
F-That's tme.
B-...and then they taught thefr athletes that the caphaUsts are the tme fascists. That was
the so-caUed "anti-fascist protective WaU." And this big production at Dachau was to
prove that the tme fascists are the Americans, the West Germans, or no? The pinnacle of
fescism is capitalism, is what they taught you.
F-That's tme. That's the way h was m Gemiany. The German development was that way.
The phmacle of caphaUst development was then fascism.
B-And tf you don't watch out, it wUl happen again.
F-NaturaUy, it could happen in Germany, tf the development goes in that dfrection. You
know that?
B-It wiU never happen again. But nevertheless, it was taught and emphasized in the GDR
that the phmacle of capitaUsm is fascism and those are the West Germans. They are, m
principle, fascists because they have aU the judges who were employed under Hitler and
were never replaced....
F-Yes, they were never removed.
B-And in the reahn of sport, many of the people who were employed under Hhler were
remstated...Karl Ritter von Hah, for example.
F-Yes, that's weU known, but I have to honestly say that...
B-...and that was emphasized hi the GDR and was that not the whole intent m these vishs
to Dachau?
F-I'd have to say, so deeply reasoned as you see h, never reaUy was apparent then. Those
are certainly bases for discussion, perhaps among admmisfrators m sports. But when you
were among athletes or even active one's setf as an athlete, we never gave much thought
to these issues as you present them. That was only, as I said, that fascism was something
inhumane. One has to do everythhig to prevent such a social form from recurring, but that
we gave h such a deeply thought out Une of reasonmg and tried to work through such
social connections as you do was probably done by the fewest athletes. I don't thhdc either
that...
B-...the athletes were that poUtical.

547
F-No, the athletes weren't that pohtical 1 beUeve those are aU arguments that go on at a
different level.
B-They wanted to make the athletes poUtical, but they never were that poUtical.
F-No, no, they never were. I have to say though, that I was with them once m Dachau and
we went evety year to Poland also to...
B-Auschwitz?
F-Auschwitz, because there was always (unclear) before that and every year they led us
through this concentration camp. The first thne I went with them The second thne I just
stayed there at the door and didn't even go m. Because when I came back, I would be
nauseated for two days. That brought forth feeUngs and I didn't go in. I said to mysetf,
"I've seen this once. It's m my head and I don't want to go m anymore."
B-They always made a big production out of this Wemer Seelenbinder flung.
F-Yes, Wemer Seelenbhider.
B-...and always had Wemer Seelenbinder memorials. In HaUe there's a memorial for hhn.
F-There's also a wrestUng event for him...the Seelenbmder wrestUng memorial. For many
years that was the most mportant wrestUng event m the GDR. That was held in Leipzig
for many years. Anythmg that had to do with wrestUng, was at this particular event.
B-Seelenbmder was a communist who was kiUed m a concentration camp and he was an
athlete, an Olynpic athlete in '36. Did he get a mecfel?
F-I don't know. I don't thhdc so...in fourth place, I think.
B-Fourth?
F-Hmmm. But that's frrelevant. He was a good wrestler, that's tme. He was the German
national champion m this thne period and he also participated (m the Olympics.) And he
was the only communist on the national team.
B-And that's why they make a big production out of h.
F-And they (the Nazis) denuded him of his glory and tried to pamt hhn as someone who
used his athletic appearances to gam connections with relations to Russia. He was flown
back and forth.
B-One asks why they [the GDR sports authorities] did not make as big a production whh
Gretl Bergmann or...or, you know Gretl Bergmann? That was a high jumper, a Jew. She
wasn't aUowed to participate [in the Olympic Games] although in the quaUfyhig trials her
performance was as good as the woman who won the gold medal [actuaUy, better.]
BREAK HERE
B-In regards to this authoritative attitude, was h that way m the GDR also?
F-Yes, yes. That was pretty much...
B-...very authoritative.
F-It [the sports system] was very strictly organized.
B-Vety strict?
F-Yes, it was vety strict.
B-Could you say that that was exaggerated?
F-I can only speak from my own several years of experience as an athlete and I can say
that I had a super coach. Even the mterpersonal relationship was ok.
B-And on occasion he would deviate from the trahung plan?

548
F-No, not hhn. He was a tough old guy. A real tough guy. But he'd be mvolved m this
hhnseff. At the age of 65 he'd wrestle on the mat hhnsetf and h was a tough battle. He was
a workmg tramer, I'd say. And that's why you'd acknowledge hha He didn't just blab at
us, he'd demonstrate h. Maybe not always the highest quaUty, but you'd acknowledge h.
B-Just Uke Jutta MtiUer. She herseff was the national champ.
F-Yes, yes.
B-Was she not the most successfiU tramer of the GDR, Jutta MtiUer? The most successful
as she produced the most champions m ice skating?
F-You know, I thhdc that's too bad that someone would say, "She's the most successfiil
trahier." You can't say that, because h's unjust to aU the other tramers. She was at the top
and the best talent which others tramed for 10-15 years before she got them, she'd then go
on with them Give them to Jutta MtiUer and she'U make somethmg out of them but she
got "finished" people and tramed them even more. Ok, she tramed her daughter from smaU
on up [Gabi Seyfert]. But after the people were trained, then they were given to her.
There were perhaps people who didn't get the 10 to 15 medals, but they might tram some
athlete from 14 to 20 years or so, and oftenthnes that is much, much more difficuh, than
to take an athlete way up there and lead them to the gold medal. Do you have chUdren?
B-No.
F-Between the ages of 14 and 18 h's incredibly difficuh to keep young people in high
performance sports. There are so many problems that get in the way: puberty, the
boyfiiend, uh, the computer, the car...everythmg.
B-WeU those [last few] things were probably not a problem in the GDR.
F-They didn't have any of those things, but many things can distract them,
discotheques...to keep them interested m this cfeUy assignment and develop them even
further is very, vety difficuh. Most chUdren are lost from high performance sports at age
16. Up untU age 16, they're stiU good. They Uve in thefr parents' house. The parents have
a hand in things. They aren't independent yet in thefr thoughts. They stUl do what you teU
them to do. But tf they start to think of thhigs m an independent manner, to find thefr own
way, then many leave high performance sports at that point.
B-That depends on the sport.
F-WeU good, there are sports which are appropriate for different ages. But many tramers
work with them a good deal on weekends, and they try to get the whole famUy hivolved
m the development. So there's many coaches who don't have the numerous gold medals
to vaUdate thefr work such as Jutta MtiUer, because they do the bufld-up work, such as in
the GDR. That's why h's not fafr to compare her to other coaches because they work so
much so that the coaches at the phmacle would get the finished product which we worked
so hard for.
B-So h was a pyramid of success. So you ignore the contributions of many tf you say,
"she was the best." It was a cleverly thought our pyramid of coaches, sports medical
personnel and teachers and everything that made a contribution.
F-Yes, yes, that's tme [comments unclear.]
B-And that's the big difference from the Federal RepubUc of Germany m that [the GDR]
had so many people contribute so much money, thne and energy invested so that they [the

549
athletes] would come up through this pyramid. That's the difference between there and
here.
F-You can't even compare h. I'd characterize the system here as a niche system
B-A what?
F-A niche system. A system of niches. It's a systemfiiUof holes. Everyone here has to find
thefr own way. Everyone has to fmd out themselves what they want.
B-Not exactly a pronounced state sponsored system.
F-Everyone here has to create thefr own system. There are, to be sure, Olympic Trammg
Centers and state trammg centers and there are also clubs. But tf I want to develop mysetf,
then I have to use a good deal of my own initiative as an athlete. I have to fmd a mentor
system. There's not Olympic Trahung Centers aU over Uke here m Schifferstadt. There are
some that are much, much worse, with very bad condhions. We have very good condhions
here. (Comments unclear.) There is no centraUy controUed development here for
everyone, so that everyone can become equaUy developed at the same pace.
B-That was, perhaps, a key point for the success of the GDR.
BREAK HERE
F-It concerns essentiaUy the scientific knowledge or scientific abUity of the coach. In the
GDR, once each Olympic cycle, I would have to sh down with one of the data processors
of the German CoUege for Physical Culture and Sports and present proof that I have
knowledge on the most up-to-date information m my field. That was mancfetory. And
that's different now here m the Federal RepubUc of Gennany. Here, I'm the only one who
has to concem mysetf with increasmg my knowledge and education of developments m my
field. There is no centraUy controUed and requfred standards to see to h that I'm always in
touch with the cunent know-how. That was reaUy a big advantage m the GDR.
B-Hmmm. And there was a real sense of team sphh among the coaches...how can we
hnprove ourselves, how are we going to do this better, how are we going to...
F-Exactly. InitiaUy there was 6 weeks where we'd go to Leipzig. AU the coaches had to
go from aU discipUnes, aU of them.
B-Were there so-caUed work shops, where you'd brain storm...?
F-No, there weren't work shops at that thne. That kind of method didn't exist then as
exists now.
B-...where they'd meet up and brain storm together...
F-No. No, we had to go for 6 weeks for educational sessions every 4 years. And there, aU
of the newest scientific hrformation in respect to ehte sports would be taught. And m
conclusion, we'd have to write a scientific piece on this, approxhnately 8 to 10 pages long.
The topic had to concem your specific athletic discipUne, and h had to be documented.
B-And that was requfred?
F-That was requfred, yes. For aU coaches.
B-Every coach did this for 6 weeks from 8 am to 12 noon.
F-No, no. The first ones were for 6 weeks startmg normaUy from 8 am to 12 noon and
then from midday untU 5 pm...you would attend lectures so that you would be kept
abreast of the latest scientific knowledge m elhe sports.
B-And that was handled as strictly confidential (secret) mformation?

550
F-Yes, naturaUy. The latest know-how of sports would be taught. What's the newest
thmg...
B-Were many of these ideas from abroad?
F-Yes, yes.
B-Predomhiantly? What are the AustraUans doing? What are the Americans doing? What
are the Russians domg?
F-Yes, yes, unfortunately this history entaUed mostly the FKS, that is the cunent lAT
(Institute for AppUed Tramhig Science) was unfortunately h, for which Klaus Bartonietz
worked...
B-Yes, yes...FKS
F-FKS, that stiU exists [with a different name]. That was the research center for sports and
h had hs connections to practicaUy aU other scientific bases m the entfre world. And tf
anythmg new was pubUshed, h was made known there. And then h would be hnparted to
us. And h was later then that we'd meet up for 4 weeks mstead of 6 weeks, also with the
concludmg report, but then on a regular basis. And m addhion to that, there would be
scientific Uterature which would be consistently pubUshed or brochures which were always
made avaUable for the coaches. None of that is done anymore. I stUl have stacks of
scientific Uterature which were given to us on aU possible areas. That wasn't just Uterature
on wrestling, but aU different kinds of sports, on swimming, on rowing, boxing, above aU
on educational problems, on developmental problems with young people, for example.
Evaluations of World Championships, European Championships, Olympic Games. AU of
that was made avaUable to us. In respect to this kind of information now I have absolutely
no knowledge whatsoever. I have no idea about the work done with the rowers or the
[other] ehte athletes, what kind of problems they have, how come they weren't so good,
why one was so good. I don't get any hrformation on any of this anymore. But what was
reaUy interesting was from this kind of distribution of information from other types of
sports, I'd get insight into my own work. Gathering aU this scientific hrformation or
scientific dfrection has now become my own problem. There are some thmgs that are
offered, lectures and such are held by some professor or there...
B-And here the opportunities are not as good to develop your potential m the reahn of
coaching?
F-In the realm of coaching, yes. Because I can work here more creatively. Because I can
have input into my athlete which I thhdc wUl advance him, which I find to be good. That is
reaUy good. But for my own advancement, which in the final effect is for the advancement
of the athlete, relatively Uttle is done. Or next to nothmg. And that is a problem also for
the coach, I have to say that in aU honesty.
B-Yes. You need to have new impulses, work with new ideas...
F-Through time, you just doze it away.
B-It shouldn't get monotone or h shouldn't get too automatic...
F-I thhdc tf a person doesn't advance themselves m any profession, tf one isn't chaUenged,
you just stay at the same niveau. It's vety difficult. It's a rare person who is actmg on his
own, from his own hmer motivation to keep hhnsetf up with the newest innovations and
newest state m science...because that's quhe difficult. It takes thne, you've got to always

551
run over to the Ubraty and look here and there. In the GDR we were spoon fed this
information.
B-You weren't, however, aUowed to read foreign newspapers, but sports [science]
journals were permitted?
F-I didn't need to, because everythhig that came out elsewhere, would be pubUshed m our
scientific journals and distributed to us. It would be summarized, scientificaUy processed
and then distributed to us.
B-I see. You weren't aUowed yourselves to research...foreign ideas. You weren't aUowed
to research the foreign ideas?
F-I didn't even have any mterest m that. We didn't even try, because h wasn't necessary.
Everythmg new was told us and given to us. Anythmg new out there, we got h. These
brochures contahied everythmg that was going on in the world...whatever the FKS could
find out. They'd process h. They'd translate h. You didn't need to do that ehher. It was in
German and done. What else did I need? I'd just try to hnplement h in my job. I read
many, many things. I stUl do that. As a coach, I'm constantly lookmg over the backyard
fence. What are the rowers domg...because I'm always looking for new ideas. Because tf I
see some new kmd of exercise then I ask mysetf tf I can use that for my coachmg too.
That's how I have to work. So wherever I am, I'm on the lookout. When I go watch a
soccer match, then I look less at the players m action and more at the coach. That is
extremely hiteresting. How is he reactmg? How is he trying to process whatever is going
on and implementing new ideas? How is he workhig? How is he processmg these things?
And that's what I try to do here, to develop mysetf further. That's very interestmg.
NaturaUy, the game is very mterestmg too, but the more mteresting things are those thmgs
on the perhneter. That's tme m my work too.
B-I think we have to quit now. Thank you.

552
 APPENDIX I
INTERVIEW WITH
JORG HOFFMANN

553
 Interview with Jorg HofiTmann
Olympic Bronze medalist; Four time European Champ,
World Champion in Swimming
Interviewed by telephone from Anchorage, Alaska to Potsdam, Germany
October 5,1997
Interviewed, Transcribed and Translated by Barbara Cole

J=Jorg Hoffmann; B=Barbara

J-My name is Jorg Hofifinann. I'm from Gemiany, I Uve m Potsdam.

B-And where do you come from in Germany?
J-From Potsdam.
B-Ok, from Potsdam, and you are a swhnmer?
J-I'm a swimmer. I'm a World Champion, four thne European Champ...
B-Amazmg, and Olympic Champ?
J-No, bronze medalist m Barcelona.
B-Olympic bronze medaUst m Barcelona, in which distance?
J-Four hunched meter and m Barcelona, 500 meter free style.
B-Free style, ok. Were you selected as a chUd and placed m a KJS?
J-Umm, yes. I was in a KJS in Potsdam.
B-How old were you?
J-Eleven years old.
B-At 11 years old? I thought on average that chUdren were 14 years old when they went
m.
J-No, it varied from one athletic discipline to another. The gymnasts were 9, the swimmers
were 10 or 11 and the track and field athletes were 14 or 15.
B-And did you Uve there at the school or did you Uve at home?
J-Yes, I Uved there at the KJS boardmg school.
B-What kind of an experience was that for you? Was that a good experience, was it a bad
experience?
J-I think h was a good experience. They taught us to be very setf reUant very quickly and
we were forced to be independent and to get along relatively quickly and taught to take
care of ourselves.
B-One frequently reads m the press, namely the West German press, that this [system] is
oftentimes depicted m a poor Ught. They say that the chUdren were trained too much and
that they were over-taxed. Was that your experience as weU?
J-ActuaUy I didn't thhdc h was Uke that. It wasn't an easy thne, and I was fafrly young, but
h was not my experience that h was hdiumane. It was fafrly strict, but I thhdc that at many
middle schools and high schools [Gymnasium] m the old Federal States [those belonging
to the FRG prior to November 9, '89] that I had seen that h was just as strict. It wasn't
overly exerting for us.
B-And you do not feel at aU as tf you were poorly treated?
J-No.

554
B-If you had a chUd would you put them mto just a school as that...tf h were precisety
under those same conditions?
J-The decision would naturaUy be that of the chUd's, you know? When I was there and I
would have said to my parents, "I'm not havmg any fim anymore," then my parents would
have said, "Then don't go there anymore." And tf my chUd was havmg fim domg this then,
and wanted to do sports...sports is always a good trainmg for the body and (unclear) then
I would have let him go his own way.
B-Ok, how often did you frain on average a day as a chUd?
J-The first few years we trahied once a day and two days a week we did two tramhig units
a day. And at the age of 14, 15 we trained two times a day.
B-And how many hours total per week?
J-At the beginnmg h was one hour per tramhig, then we graduaUy increased that to two
hours so that h became, when I was 15-16 years old, two units; h was 4 hours of trahung
per day.
B-Did you also adhere pretty closely to the micro-cycles, macro-cycles and Olympic
cycles or...?
J-WeU, there was a type of planning and that was mcorporated mto h. That was
hitegrated: the Olympic cycle preparation for whichever Olympic cycle one was preparmg
and for whatever Games might be interesting for someone.
B-What kind of particular special condhions existed then which the Germans do not now
have in the sports schools?
J-WeU, I don't know tf there is even this type of sports school m existence, because
naturaUy there was a whole lot that was overseen and dfrected and this was requfred of
everyone, (unclear) also the parents. Then the education and the care for us was covered
by the teacher, the sports physician, a nutritionist...the whole social envfronment was
taken care of our care and the preparation for a professional Ufe and then one's academic
studies. At that time, there was more security (a social safety net) than there is today.
B-Everything was more thoroughly scientific and planned out than h is today, wasn't h?
J-The simple logistics consisted of this path of school, trainmg, eating, traming, eatmg,
school. It was Uke this, in the GDR the endeavor was made to formulate an economy of
thne. We had, for example, a five mmute waUc from the school to the trahimg [facUities]
and from the dhung [haU] to the training [facUities] a ten mmute waUc and that's why they
could regulate one's daUy routme quhe weU and then one would have a lot of time for
studymg but also thne for recovery. Thereby, those who Uved at home, (we'd caU them
home sleepers) would have a haff an hour of commuthig through the city, tf not more, and
that was, naturaUy a good deal of lost time to have and was not very amenable for
recovery time when there was such a long commute.
B-Then everyday was pretty much planned out.
J-Yes, h was absolutely thoroughly planned out. The schedule for school was worked out
along with a high level of trainhig work load and I'd also take classes which weren't so
demandmg so that I could recover or so I wouldn't be overtaxed.
B-And you didn't fhid yoursetf to be overtaxed?
J-No. I actuaUy find mysetf to be more overtaxed now.

555
B-More tiian then? Seven years after the Wende (faU of the BerUn WaU) a
disproportionate relationship exists between the East and West German athletes. In
contrast to the West German athlete, more East German athletes are champions,
percentage-wise. There are only 17 mUUon East Germans, but they are whmmg m far
greater figures m relation to thefr population ratio [than are the West Germans.] What is
the actual cause of this? Is that due to trainmg or an early recognition of talent or
perhaps...
J-I thhdc what we have m Germany today is that there are stUl athletes from the former
GDR or the new Federal States who are successful or are more successful than those
athletes from the old Federal States (FRG states, those states of West Gemiany prior to
the merger with the GDR). And that is due largety to tiiem havmg gone through the
ChUdren and Youth Sports school system.
B-So apparently the earUest possible recognition of talent and more years of tramhig...
J-No, not the talent. Talent is decisive m only a few sports but m the KJS the athlete is
prepared for the sport and (unclear) the athlete works with the sport...and then there was
another attitude toward fraining and another attitude towards the sport and so they can
concentrate better on sports or come to terms with h and are not so easUy distracted. And
therefore the stress is more bearable and that's why they are probably havmg more
success.
B-So at that thne the East German athletes had less stress and could concentrate primarily
on thefr sports. And the financmg of h wasn't an issue at aU.
J-Yes but with the stress I mean they can take a greater load of trainmg or they've leamed
to accept a higher work load of trahiing than, apparently the youth from the old Federal
States can.
B-You had m the former system, certahUy, very good coaches who had been trained at the
German CoUege for Sports {DHfK) m Leipzig who had speciaUzed in the area of
swimming.
J-Yes.
B-What kind of a relationship did you have to them?
J-There were different echelons of coaches, one caUed one AT for the adjohung group,
which was for the area of youth work and thefledgUng,Junior athletes' work, and then
there was HLT for the high performance trainhig reahn, that was for athletes who went to
mtemational compethions or were beghmers and that was naturaUy also the athletes who
at the beginning went through this cascade where the schooUng was with an AT coach,
who also had done sports, and then [the athlete] developed a relationship to the coach.
And at that thne I had a good relationship with my coach. Then I came mto the rankmg of
HLT and there I had to switch coaches because I was m the aduh or senior trahung group.
My relationship with my coach was not as good because I didn't get along with hhn but...
B-That's usuaUy a unique personaUty issue somehow...
J-Yes, one has problems m understanding [each other] and in how we got along and
personaUty-wise, I had some problems with the coach, not m relationship to his trammg
methods, but shnpty from the character of the thmg, it just didn't work that weU. But there
wasn't any kmd of an alternative for this. As an athlete, one couldn't reaUy select one's

556
coach.
B-And the more successfiil you became, the fewer people the coach had to be concemed
with when coachmg you, or no? He didn't have to oversee many people, the more
successfiU you were.
J-WeU, at the beghmmg, naturaUy the group one was m was bigger untfl those who didn't
fiUfiUtiieathletic prerequishes were weeded out, but we had 10 to 12 athletes m the
Senior group as weU, continuaUy. So h wasn't that h was vety few, but h was only hatf
who were selected because athletes were from different ages m the initial group and then
there weren't as many who chopped out.
B-Ok. Katarina Witt wrote m her book, she wrote a book, that described the relationship
with her coach Jutta MtiUer as bemg very controversial. She had had a good deal of
conflict with her. She (Ms. MiiUer) had set very high goals for her (Katarina) among other
thhigs, and also she (Katarina) was always havhig a stmggle with her weight. Did you also
have shnUar conflicts with your coach?
J-With my coach for the senior team towards the end, yes. That's why...he also had had
very high performance requfrements, which from my point of view is defensible because h
actuaUy was good for me, and h also enabled me to reaUze my own athletic goals to
achieve success, but on the other hand, he did many athletic-professional thhigs that were
mtertwined with one's personal Ufe and that's why I had stressful situations or problems
and then after the Wende, I separated mysetf from this coach as soon as I had the
possibUity to do so, and could actuaUy select my own coach. And so I went back to the
coach that I started with hi Potsdam.
B-Anett Poetzsch, who got a gold medal in figure skathig said to me once that Jutta
MtiUer was a tough trainer, but that the high goals she set were hard, but they were good,
they were hard, but they were good.
J-The athletic goals were always good. It wasn't the case that the most demanding and
hard coach was the worst coach. It only appeared that way at first when the demands were
the greatest, but it's also tme that the highest demands produce the best perfonnance. The
trouble with the coach who I left was that his teachmg abiUties were deficient and because
absolutely no consensus could be found (between us) and with my personal development
towards the encl as a person, I needed to glean more and that's why I came to the
decision to part ways with him. His sports methods and the demands he placed on me, I
found to be m no way (unclear) and they were also high.
B-Are the West German coaches too lame?
J-Umm, the shuation tocfey is shnply different because at that tune (GDR) the coach could
appty hard trahimg methods m trahimg and hnpose high performance expectations and
demands because the athlete could not achieve the perfonnance demands whUe the athlete
shnply (unclear) that no one was m the system. Today tf a coach places too high of
demands on an athlete, the athlete loses his breath or his mterest and seeks out another
coach oftenthnes. Thereby naturaUy, the pressure or the duty to fulfiU these demands
doesn't exist anymore and therefore h's much more difficult today. The coaches nowadays
who used to work for the GDR, they can't tram the athlete as hard now as he used to be
able to because the athlete can always decide whom he wants to train him. So h's an

557
extemal pressure which one, actuaUy at the beghinmg of one's development, reaUy needs,
imtU one develops an understandhig as to what is hnportant and what is not and that's
what you experience and thereby a lot of energy is depleted or much lower goals are
estabUshed...which would not have been seen as leadmg to success during the GDR
period.
B-One reads in the documents from the GDR, I've read documents m the archive, that
said they were always trymg to mcrease the burden of trahung work load for the athlete,
always more, more, more. That was thefr goal wasn't h? To mcrease the work load?
J-Yes.
B-Was that also your experience?
J-WeU, naturaUy, that was part of h, otherwise h doesn't work m sports. If h's
preconceived [hi the frahung plan] then the athlete can only achieve somethmg then when
the athlete is oriented towards the traming and assumes a greater work load or more
tramhig m order to meet one's goals. And that is also a development which nowadays is
taking place. There is some talent out there that achieves goals with less of a work load,
but the swimmers who are at the top, or not just swhnmers but other people who are
ahead m thefr sport, burden themselves excessively and that's no different from then
[during the GDR period], there's just fewer [swimmers] who are doing this.
B-Yes. In the former GDR sports system they had various methods of motivating the
athletes. They had, for example, poUtical education m order to prove that socialism was
superior to caphaUsm. They [the athletes] got bigger apartments, they got cars quicker,
they had the esteem of society. What motivated you personaUy the most?
J-WeU, I'd say I see sports as a type of setf realization. I try to use sports actuaUy to
enhance my serf awareness to the extent that I come to the pomt where I can say that there
is no problem that I cannot surmount. I didn't do sports for ehher the material or poUtical
advantages at that time, h was done for purely athletic effects. I'm a real athletic, playful
type. I love athletic compethion...
B-...sports for sports sake? That is, you love sports for the sports itseff.
J-WeU, for the sport hsetf, and also for setf reaUzation. The shuation has to be assessed
differently. You can apply or reaUze the experiences you leam m sports to Ufe, that is,
normal liJfe. And that was for me the decisive pomt to say to mysetf, "You've done this
and you can do h again." And that's what's mterestmg about h. That there are other
thmgs that are part of this or accompany this is just natural, and [they] are used as
temptations to pressure us or prod us, say material thhigs such as cutting performance
money when the traming doesn't work or other such thmgs.
B-And the poUtical education hardly motivated you or did not motivate at aU because you
certahUy got quhe a bh?
J-I wasn't motivated when the states were coming to terms with each other. In respect to
the poUtical education and the (unclear) of Erich Honecker, I was not poUticaUy
disinterested. I saw the whole thhig vety criticaUy. I'm not an opponent to SociaUsm but
I'm also not an uncondhional supporter of the kind of SociaUsm that was practiced then
when I had developed an understanding of this. And that's actuaUy why I came to terms
with h. But during the period of SociaUsm, that a better social system came about was for

558
me no reason to contmue to be motivated.
B-Did you beUeve m SociaUsm?
J-I StiU beUeve in SociaUsm.
B-You StiU beUeve m Socialism?
J-Yes, but not m the manner hi which h was put mto practice m the GDR. I beUeve more
in a Marxism form than m the Lenmism one.
B-That's mteresthig. In which countty m the world has Marxism effectively been m
operation?
J-In none of them. ActuaUy the materiaUstic egotism of mankmd doesn't aUow for h.
(Unclear). The question is whether Marxism can be practiced m modem thnes or by the
modem human.
B-TeU me how old you were when the Wende occuned, when the WaU feU?
J-20 years.
B-20 years. Then you're 27.
J-Yes.
B-Did you ever have the desfre to defect?
J-No.
B-Were you ever abroad?
J-Yes, I was m the caphalist countries often. I also witnessed many of our athletes stay
there. And then you'd thhdc about h, how that would be and whether h was doable or not,
but the problems are that you'd leave the whole famUy here, and then you'd also risk [the
possibUity] that everything that my parents had worked for would be destroyed or they'd
be Umited tf I would have stayed abroad. I didn't want to do that to my parents or my
relatives.
B-And tf you could have taken your whole famUy with you?
J-This shuation never would have arisen. I never thought about h. I actuaUy feh pretty
good about Uvmg in the GDR, because I'm not particularly demanding. If I'm healthy,
have enough to eat and (unclear), then that's sufficient for me because (unclear) and that
hiterests me more than what I did not have m the GDR. Many complam that they couldn't
travel or couldn't see much of the world. I didn't have that problem as an athlete, because
we traveled often for competition, and I saw that things didn't work that much different m
other parts of the world. Everybody has thefr responsibUities and by domg this, they try to
fulfiU thefr hfestyle or thefr personal needs, and as to what we got in the GDR, that was
actuaUy sufficient for me.
B-Many of the athletes have said up tUl now that much has decUned m the way of the
communal spfrit which prevaUed among the athletes.
J-Yes. It doesn't exist anymore.
B-...and not just the athletes. Many East Germans have said to me that much has decUned
in this communal spfrit.
J-Yes, this is the elbow society, where you reaUy have to assert yoursetf. That's how h is.
B-Probably more so now with the high unemployment rates m Germany.
J-And this facade of friendship is just that: a facade. You can't look behmd the facade and
know what a person with whom one is speakmg reaUy thhdcs or does. And evetyone tries

559
witii as much violence as possible to get as much for one's setf as one can and then
[during the GDR] there wasn't as much to get for your setf so that's why no one tried to
puU thmgs over on others, in most cases.
B-It's often said to me by Germans that the Americans are superficial I don't know.
Maybe that's the case. I don't know what they are usmg as thefr standard, maybe they
mean that m the sense that the Americans are not as conscious of what is gomg on m the
world. Maybe h's because the Americans do not have as much contact with people from
other countries.
J-Superficial? Maybe less troubled. Maybe they take each day as h comes, tiie Americans
do that I thhdc.
B-Or more comfortably. Maybe we're more at ease, [laughs]
J-Yes, when I've been to America, the people don't reaUy discuss world poUtics. And h's
not that they don't have the possibUity or that they're not inteUigent enough for h, but h
simply doesn't mterest them because they Uve in thefr own world...
B-Yes, they have other cares...
J-And they're at peace with this. They also have ...I thhdc they have fewer or more reaUstic
demands on Ufe than us Germans...less materiaUy most certainly.
B-WeU, most certahUy not materiaUy, but the Germans have a very compUcated history.
J-When I see how the Americans Uve, some of them with a lower mcome and they're more
satisfied than a German who has a big mcome and is less satisfied. The German is more
mcUned to be envious of others and I beUeve that also has to do with materiaUsm
B-Hmmm. That's mterestmg. Ok, getting back to our topic of sports, do you think that
the West German press has treated the former East Gennan sports system unjustly or
uirfafrly? Is h unjust what they are writing or do you thhdc they exaggerate? It strflces [the
foreigner] as a witch hunt. Is h tme what is written?
J-The way h is hi the press is that h has to have a sensationaUstic character or h won't be
read. NaturaUy, many things are falsified m order to animate the reader audience, (unclear)
otherwise no one wiU be mterested. And from that perspective, whUe many thmgs are
exaggerated, there are also many things that are tme but are stretched and maybe pushed
back. On the other hand, I think h's sad that people here m the West pass judgement on
how tilings were in the East and actuaUy have no idea what happened in the East. They've
neither met the Eastemers, nor experienced it nor have they any idea what happened then.
So they neither have met an Eastemer, nor Uved there, nor have understanding or an
unpression of the pkce and they start to pass judgement on the place. And for me, that is
very sad because these people are trying to create an existence for themselves. I doubt that
these people are trymg to help them, they're only trymg to profit from them.
B-That was my experience as weU.
J-They try to come to terms with h, but first of aU it was a long thne ago and they look at
what the Stasi did to thefr victhns or such thmgs and no one from the old Federal States
can judge this or can even come close to h because they cUdn't experience h or they don't
have the msight hito h that those from the GDR would have. And most of those who
come from the old Federal States, they come to save someone and point out some
mistake, rather than [ask or consider the impressions of] the person involved who is from

560
the GDR who has been used by the system.
B-That's exactty my experience. They might take 10% of the tmth and hype h up to be
90% of the tmth. Then tiiey only pick out tiie worst case scenarios. And write only about
the worst tiungs. As tf the East Germans only did thmgs poorly, as tf there is nothing
worth salvagmg from the former system. And they do that for thefr own reputation or to
make themselves weU known. That was my experience.
J-We had the experience after the Games m Atlanta, that many sports officials took a
stand and clahned that h was a mistake to degenerate tiie old East Gennan sports system
and throw h over board...m respect to the KJS, and now they thhdc there's many thmgs
they should have adopted or...
B-They have adopted many things.
J-When the Wende occuned, then the East German sport system was shoved out with the
West Gennan sports system. (Unclear).
B-Ok, m your experience did you ever receive any performance-enhancmg substances as a
minor?
J-What cUd I receive?
B-Any performance-enhancing cfrugs.
J-No, to my knowledge I did not. And I was very aware of what we received. The one
thmg that is now on the doping Ust which was not on the dopmg Ust then was caffeme
pUls. I took caffeine piUs m 1988 at a compethion, which later after that did get on the
dopmg Ust. And that wasn't a thing that I mysetf could control h was shnply the situation
at the thne when I had just gotten on the national team. The Wende had not occuned yet.
The situation m the GDR was such that no one dared yet to force me with this situation.
B-Wbat do you think of the rumors that the East Germans were simply good because they
doped more than everyone else? Is that a pure smear tactic on behatf of the West Germans
or...
J-It's superficial on behatf of the West Germans. There's no denymg that there was dopmg
in the GDR, but this also does not mean that m other countries or m the Federal RepubUc
that it was less. It's just that in the GDR h was cenfraUy controUed and the success which
came was actuaUy, for me, due to the system and not the doping practices which were
mtegrated m. From dopmg alone you do not get athletic achievement. Trahimg is always
part of h. And the trahimg in the GDR was better than m the Federal RepubUc and [also]
apparently better than in other countries. I thhdc the Americans did not win any less gold
medals at the World Championships or the Olympics and that can be ttaced back to a weU
stmctured trahung. When I see how they do sports at the univershies, then that's quhe
simUar to what the GDR had.
B-Yes, but the best coaches were probably East Germans because they were speciaUzed.
They had speciaUzed m certahi areas...so that they got speciaUzed trammg, which the
American coaches did not have.
J-WeU, the advantage with the East coaches, also the Russians, was that they were placed
by a central control, and had access to a research center. In otiier countries the coaches
have not got that accessibUity and no one concerns themselves with them The Americans
did not endeavor any less than the East Germans or the Russians to mcorporate new

561
hmovations mto the frammg, but because h was centraUy confroUed [m the GDR] and
accessible for the coaches, they were more wiUing to mcorporate these new experiences,
whetiier they were ideas from America or wherever. And m that respect the East bloc was
always ahead. There was also, naturaUy, enormous compethion between the Russians and
the GDR athletes. It's not that there was a free exchange of ideas between them, there
were actuaUy spies hivolved and m the GDR there was a research unit and whatever was
developed went out mto sports and many coaches would try h or try to adapt h. And
because a lot of this was tried out and evaluated by coaches, the resuhs would come back.
And this regulated system was not existent elsewhere and that's why new experiences or
new findhigs were more rapidly and easUy put mto practice in the GDR than elsewhere m
other countries. For exanqile, these cross-cunent swimmmg canals that we had, we had
them hi 15 regions, 15 such swimmmg canals...
B-How many? Fifteen?! Amazmg...
J-...and I know that these swimmhig canals were unknown later or not practiced m
America... but there was one later in Colorado Springs at the [Olympic] trahiing center.
B-Yes, yes. AU these things, such as the training methods and such thmgs as the swimming
canals, they were considered to be on par with miUtary secrets weren't they?
J-Yes.
B-That is, one wasn't aUowed to taUc about one's trahung methods or what kind of
specialized trahimg technology one had, isn't that right?
J-WeU, that was not just a blanket ban on dispersing of information not because we were
completely different, but because we did not know what we had that was different from
the intemational coir^)etition. And so, to prevent others from gahiing any new advantages
over us, there was just a blanket ban on saymg anything, and everything was secret. We
didn't know everything about what was going on m the capitalist countries and they didn't
know everythhig about us. And probably 70% of the training buUd-up was simUar, tf not
identical and the other 30% was a Uttle related, but one didn't know m what reahn. That's
why they gave a blanket ban on communicatmg this.
B-I see. Yes, that was probably the case in many countries. One does not relay what
thmgs one has unproved. It was not desfrable to give your opponents an advantage.
J-Clearly.
B-Ok, what is h agam that you would adapt from the East German sports system: the
logistics, the daUy scheduUng, the compacted traming, the secure future m one's chosen
profession, what else did you mention?
J-No, that's actuaUy the most hnportant right there.
B-And from the West German system, what would you adopt?
J-Nothhig.
B-[Laughter] Nothmg? What would you absolutely reject from the East German system?
J-WeU, at that thne the poUtical schooUng of the athlete and his personaUty development
was enmeshed [m the whole program], so that in many respects this poUtical schooUng or
poUtical education of the personaUty oftenthnes stood in the way of a reaUstic
development of one's personaUty, instead of lettmg the athlete reaUze this hhn/hersetf. And
other than that, there were many thmgs in the GDR which were subjectively assessed, and

562
h was presented as tf h were the objective case. I would do away with that and I would let
many thmgs be assessed more objectively and reaUsticaUy, or just let h be.
B-So take away the poUtical education.
J-No, not the education, the education wasn't bad, and they always had a poUtical
evaluation.
B-Yes that was also always described m the documents: the poUtical evaluation of the
Games. The athletic perfonnance of the atiUetes, especiaUy at the Olympic Games, was
always evaluated on a poUtical basis.
J-Yes. It was the case that the coaches who were particularly strong m poUtical activities
had a better poshion than coaches who were less poUticaUy active. But maybe that's why
they were more worse off (sociaUy), probably because they were the better coaches. And
that's just an example. This was probably the case many times, that this subjective
expression had more say than what was objectively decisive. I would reject that [aspect]
by aU means, because h hdubhs development.
B-In respect to aU these West German reports one hears about how the Stasis mtervened
in the Uves of the athletes and such, did you ever perceive yoursetf as being under
observation? Or did you ever notice yoursetf behig under observation?
J-Yes, yes I noticed.
B-You did notice? In what respect?
J-We were in the National VoUcs Army at that thne and we were housed m the banacks
then. And there were periodic room checks and we noticed that our things in the closets
had been looked through. But that wasn't reaUy seen as being harmful and we actuaUy
leamed to deal with this and Uve with h. At that thne we reaUy dichi't know anythmg
different and (unclear).
B-Were the athletes more under observation than the average chizen?
J-Yes.
B-...because there was a risk involved with them.
J-Because they had the temptations before them when they were abroad. And they also
represented a caphal investment in competition. That's why they always checked the
poUtical atthudes of the athletes before they were aUowed to travel abroad. And that's
why they checked them more thoroughly or observed them before they went abroad.
B-In respect to the reports which the Stasis wrote, somethnes these reports are
exaggerated. Do you think these are a reUable source for the historian tocfey?
J-No. (Unclear). I'd say only 10% of what is m those reports are tme. Ten percent.
B-Ten percent is exaggerated.
J-No, 10% is tme.
B-Ten percent is tme!? And nmety percent is exaggerated?!
J-That's what I thhdc.
B-...because the people who wrote the reports were behig opportunistic? They wanted to
ingratiate themselves with thefr supervisors?
J-Yes clearly. Because they did not have that kmd of hisight into the private Uves of
others, even tf they did take the trouble to find out. And these reports had to be submitted
whether there was any khid of hrformation leamed or not. And that's why even trahiing

563
method matters which hi the GDR were submitted to the authorities are not to be taken so
seriously, because even within the GDR there was compethion between individual sports
associations and then, also, naturaUy, aU the known or pubUshed issues such as peripheral
fraining plans or other (unclear) plans would be submitted falsified so that the compethion
within one's own countty would not have hisight as to trahiing condhions or compethion
achievement [of one's own organization or group]. Everythhig which was officiaUy
submitted (to the Stasi) and is now on the shelves, I personaUy would read that with
utmost caution.
B-Did you know that these reports serve as the primary sources for the West Germans
who present the former East Gennan sports system in such a bad Ught? Did you know
that?
J-I can hnagine, because only a few East Germans are wilUng to expound upon thefr own
experience. I'd say that h would only be objective tf an athlete were to go to his [former
GDR] coach and say "I'd Uke to see aU my trammg papers and aU the developments we
made on these m the last several years. I'd Uke to have some insight into this." Then a
more objective picture would result from this. But who is dohig this? Who is showing
anyone this? Those are experiences which can hardly be purchased with money. There is
so much sfress and work mvolved m this. But who would pubUsh this?
B-Is there anythhig else you'd Uke to say to this or...?
J-No, actuaUy I've said everything.
B-Many thanks for the mterview.

564
 APPENDIX J
INTERVIEW WITH
AXEL KAHLERT

565
 Interview with Axel Kahlert
Otympic Athlete in HandbaU
June 7,1997 in Halle
Interviewed, Translated and Transcribed by
Barbara Cole

A=Axel; B=Barbara;

B-Ok, teU me please your name, athletic discipUne, years of success and your age.
A-My name is Axel Kahlert. I competed mtemationaUy from 1972 to 1976 on the GDR
national handbaU team. And in addhion, I competed m the handbaU team of the SC DHfK
Leipzig from 1968 to 1976.
B-Were you under the tutelage of a Leipzig tramed coach?
A-Yes. My coach was Harold Thehnann, one of the most successful coaches and also the
coach of SKH (unclear).
B-And you started actuaUy as a chUd and then you were selected m school by way of the
talent selection system which they had then?
A-That's right. Due to my height, 1 was selected for the KJS in Leipzig and went m at age
14 and then was specificaUy selected for basketbaU because of my physical height. But my
talent was deemed to be more that of a handbaU player and so I started that at the Sport
Club of the DHfK m Leipzig.
B-Then you were m a KJS, what kind of an experience was that for you? Was that a good
experience? Were they very caring? Were you ever homesick because you were away from
your parents for so long? Or did you train considerably more than other people in your
discipline?
A-Yes, that was the prerequisite. It was a sports school so the schooUng was acfepted to
the trainhig. And that was more than (unclear). I think we trained 4 hours a day in addition
to the schooUng.
B-And then the school year was lengthened for you?
A-One year. One year.
B-If you needed more thne, then you would have gotten that?
A-Yes, yes.
B-Did you have much contact with your parents m that time period or did they...
A-Just Uke everybody else at the boardhig school
B-... weekends...
A-...weekends were mostly pre-games for compethion and so there was Uttle thne for
home. But we had the boarding school Ufe and (unclear) and the parents were also proud
of my successes.
B-That was also an honor to be m such a school.
A-Yes.
B-Was that a difficuh thmg for a chUd? To tram that hard and for so many hours?
A-Yes h was, by aU means. Because the whole personaUty of the chUd is dependent at this
stage and one always has to arise above one's own lethargy and conquer one's setf. That

566
had to be done everyday. And h was m^ortant for the trahier to spur us on and estabUsh a
basis and also have variety in the framing. It was a varied trahimg.
B-Yes, we caU that in EngUsh cross frahung, where you do many different kmds of sports
so that you receive a more wholistic traming.
A-That's right.
B-I asked this of Mr. Cierpmski and I don't know tf this conelates to hand baU, but m
marathon nmning-and I know this because I mysetf was a marathon runner once-there is a
"waU" that you have to surmount. Is there such a thing in handbaU?
A-No, much less. Because h's a sport with ahemating plays. We're a team And we can
have rest breaks for the players. So h's not Uke marathon. If there is a pam boundary for a
runner, then he can stop and the compethion has ended then for hhn. But in team sports,
h's different.
B-What's most hnportant is this team work that one has, and also technique. So h's
shnultaneously a matter of technique and coUective team work. Teamwork.
A-Teamwork. That's the most exchmg thing about a team sport. That one can have a bad
cfey, and the others cover for you with thefr good perfonnance, because what counts is the
victory of the team, whether one or the other is not so good, the main thing is that the
team won. And for me, I always had to work hard and because of my physical height, and
as you'U see in the pubUcations in the media and newspaper articles [a coUection of
articles given to Barbara by Mr. Kahlert] that my name was mentioned very frequently.
B-Due to the fact that you're so taU?
A-Yes. Yes.
B-Or were you particularly good?
A-Yes, I thhdc I was particularly good.
B-Yes?
A-Yes.
B-To what do you ascribe that?
A-Because of my height.
B-I see. You had this boardhig school experience which was a very caring envfronment, aU
of your problems were resolved. They took care of very important decisions for you so
that you were freed up to do better as an athlete.
A-Yes.
B-Plans were drawn up for you when you were aUowed to go on vacation, and the
schooUng was adapted to your trammg...
A-Yes, that was all coordmated and adapted to sport.
B-What motivated you the most m sports: was h travelmg abroad, was h westem goods,
was h the esteem of society because of being a great athlete, was h the possibUity of
cUmbmg m society, was h the fim of domg sports, was h better apartments, or getting a
car quicker, what was primarily the mam motive for you?
A-The motivation consisted of many aspects. On the one hand h was gratifymg to be set
apart m society, to be prefened and to have the experience of traveUng m the West,
whereas the others could not except for those who were retfred. Then one thought, before
I'm retfred, I can fravel because of sports; so, the ti^vel we could do because of the hand

567
baU sport. In the short thne that I was active m sports we traveled to many countries. We
fraveled, for example, to Japan. We had been to the Federal RepubUc of Germany many
thnes to a Baltic Sea Locale, to Munich and Bremen and Dortmund. We were everywhere
m large chies where we played. (Unclear)We were m Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway,
aU of Scandmavia...
B-And that was a big motivation...?
A-That was a big motivation.
B-You received a good deal of poUtical education. Did that motivate you m any respect?
They said you were supposed to prove that sociaUsm was superior to capitaUsm, by way
of your success as an athlete. Did you beUeve m that?
A-It was told us in school that our social order was better than thefrs, than caphaUsm.
Whether that could always be transfened over to sports was for me, actuaUy a question. I
always saw sports as havmg the primary poshion. I went mto compethion to win and tf we
were up against Russia or the FRG, was to me aU the same, [they were] equal teams at
any rate. It was always emphasized by our teachers to perceive them differently: "We're
playing against the class enemy," for example. But I have to say, that afterwards we'd
meet up with the team pfeyers from the FRG and then we'd have a meal together and chat.
So, h wasn't the case that we were banned from speaking to them.
B-I understood that you weren't to have contact or friends with westemers?
A-WeU, fiiends and having contact are two different things. There was some care taken
that I would not develop a fiiendship, but h wasn't the case that we weren't aUowed to
speak to them, by no means. Sometimes h's been portrayed Uke that.
B-What do you thhdc could be carried over from this GDR sports system into the FRG?
What could the FRG leam from this?
A-The fundament of sports is in the realm of chUdren and youth. And one can't, and this
has been quickly recognized, one can't just have good athletes by way of the professional
attitude: just because of money and buyhig athletes. Having one's own junior level sports
is very, very important. We see that in the reahn of soccer, m the reahn of handbaU, that
there is a huge dearth which prevails in these areas in Gennany and the KJS model could
help.
B-They are doing that afready. They are domg that in Germany with the KJS, but Hehna
Knorscheidt beUeves that h has decUned or h is substantiaUy different from what they had
then hi the GDR and the coaches from the GDR were exceUent and stfll are, and they are
hi huge demand throughout the world and they get job offers in other countries. Would
you say there is somethmg else m addhion to this, which one could say is the key or secret
recipe for the success?
A-The secret recipe is the year- long education to motivate the athletes to achieve a
certam level of performance and not just for money; and perhaps, as another secret, was
that the coach could tickle performance out of the athlete what other coaches, say in the
Federal RepubUc didn't or couldn't do without money. With the travel and other
advantages, the GDR athlete afready had everythhig. And I thhdc that that was the Uttle
secret recipe why our coaches, our successful coaches are in demand throughout the
world, because they received this education. 1 thhdc that's very important.

568
B-I always hear two different opmions from the West Germans and the East Germans.
The East Germans pamt this entfre histoty as bemg holy and pure and the West Germans
naturaUy paint this as a vety black portrait and say, "Oh the East Germans were only good
because they doped." That's tme only m certain reahns. You can't generaUze so
completely and say, "it was aU due to dopmg." That can't work m your sport because, first
of aU, it's team sport, and second of aU there was considerable technique involved. What
would you say to a West German tf they said to you, "You were only good because you
were doped?'
A-There are reasons for aU of this. It wouldn't work. It's tme that m some certain sports
and also perhaps [h is existent] among some individual athletes where that's tme. But you
can't lump everything together Uke that. It's tme that there was some dophig m certam
reahns, perhaps, and on both sides tf you wUl, but on the other hancl one can't do
everythmg chemicaUy. I can only speak for my sport, handbaU, that that is not possible
because we're a team sport and you can't apply dopmg. And I'd say that that is actuaUy a
cheap argument commg from a West German to say that, "You were only good because
you doped."
B-And then one hears these stories about the KJS, "Oh those poor chUdren, they were
treated so badly, they were heckled and whipped mto shape for success."
A-AU untme.
B-I thought so too. I think there must be some cultural characteristics at play here. The
Germans are a vety hidustrious people. They tend, somethnes, to do things over the top.
Take Ufa Pippig, for example. She trams on average, 180 mUes a week, whereas her
opponents tram on average 150 mUes a week. So she trains 30 mUes more per week than
her opponent. Would you say that the team with which you tramed, trained more than
your opponents?
A-I can't esthnate that because I don't know dfrectly how much my opponents trained.
But I only know from discussions that we trahied not only weU and a good deal but above
average. And without trainmg, there's no (high levels of) performance.
B-...ushig the scientific methods from coaches who had been weU educated m Leipzig?
A-Exactly.
B-Would you say, on average, that the Germans proceeded on this more thoroughly, more
scientificaUy, perhaps tramed harder than thefr opponents and that this could have been the
secret recipe?
A-Yes, yes.
B-Did you ever want to defect to the West?
A-No.
B-And why not?
A-On the one hand, because I afready had a famUy...
B-And tf you could have taken the famUy with you?
A-That's a difficult question. That can only be seen from the perspective that there's that
side and this side. We didn't just get to know the gUtter and glamour, we could also look
behmd the stage curtams. We'd be at competitions m the Federal RepubUc somethnes
from 6 to 7 days and, Uke I said, we'd have some free thne when we could see more than

569
just the gUtter and glamour. We could look behind h. And from this aspect, one would get
offers [to defect], but for me h was frrelevant.
B-Is there something else you'd Uke to say?
A-Yes, hi today's Bild Zeitung, there's an article that there are more Olympic champions
who have become soccer players and are meetmg tonight. In today's paper...
B-And most of them are East Germans? Or what?
A-Yes.
B-Oh I saw that article!
A-Here, you see: "Axel Kahlert's Selection Meets Today."
B-A ha! [feughter]
A-You see! You can take this with you.
B-I can take this with me?
A-Yes.
B-I can't reaUy use this m an academic work, but I'U take h anyway. Thank you.
A-And that's why I'm Umited on tune today.

570
 APPENDIX K
INTERVIEW WITH
CAROLA KAMCHEN

571
 Interview with Carola Kamchen
Elite athlete in rowing for the former GDR
Post Wende Physiotherapist for
the FRG Otympic Training Center in Saarbrficken
Juty 6,1997, Otympic Training Center in Saarbriicken
Interviewed, Transcribed and Translated by
Barbara Cole

C=Carola; B=Barbara

B-Ok, teU me please your name, athletic discipUne, the years you tramed and where, and
what kmd of success you had and why you stopped.
K-My name is Carole Kamchen. I was bom May 6, 1960 m Dresden. I went to the KJS
from 1974 tUl 1980.1 practiced the athletic discipUne, rowing. I took part m 1978 m the
first Junior World Championships and was the substhute. One year prior to that I got thfrd
place m the Youth Competition of Friendship, as we caUed h.
B-What was that?
C-The Youth Compethion of Friendship, that was a compethion among aU the sociaUst
countries because the rowers, the women, that is the gfrls, were aUowed to participate for
the first thne m '68. And there was for us then, for aU the sociaUst countries, an equivalent
compethioa So m 1977,1 got the thfrd place m a double placing in the two man.
B-For aU the sociaUst countries or for all of Gemiany, I mean aU of the GDR?
C-No, for the socialist countries. The GDR participated, Poland, Czechoslovakia,
Hungary, the whole socialist camp held a compethion because there was no world
championships for the gfrls. I had to quh my athletic career m 1980.1 had a problem with
my thyroid gland. Two sides of my gland had swoUen and [they] exerted pressure on the
trachea...and I got too Uttle oxygen so they recommended an operation for me m 1979,
which I at first rejected; and then, I took medicine for one or two years and I am not
aUowed to do endurance sports anymore. I'm domg a lot better now, and this is how I
ended my athletic career as a rower. But I was employed immediately thereafter as a
physiotherapist in 1980 for the Junior National Team.
B-Could this problem whh your thyroid gland have anythhig to do with sports?
C-I had problems with my thyroid gland when I was a chUd, m puberty, which is
condhioned by growth. It can be due to sports due to the higher [levels of] physical
exertion, but h could also have happened to me as a completely normal person. It probably
was exacerbated by sports or came mto hs own because of it, but I didn't have any later
problems, nothing. It just happened. Rowing is a very oxygen hitensive athletic discipUne
where you need a lot of condhionmg and oxygen and therefore, I shnply was no longer
capable of contmumg on.
B-Then you were selected by the talent selection process and then you entered into the
KJS?
C-Yes. I did sports when I was vety smaU. I did gymnastics and was a track athlete and
was actuaUy selected through the school system. A trahier from the rowing [division]

572
came to the school and requested to see the taUest of us and he asked us tf we'd Uke to do
a perfonnance test m the sports house, which we did. We were observed at the sports
house and then, approxhnatety 100 to 120 chUdren appeared at the sports house to take
the test. The test consisted of endurance, sfrength trammg, [and] psychological tests which
we had to fUl out...
B-Psychological tests?
C-Yes.
B-I'm hearing this for the first thne.
C-There was a psychologist there where we had to process a variety of papers and answer
certam questions, symbols, colors, discemmg technical thmgs, h was reaUy a big
admissions test. And of these 120 gfrls, then approxhnatety 20 were selected and tf you
were wUUng, then you could go to the KJS as a rower. Whereby, prior to commg to the
KJS I had never sat m a row boat nor rowed. That's the curious thmg about h.
B-And what was the resuh of the other tests, did you ever find out? From the
psychological tests, could you find out?
C-No, such detaUs we never found out. We only knew whether we had come mto the
cfrcle of 20 gfrls or not. These tests were not evaluated for individuals, although m the
course of the year many psychological tests were conducted and we were overseen
frequently by a psychologist.
B-And how old were you when you started this school?
C-It was usuaUy m the 9* grade that we could go to the KJS and h consisted, m principle,
of the whole region of Dresden, the whole area, the gfrls were from aU over that area, and
h was typical that the 9* and 10* grades were finished as usual, and in this time period you
could decide tf you wanted to, tf you had the grades, go for the Abhur. That was a
completely normal school m a boarding school situation with room and board and
everything. So you'd be m this school aU the thne.
B-And what kind of an experience was that for you?
C-I can only say today that I would do h aU over again. I left home at age 14. It's a good
school to prepare you for the rest of your Ufe. It teaches you many quaUties that you can
use for the rest of your Ufe.
B-Such as?
C-Yes, I think wiU power, endurance, somehow strength of character which one has
somehow appropriated due to the performance sports. I would do h agam and I know also
that I tocfey...my cfeughter is now 15...that I am considerably more confident in such areas
as setf reUance and in areas m which one has to make decisions for one's setf. Because,
Uke I said, I left home at age 14 and she's [my daughter] now 15 and I had to overcome
thmgs and I thhdc that the problem that one has as a chUd m one's parents house that one
goes through m puberty was very weU resolved hi the boarding school We were busy a
good deal the whole week and then, on weekends, we were glad to go home to see the
famUy. Then one had to resolve one's own problems alone and we had, of course,
guardians at the boarding school and teachers who were there for you, but you had to
come to terms with your own loneUness and puberty stage problems by yoursetf. And that
was not a bad thmg. I stUl have a good relationship with my parents and I know that my

573
daughter would come to tenns with such thmgs the same way, and I'd give her that
opportumty.
B-What did you thhdc of the KJS experience, was h too strict or [were the people tiiere]
vety caring...?
C-I thhdc that h was, comprehensivety speakmg, weU conceived. There was, naturaUy,
some stiicttiess there, there were KJS rules. You had to be home at 9:30 pm and at 10:00
pm m bed up untU the age of 15 or 16. That was ok. Coaches were also partiaUy strict.
That's tme. We subordmated ourselves to this. In eUte sports, domg h just for fim and
pleasure isn't how h works. When you've decided to take this path, then strictness is part
of it, and m retrospect I can say that somethnes there's bad days, that's tme. But m
retrospect I can also see days that were good. And tf I had h to do aU over agam, I would.
B-You would do h agam?
C-Yes.
B-Would you send your own daughter to such a school?
C-Yes. I'd have absolutely no problems whatsoever with that.
B-How many hours a day did you tram?
C-WeU, we trained evctyday, practicaUy. It was different. Somethnes twice a day,
somethnes once a day. It was frequently ananged that either we had school early untU
noon and then we'd have lunch and after lunch, we'd tram. Sometimes we'd tram early
and then have school past noon and then train evenmgs agam. Somethnes we'd have two
to three units of framing a day, accordmg to the grade you were in.
B-And how long was one unit?
C-In rowing, a unit was usuaUy never under 2 hours. We rowed usuaUy 20 to 25
kUometers. Once a day, the second unit might be 10 to 15 kUometers as compensation,
and then there might be strength trainhig or voUeybaU or swimmmg or somethmg else m
addhion to the rowing. So three trammg units a day was not unusual
B-That could be on average 4 to 6 hours a day?
C-Yes, by aU means.
B-Do you thhdc that's too much, too Uttle, just enough?
C-I'd have to say that at that age, I took h pretty weU. If everything is coordinated, and
one is educated athleticaUy on a general basis, and isn't too speciaUzed too early, and tf
special care is taken that other things are taking place...we were sometimes reaUy tfred and
somethnes also not so happy to do h, but I'd have to say that you can put these kmds of
demands on a 15 year old...tf the sports medicine thhigs were also looked after and that
was also the case. There was also always a doctor there at the boat house tf there was a
problem. He also had office hours when you could go to hhn at anytime. Physiotherapy
was also avaUable. (Unclear) And I think that you can place these kinds of demands on a
young person.
B-Did you also have those specific trahung plans with the micro cycles, the macro cycles,
the Olympic cycles and certahi goals that you had to achieve at a certain thne?
C-We had those and that wasn't put mto effect untfl we were m our adult years, that is
when you went m to the aduh women or aduh men's sports, but I know in our Junior area
that there was a plan conceived for each athlete. This was also discussed whh the coach

574
without us even havmg seen h, and h was estabUshed what should happen when, when a
perfonnance test should occur, when they should check for strength, and so fortfr The
year was afready planned through and estabUshed. Nothmg was to be left to chance.
B-Nothmg was to be left to chance.
C-Yes. I beUeve that.
B-Was there a possibUity of deviating from this?
C-Yes, h did. It depended on the coach. There were coaches who made a Uttle leeway,
consciousty. If you had some problems with your trammg or you didn't jive whh your
frammg rhythm or you weren't domg to weU, then there was absolutely no problem m
gomg to your coach and saymg, "I'm not domg so weU today, I just can't do h." And h
would be discussed and then they'd make h easy for a day. That was no problem. That's
just how I experienced h. With us, especiaUy as women, with our periods, I'd have a real
hard thne with it, and my coach was very understandhig. I'd taUc h out with hkn and h
would not be a big issue.
B-You could deviate from the plans...somethnes they'd be made stricter perhaps...or?
C-No, they would never be made stricter. That would never happen. The plans were
afready preconceived, and the trammg plans were adhered to, but tf someone were sick,
there's nothmg they could do about that. Then you'd have to start agam with bufld-up
trahimg and try to get back mto rhythm. Special care was taken for that.
B-You also most certamly had poUtical education...
C-Yes, naturaUy we got poUtical education. It was only natural that once you were 18,
then you were legaUy an adult m the GDR, and tf you were an eUte athlete, then they'd ask
you tf you wanted to become a member of the Party. And at that thne, I just didn't feel
that I was in the poshion to be led hi that dfrection, but you could talk to them about that.
I said, I'm only 18 years old, I feel Uke I'm too young. I don't want to be a "comrade."
And m this case, it was m my club no problem whatsoever, ahhough I have to say that I
was raised m a civiUan club. I wasn't by the AMO or the ASK, but in Dresden in a vety
normal civiUan club. And I think that poUticaUy speaking, that that was more relaxed then
h would have been otherwise, say by AMO m BerUn or ASK m Potsdam. That wasn't an
issue at aU. And the whole thne m the GDR, I never became a comrade, because at age 19
I quh sports...
B-With what age?
C-At 19,1 decided or rather 18, 19, 20,1 quh or rather got the recommendation to quh,
due to my thyroid gland. But up imtU then, I wasn't a comrade and I stayed in the club.
Then, as a physiotherapist, I got to travel a good deal and then when you traveled a good
deal you had to have a card, then you'vefiUedout aU the forms, and then they come to
me agam naturaUy and asked tf I was ready yet to become a comrade...
B-Before you traveled abroad?
C-Yes.
B-Why then?
C-Because then you could be controUed more strictly and checked out by the secret
poUce. We knew that.
B-Whether you nught be a potential defector or not?

575
C-Yes. But like I said, I never became a comrade and I was abroad anyway and so h was
never a problem.
B-What were you hnpressions of the West?
C-Yes, what were my hnpressions of tiie West? There was the foUowmg problem: I was
abroad for the first thne m 1978 m Yugoslavia, that was for us not the sociaUst cunency
system, but rather, the West.
B-Yes...
C-Then, as an active person, suddenly I became quhe anxious. We were suddenly
uncertam as to how to behave and what to do tf someone spoke to us. And I thhdc the first
thne that the reticence is greater than what one thought. One just subordmated one's setf
to the system and adhered to the mles, which were given to us. Then, due to my [health]
issue, I stopped and I wasn't m the West for the first thne untU 1985 as a physiotherapist
with the National Junior Swim Team...that was m West BerUn. Good, I was older and
more mature. I had afready...as a GDR chizen...not just seen the poshive thmgs. I also saw
the poverty, and we taUced to people. That system was to us afleetingthing. And h was
reaUy the case that for me, I can say this in aU honesty, that there was absolutely no reason
for me to defect. I had a famUy at home. I was married. I had a daughter. That was
certainly one reason. But you weighed the thmg out and you grasped relatively quickly,
havmg been raised m the eUte athletic system, that when you're good, then thmgs wfll go
weU for you. If you perform in that system, then you could have a relatively good amount,
what you couldn't get otherwise m the GDR system. So in that respect, as a
physiotherapist, and I achieved a good deal I got to go to the Olympic Games and so
forth. And there was no reason for me to abandon the system even though h wasn't aU...
B-Were you particularly patriotic? Did you feel yourselves particularly motivated by
sociaUsm, by the so-caUed socialist personaUty which you were supposed to embody, as
they would teU you then?
C-No. It was like this Barbara, tf you were raised m ehte sports and feh caUed to a
particular team, then you feel very proud of h and you are representing your country
abroad. That's evident. I was raised m the GDR and got to know the system, which for
me, for my development, was not a bad system. I'U just say that. And naturaUy I was, as
an athlete or as a care-giver, proud, but I wouldn't say h was so much for sociaUsm or the
sociaUst system or the GDR. You just have your own country and you are representhig
your countty. And I thhdc, just as every American or British chizen is proud to do that, we
too, were also proud as GDR chizens, without demonstratmg patriotism or anythmg else.
The system of the GDR was, for us, the ehte athletes, the ideal system, I thhdc, and that's
how we presented ourselves.
B-Yes, but these constant poUtical speeches...
C-That was a burden to us, and I thhdc we always just endured h, and to have Erich
Honecker represent us was embanassing because what he would say when abroad and
how he'd speak was not necessarUy the best. You've got to say that. But for us athletes,
and we Uved for sports and worked in that system, he created opthnal cfrcumstances. I'd
have to say that. Because he gleaned mtemational recognition for h and he explohed this
for hhnsetf. And so the whole system was dfrected towards the sports.

576
B-What motivated you the most?
C-I was motivated by fravel.
B-Where?
C-It didn't matter.
B-Just to do h?
C-Yes, just anywhere. Whetiier h was the West or m the SociaUst system: Russia or
Bulgaria. I was everywhere. It didn't matter. That was just natural, just to travel where
others couldn't go was wonderfiil that's tme. But I thhdc today, [that the real motivation
was] that I was a fanatic athlete, mtemaUy-so. And to connect your hobby with your
profession, to me that was what was unbeUevably important. We Uve for sports. My
husband hhnsetf is a coach. He's a rowing coach. And that's evident that h's great when
you can combme profession and a sport under one hat. Good, I'm a very social person. I
work in the medical profession and endeavor to help people. But when you can coordmate
aU that and you're a caretaker for an athlete who you're supportmg for an entfre year, and
that person wins, then that's also a bh of your success. And that's somethmg that makes
me vety happy.
B-So you were body and soul athlete, and you wanted to travel.
C-Yes, yes. And I think I wanted to achieve something. I thhdc I wanted to prove mysetf.
It's usuaUy the case that when you train so hard everyday, then you want some kmd of
successful results out of h. And that's probably the case with every athlete.
B-What were some of the other advantages for you?
C-Advantages?
B-What kind of advantageous condhions were there for you in this system?
C-Of the former system?
B-What could the West Germans leam, for example, from the East Gennans, what should
they assume from the system? What must they assume from the system tf they want to be
that successful?
C-I thhdc the main problem is above aU the coach question. Here, so much operates
through the associations, without them, nothhig happens. And I thhdc here there are too
few weU educated coaches m the westem system. It's not good enough just to have the
best coaches in the top sports, the best coaches should also be among the Junior and up-
and-conung athletes. It's partiaUy the case in the West that among the chUdren they have
honorary tramers who train the chUcfren...
B-You mean volunteers?
C-Yes, volunteers. Some of whom have no education at aU or just some, and the situation
is that there is very Uttle money for the sport system, for the westem system. You can't
have these honoraty people, "You're domg this and that wrong, or this or that isn't right,"
then tiiey'U say, "Ok, then you do h aU yoursetf." Then you'U be left standmg there witii
10 kids and you won't have an exercise dfrector anymore. And that was better m the other
system There was a so-caUed pyramid system, you know. When the base level isn't right,
then the top towards the phmacle can't be right either. You have to...rd say you start witii
100 kids, one makes h, or from 1,000 kids. And tf you start with only 500 or 200, then
nobody makes h. And that's the problem, and I thhdc that's a general problem Our

577
generation is spoUed. Our chUdren are spoUed. The chUdren have everythmg. They don't
have any goals anymore to accompUsh somethhig, to receive somethmg.
B-No ambhion.
C-Yes. I tiunk that's taught at home. The kids are gettmg lazier. With us m Saarland, the
sports class has been cut m the thfrd grade.
B-That's the same with us. It's unbelievable.
C-Yes, that's unbeUevable. And I thhdc the few kids who stUl want to do sports or want to
do more are becommg fewer and fewer. And the Uttle bh of talent that there stUl is, needs
to be led to thefr phmacle. [Peak performance levels.] And there are so many quanels.
Evctybody wants to profit from the few good kids who are performmg weU. (Unclear).
The school plays a big part. It's very hnportant and takes up three fourths of the day. And
the teachers have Uttle understandmg for kids who do sports.
B-...for kids who do sports. You told me once before that your daughter does sports and
that for her that's actuaUy a disadvantage.
C-Yes.
B-She doesn't either get sponsorship or understandmg from the teachers and in the other
system that wasn't the case.
C-That wasn't the case. Then, the schooUng was oriented around the sports. The students
StUl had to do thefr assignments and homework, and fulfiU the teacher's plans, but there
StiU was time from 2:00 pm to 7:00 pm to do the homework and the school thne was
surety exchanged and ananged differently and I think the possibUity exists that there are
also teachers here who are willing to teach m the aftemoons. That's no problem. There
just doesn't seem to be a path hi this dfrection right now. The poUticians oppose it. It
doesn't interest them. Sport isn't that important to them and I noticed that with my
daughter who trams four times a week. She's stiU 15 years old and up tiU now that's
worked, but for chUdren who do rowing and have to go to the fleets of boats and are busy
from Friday aftemoon tiU Sunday, then they come home late and might not have done
thefr homework...then there's stress with school.
B-And the ehte athletes (m the GDR) had a secure future.
C-Yes.
B-That's something you can't say now-a-days, can you?
C-No.
B-They do sports, sports, sports and they don't have any profession on the side, then what
do they do when thefr sports are at an end, and then they come in much later into thefr
education? Then they are useless for the employers because they are substantiaUy older
(than thefr peers) and have less experience.
C-That's a never endmg problem That starts m school and moves on mto the workmg
world. As I said, the workhig world is big and h's gettmg more and more difficuh to find
an employer who is wUUng to take on an athlete, or who is understandmg towards athletes
or who is wilUng to be supportive of an athlete. That reaUy is a problem.
B-In respect to the whole doping stories, there is with aU certamty, some athletic
discipUnes where dopmg can help...
C-Yes.

578
B-Could dopmg help in the reahn of rowing?
C-I personaUy never received any dopmg, and can at least say that much about h. And
there has probably been some research in that respect. But I thhdc h didn't work out the
way people hnagmed h would, because h has not been used that much in rowing. That's
weU known. There has, however, been coordmation problems and h has not been appUed
much m rowing.
B-Because it's a long term...long...a marathon.
C-Yes, because h's an endurance sport and therefore...
B-It has mostly been appUed m high strength level power burst sports...
C-Conect. But in general, I'd have to say that I was mvolved for 5 years with the National
Swimmmg team, which was very closely connected with this whole dopmg problematic
and h was, for me mconceivable, that those people who thought that all up and they waUc
away from this completely untouched. It's always been the case that the coaches are
accused the most. But the coaches, m my book are reaUy the guys in the middle. If they
did h, then they did h under coercion, they didn't thhdc h up.
B-Those who distributed the substances, you mean...?
C-Yes. Exactly. And then what happened after the Wende, the big wigs who had aU the
say in sports, the first ones came to the West and sold thefr knowledge and methods at a
high price and no one is accusing them of anything, and that's the worst of h. Another
thhig that reaUy makes me angry Barbara is, our swimmers, our gfrls, were m the water
three times a day, we were in Mexico three times a year and did high altitude trainmg, and
so forth. Everyone knows that brii^s tremendous resuhs and then to just insist that you
can take a piU or a tablet £md you'U become an Olympic Champ. That's what makes me so
mad about this whole thmg. What gratifies me, is that those athletes who were successful
during the GDR period, are stUl successful today, and they are checked (dophig confrol)
10, 20, 100 thnes a year. And to me that makes this whole thing right agam. And that
gives me some peace about the whole thmg.
B-They are also, some of them, trained by East German coaches, right?
C-Yes. That's exactly right.
B-With East German trahung methods, or not?
C-Yes. That's exactly right. And what's happenmg now is simply unbearable, and is by my
definition a campaign...h has to do with poshions of employment and h concerns throwing
people out who are better quaUfied (than those taking on the poshion). And, there is with
aU certahity, good coaches in the West who are highly mvolved and give great effort for
thefr work and that should be recognized. But you can't put everythhig under one
umbreUa [m respect to former GDR coaches] and that's what bothers me. And they wiU,
m principle, just distract and preoccupy people whh this matter and that's not fafr. That is
somehow just not fafr.
B-Yes, yes.
C-Then, I have as an example, my husband, who is a very successfiU rowing coach. He
had 3 or 4 people who participated in the 8 man boat m the Olympics m '92 and then m
'94, '95, '96. He's had athletes who participated at the Junior level and he's been swept
aside a bh. I always thought that m the Westem system that when you're good tiiat thmgs

579
wUl go weU for you. But tf you're too good, then you'U also have problems. So the
problem is that the women hi the 8 man boat in the Olympic Games of '96 came m last.
The coaches asserted themselves agamst the gfrls and they never got h changed. My
husband is stUl overseemg the 8 man women's boat and we'U see what happens. And
those things aren't right...
B-Do you thhdc there are certain characteristics say, cultural characteristics, which the
East Germans appUed? Say they framed more comprehensively, more scientificaUy,
harder...would those be, perhaps, German characteristics which made them so
good...consistently so?
C-Umm. Yes. Consistency, that's probably the problem
B-Just Uke h says here in this article: "SystematicaUy selected, systematicaUy tramed and
systematicaUy hicreased the degree and mtensity of tramhig."
C-Yes.
B-Organized?
C-Yes.
B-That's what one imagines as bemg vety Gennan.
C-Yes, we organized and produced, as you said, Olympic champions. You went to school
and saw a taU gfrl and asked tf she wanted to row. She'd say yes and then we'd make an
Olympic champion out of her, even though she never conceived of such a thhig. We made
Olympic champions Uke out of a factory.
B-Did you ever hear from any of the gfrls that they wanted to quh, or did you yoursetf
hear, that tf they don't contmue on, they (or you) wiU not get to go to Gymnasium
(German high school)?
C-Yes, there were certain pressures. Ok, we were raised in a dictatorial system and they
used, naturaUy, every means they had to accompUsh things. I know that. That happened.
And the problem was also, that tf you got out of the sports school you wouldn't have the
opportunity to do sports agahi. The choice was ehher: do eUte sports or nothing at aU.
B-Once you're m, you can't get out.
C-Right. There were normal swimmmg pools, and you could do that or go runnmg or bUce
ridmg say m a sport club, but you'd get a poor reception from people tf you dropped out.
B-But you can't force h, you can't force an unwUUng person to do sports.
C-That's tme.
B-And to say to someone and threaten, "You have absolutely no future tf you don't
continue on with sports..."
C-No, that wasn't the case either, that wasn't the case. And tf the achievement level
wasn't there anymore, then h served hs purpose. What was good m the GDR with the
sport school system, was they tried to get kids who were wiUmg, and perhaps m thefr area
did not show much advancement to say to them, "Listen, your big now..." I know my
husband had two gfrls in the 8 man boat, former shot putters. In BerUn they were taU and
knew they woulchi't be throwing much further. Then the rower coach went to them and
asked tf they'd Uke to tty h. One of them became the World Champion thereafter in '94.
She was also m the Olympic Games. Thus, many chUdren were channeled into other
athletic areas. And to me, tiiat is vety neglected here in this system. You could taUc to

580
ChUdren who are swimmers and ask them tf they'd Uke to become rowers And I thhdc
many chUdren are lost [as talent] who actuaUy are wUUng and show potential say they've
maxed their potential m that one sport. My husband said his most successfiU rower was
once a swhnmer. She swam and then was supposed to go to a KJS m BerUn, but the poor
thmg had a Grandma m [West] BerUn and so they didn't take her. She was taU and a friend
asked her tf she'd Uke to row. She came to Dresden where we were and became a two
time Olympic champ.
B-Do you regret that this system was not taken on [by the FRG]?
C-ActuaUy, you have to dtfferentiate here. I regret that this system doesn't even exist
anymore. I'm glad that the borders are open, that we're unified. That's hnportant also for
the fiiture of my daughter. I thhdc h's good. But that the whole system was so rigorousty
destroyed, I don't thhdc that is good. I would have Uked to have seen some thmgs taken
on, but here h is, seven years mto the new system and I know that that's not gomg to
happen, even though, many stmctures are different and that you can't always transfer one
[aspect of the system] to another.
B-Are the sports schools here too lame?
C-They're not too lame. They don't even exist.
B-I see. But I mean, the ones that are here.
C-I can't evaluate them, because I haven't been to them. I haven't been to such sports
schools. Therefore, I can't aUow mysetf an opmion. I must say, that the way thmgs
proceed here m Saarbrticken, that from my medical perspective, which I know the best,
that everythmg conesponds fefrly closely to the Eastem standards. We are here dfrectly
together: trainingfecUities,doctor, physiotherapist and we have good tramers here. And
we're just a smaU federal state, so h can be easily overlooked. The athletes have few
burdens (problems) on them. They have contact to counselors, whether that's m the
professional sense whh an educational counselor, or from the side of the physician for
medical reasons. It runs pretty weU here. And I'm very satisfied with h here. I'd have to
say we that we have ahnost achieved former "East standards" here...that the athletes are
cared for hi an opthnal fashion.
B-[laughs] What do you mean "ahnost"?
C-Yes, see, they have a boardmg school here...
B-Ok, what would you absolutely reject from the East German system?
C-Ok, this whole... what would I reject? This state of being locked in. The dogma. That
h's always dictated to you, "This is how you have to do h." You know? I didn't Uke that
or the pressures that we had. I would absolutely reject that. We are free people now, and
evetyone needs to know what they want. By aU means, I would reject that. That is aU
much, much better now...[I would reject] a dictator who gives orders that you have to do
sports or you can't do sports.
B-Maybe the training plans were too strict? Maybe they could have oriented it more
around the people and how they were domg. You have phases. Sometimes you're domg
weU, somethnes you're not. They don't need to force the thmg so much.
C-Yes Barbara, that's tme when you just have one [athlete], you can justify the thmg a bh.
But we had 10 or 20, you understand. But tf one isn't domg weU [then on a team Uke

581
rowing] then h doesn't work for the other 19. You know? The fewer people you have, the
more you can anange thmgs. The more people you have, the less you can do that.
NaturaUy, some people always drop out. But with us, we always had enough people and
we had enough material. So h wasn't so conspicuous. (Comments unclear.)
B-Did the East Germans have much success m the reahn of rowing?
C-Vcty much so. We were the most successfiil nation of aU m rowing.
B-How many medals did they get?
C-We participated for the first thne m 1976 in the Olympics and that was also bad about
the GDR sports system, only Olympic events were sponsored. That is, only in areas where
Olympic medals could be achieved, would they make room for them m the system And I
don't thhdc that's right at aU. I've gotten to know a lot of sports m the West which were
not Olympic, such as badminton and the triathlon and stUl are worthy of bemg sponsored.
And that made a huge difference. And that they differentiated the one from the other, I
would absolutely reject that, this idea of only sponsoring sports that accme medals.
B-Yes, that's done now also in the Federal RepubUc.
C-Yes, now h is. This [aspect] was taken over [from the GDR]. But such sports as
badminton and triathlon have also become Olympic sports, thank goodness. And the
money here is oriented around the Olympic systenL You're right. That has, in the course
of several years, also been taken on. That's a bh of the GDR system which has been
mcorporated. But hi our system, h was reaUy bad...you didn't have a chance.
B-Do you have any long term injuries from the sport you've done?
C-I have none whatsoever.
B-Were you ever checked over in Kreischa?
C-Yes. I was raised hi Dresden and raised, m principle, next to Kreischa. I was in Kreischa
for my illness. And I went there for my diagnosis, for the final diagnosis where they
estabUshed what I had. And also, as a physiotherapist I completed my studies in Kreischa.
B-Have you also ever had to submit urme and blood spechnens before you traveled abroad
for any competition?
C-Ok, dopmg control. I mysetf, as an athlete, never, no. No. I didn't. That was ml978 for
the Junior World Championships. And we were not controUed.
B-What was that?
C-The 1978 Junior World championships, we were not checked as far as I can remember.
B-What kmd of role did you play m the Junior WM?
C-I was the substitute rower.
B-And you won second place? Or you were second among the sociaUst countries?
C-Yes, exactly. We won thfrd, second place.
B-And you were the substitute rower at the World Championships?
C-Yes.
B-And you did not participate?
C-No. I was there, but I did not participate.
B-Ok, I actuaUy have no more questions unless there is somethmg you'd Uke to add.
C-No. I actuaUy thhdc h's very good that countries such as America demonstrates mterest
m such matters.

582
B-I don't know tf I could say that I represent aU of America, [laughter]
C-Yes, but, as far as I understand h, and you could most certahUy conect me on this, they
give pams to get athletic youth at the univershies. And I think, as some clever person once
saicl "A sound mind should be in a sound body." And I beUeve that the tendency with us is
that the body is decaymg here among the youth. That they are hnpoverished m respect to
movement.
B-Oh, you can see that quite clearly with us. It's worse.
C-It's worse? It's the same where you are too? Ok, but stUl,tfI'm mterested in sports and
recognize h, then it's possible to go to a university where they take some consideration for
my athletic career. I beUeve h's a bh better where you are, or not?
B-Hmmm? Thank you very much.

583
 APPENDDC L
INTERVIEW WITH
HELMA KNORSCHEIDT

584
 Interview with Helma Knorscheidt
Former Elite Athlete in Shot put
Silver medalist in 1983 in the World Championship
European Champ, 1983
May 18,1997, Otympic Training Center in Halle
Interviewed, Transcribed and Translated by
Barbara Cole

H=Helma; B=Barbara

B-Ok, teU me please, for the purpose of the cassette and also that I can be enlightened
here, your name, athletic disciplme, age, and years that you were active m compethion.
H-Ok, my name is Helma Knorscheidt. I'm 40 and I participated actively [m
competition] from 1972 to 1986 m elhe sports hi shot put.
B-Shot put, okay. And what kind of success have you had?
H-My biggest success was second place hi the World Championships in Helshdci hi 1983,
and one championship in the European Cup in London.
B-And what year was that?
H-That was also hi 1983 And then I was second place agahi hi the European
Championships and that was 1985, uh 1981 and at the (unclear, Halle?) European
Championships, I've been ffrst, second and thfrd, all m different years. Then I was
Student World Champ...
B-And at the Olympic Games?
H-Unfortunately I did not participate at the Olympic Games as that was...
B-'84?
H-Yes, that was '84 and we boycotted. And m 1988 I had a break in my activhies as I
had a tom Ugament hijury.
B-Oh dear. That's only once every four years...
H-And m 1980 only three of the top athletes m each disciplme could go and I was the
fourth best at that thne.
B-Dumb luck!
H-Unfortunately.
B-Ok, were you also in a KJS?
H-I was, and lived m a sports boardmg school a special sports school from 1972 to 1976.
B-When did the KJS sport system start?
H-It's been there from the vety beghmhig...
B-Smce the end of the War?
H-Yes, dfrectly.
B-How were you selected, hi school or...?
H-Yes, I was, practicaUy speakmg, always mvolved m school sports and I was the best
and mthe GDR system, the coaches were always lookmg for talent. They had a well-
organized selection system and at the county championships one would be approached,
and I was asked ff I wanted to do sports. I was m a sports club. And that is how rt
happened.
B-And did you have success m other types of sports or primarily hi...?
H-Yes, m one's younger days one filmed more m general terms, but then m 1972 I went
585
to the KJS and from then on I did solely shot put. And one always participated in school
sports also.
B-What do you thhdc of your experience at the KJS? Was h a good experience, was h a
bad experience?
H-I found h to be an excellent one, m prmciple, completely excellent. Because everythmg
was so...the children were hi these fecilhies all day, and h was organized.
B-Didn't you miss your parents?
H-Yes, of course, one always has homesickness, a Uttle, but if you're m this envfronment
then...
B-Wasn't h too strict? The trahung?
H-No. I think h was better organized than h is today, because h was sponsored by the
State. One would trahi twice a day. Evctyday we would train, hi the morning we did the
foundational (basic) tramhig where other athletic disciplmes would be practiced, and then
in the aftemoon we had specialized training, that is, in your particular athletic discipline.
B-How many hours a week did you train?
H-20 hours.
B-20 hours.
H-And naturaUy, in the course of years that increased as one got older.
B-And the schooUng was naturaUy adapted around the sport?
H-After fraining everything was oriented around an hourly plan. It was therefore...now,
the students don't have h as good. They have a fuU educational program and no
consideration is made for them [in training]. If, for example, there were compethive
events [in the GDR] or one was hi a trahiing camp, then the teacher would say "You
don't need to take your test tomonow. You can do h next week so that you have enough
thne to fram." But now, no one considers this. The duration of education to get a high
school Abitur (diploma) normally is 12 years and we were granted 13.
B-Then h was lengthened.
H-Yes.
B-Even tf one was an elhe athlete hi a univershy distance learning program h would be
lengthened...
H-Yes, that was also done. I am, for example, an elementary school teacher and the
normal length of studies is 4 years and I needed 10 years. It all depends on whether one is
A-Kader, that is, one of the top athletes, and that (educational program) was adjusted so
that you could do your studies. The coach would negotiate with the univershy so that
your trahiing would conespond with your education.
B-You said previously that h was easier because the state sponsored everythmg. How is h
sponsored now?
H-Yes, h is sponsored [by the state], but not to that extent, and h isn't as well organized.
For example, this talent selection system, h doesn't even exist anymore and absolutely
not m the schools. Some coaches do look, but there are too few coaches, [comments
unclear] And the federal [FRG] coaches don't even manage to do h. People are selected
out of sports clubs.
B-I've heard of the success of other East German athletes, for example, Ufa Pippig, she
won the Boston marathon three thnes. This year she was thfrd, but stUl, that's a very high
accompUshment and somethhig happened to her muscles this last year m the Olympic
Games or she would have also been fust, perhaps. She trahied on average 180 km
586
weekly, whereas the typical marathon runner trams only 150 km weekly. Did you tram
more on average than your compethors?
H-One can't generalize lUce that. It's contmgent upon the sport type. I was a quick power
burst athletic type, so I didn't need to tram so much. All my trahung was dfrectly applied.
There are those with the long twitch muscle fibers who have to fram more. I have short
twitch muscle. There were parameter trahung plans whh certahi goals or criterium which
had to be fulfilled.
B-This system was taken over from the Russians, and whh German efficiency and
thoroughness unproved and applied more scientffically.
H-Yes, h was very scientific.
B-And more thoroughly. Could you say that the Germans have certam cultural
characteristics which rendered the athlete, could one say, a better athlete? That they
perhaps tram harder...?
H-That was our system, durhig the GDR, to tram harder. That was the way h was m elite
sports, m order to be among the world's best, one had to tram at a very high volume.
B-But whether the Gennans have certam cuhural characteristics which make them do
this...?
H-No. That was just...
B-It was actually a Russian system.
H-The Russians had it too.
B-But they were better than the Russians, the East Germans were.
H-Yes, they were, by all counts. But that was because everythmg was so thoroughly
organized.
B-Then that is a German mentaUty thing, to do things more throughly, more
scientifically...
H-Well yes, but hi sports without a greater parameter you can't get to the top, you have
to train twice a day. And since this (cunent) system is no longer guaranteed, then the
perfonnance has receded. For example, the students who are now m vocational trainhig,
they have to work the entfre day. No employer says you can work until noon, and train aU
aftemoon. It just doesn't work that way. No one does that. They get off work at 5:00 and
then go tram. Not a whole lot resuhs from this. Very few make h lflce this. And that's
why this whole thing is declhimg hi performance.
B-WeU then, the KJS boardhig schools are no longer 13 years as h was when you did h
but...
H-Twelve years. For the Abhur you only get 12 years
B-And the emphasis is prhnarUy on education and then trahiing.
H-Education is predommant and then trahung. And many parents are now saying, "If
you're not dohig well m school work, then come on back home [to attend a normal
school] Leam a profession." And m the GDR, every athlete got a profession.
B-Mostly m sports, as sports teachers or...
H-No, not necessarily.
B-Are you actually from Halle?
H-I come from an outlyhig community by Halle. Twenty kUometers from Halle.
B-You've lived here all your life!
H-(laughs) Yes.
B-Ok, the GDR had the best sports system m the world, didn't h?
587
H-Yes, without a doubt.
B-What was the reason for this, m your opinion?
H-Yes, I've been ttymg to explam that to you: through this sponsorship, the state
sponsorship. The sponsorship is stUl there but not to that extent. The trahung camps have
to be paid for. When we [m the GDR] went to frainmg camps we never had to pay, not
one penny. The best athletes of course don't [pay, here m the FRG,] but the up-and-
coming athletes, the younger ones, they have to pay, ff they can even go. And the parents
who aren't workhig, they can't afford h. Therefore, thefr kids can't go. That's a problem.
B-In the US, many athletes come from the middle class or from poorer chcumstances.
And I think these people are more goal oriented. The chUdren from well-to-do families,
they have thousands of options. Therefore they don't feel the same pressure to succeed.
What motivated you m sports?
H-The first motive was that, hi the GDR one couldn't travel that is, at least not abroad
mto capitaUst countries. And that was naturally a motive for many m sports to exert
themseff. NaturaUy talent was part of it, you had to have certain physical prerequishes
fiiffilled.
B-And you got a nicer apartment and were able to get a car quicker...
H-Yes, yes, cars, apartment, profession. The latter wasn't a problem anyway hi the
GDR...
B-...the possibility to train and do sports...
H-...tliat was a big honor, to be at a sports school. And this is all gone somehow. They're
not proud to be athletes or to be at a KJS, for the most part, or many, not aU of them.
They're not wUlhig to trahi at a high level They don't want the pressure anymore.
B-Was the famUy also somehow included m the securhy of this system?
H-No.
B-Are or have you been manied and had children?
H-No.
B-But if you had been manied could your family...
H-No, the family would never be allowed to travel outside of the country.
B-No, but the femily would have profited also from the system, thefr whole situation
would have been better, whh a larger apartment and so forth...
H-By all means.
B-Did h ever tempt you to try to leave [the GDR]?
H-No. I never thought about h. Because as an athlete one was more privileged and one
was better off than the average populace, and apart from that, we had such a close knit
family, that I never thought about h.
B-Were you aUowed to buy westem goods?
H-Yes. We always got some money, a little bh of pocket money, and we were allowed to
buy somethhig each cfey, whatever one wanted.
B-Did you also have polhical education?
H-Yes, we did, athletic [poUtical] education...
B-...and the emphasis was...
H-...how evU capitalism is.
[laughter]
B-No, [also] that sport and poUtics are not to be separated. That one may not enjoy sports
for sports sake but that h must and does have a poUtical significance.
588
H-Sports and poUtics are one. And sports had a large role m poUtics m the GDR. It was
an advertisement.
B-How do you mean that? LUce with Werner Seelenbmder?
H-Sports and poUtics were one unit, they belonged together. Due to the great athletic
successes, we were sovereign in all sports disciplines, you know, because of the state
sponsorship.
B-And one was supposed to prove thereby that socialism was superior to caphaUsm m
that you had athletic success.
H-Exactly.
B-Did you believe that?
H-That's just the way it was. We didn't know anything differently. We were raised in this
system.
B-But what's pecuUar about this is that they used caphaUstic forces or fevors to prove
that socialism was superior to caphaUsm. That is, you were favored with capitaUst goods,
travels abroad, quicker access to apartments and cars and so forth. Isn't that a
contradiction? Or a paradox?
H-Yes, (laughs).
B-It was an island of capitaUsm whhhi socialism. That's how Udo Beyer described h to
me.
H-Yes, h is a contradiction. And one did flunk this m the back of one's mmd but we
weren't allowed to say such things.
B-Did these poUtical convictions do anything for you? Did h motivate you?
H-Hmm, well no...
B-That was done more for the love of family, for friends, just lUce m any country...
H-Yes, one was proud of it...
B-Do you think that this system of the GDR could be transfened over to the FRG? Or
should h?
H-This system [of the GDR] was at any rate better, the sports system that is. I afready
mentioned the various aspects, the sponsorship, and Uke I said, sport is the best side event
m this world. And the motive for the athletes, for example, to fravel has declmed because
anybody can go anywhere they want.
B-Yes, but I StUl thhdc that athletes are proud of thefr athletic successes.
H-Yes, but not m the same measure. They don't have as many good athletes anymore,
because of this caphalist system.
B-And the deficiencies lay therehi that they don't have this talent selection.
H-Oh they do have some talent but not as much.
B-And the children aren't as...
H-The children aren't as willmg to tram. (Comments unclear.) Most children aren't as
wUlmg to fram as much. We trahied on Saturdays on weekends and hoUdays...Very few
do that now.
B-That's a hard thmg for a child.
H-It is a hard thmg. Sports m the GDR was by aU counts a hard thmg.
B-Because I thhdc there are alot of people whh talent, but the sacrffice is so great.
H-Yes, one sacrifices so much. And because of the professional problems, you know, the
educational problems, they can't do h. One can't do as much or fram as much as one did
hi the old system.
589
 B-This system had a vety comprehensive care system, did h not?
H-Sports medichie, everytiung was taken care of..
B-Counselors...tf you ever had any problems, say with friends, there was always someone
you could go to...
H-One had the coach and that was actually one's first friend.
B-What surprised you the most about the West, when you were fust there?
H-That you could buy anythmg. I was m a caphaUstic country for the fust thne m 1969 m
Mexico Chy and h was....
B-In Mexico! That's a very poor country.
H-Yes, I was there for the student championships.
B-My goodness. And m the US? Were you ever there?
H-No unfortunatety. I was m (unclear) for the European championships, once.
B-And what did you thhdc of h?
H-One is totaUy overwhelmed, how can I describe h. This consume, you could buy
anythhig and you have to remember m the GDR, there were deficiencies m everythhig.
There was too Uttle fruh, too few clothes, nice thmgs, everythhig. Actually thmgs that
aren't reaUy important hi Ufe. ActuaUy thhigs that aren't that hnportant m life.
B-The quaUty of Ufe is not reaUy [necessarUy] condhioned by the material goods, or no?
The quaUty of Ufe is determmed by tiie quaUty of relationships people have (unclear).
H-Exactly. (Comments unclear). The sports facilhies, everythmg, you can't hnagme how
thhigs looked here then. You couldn't get constmction materials, no car parts. We only
had two types of cars: Trabant and Wartburg. And you had to wah ten years or longer to
get them. (Comments unclear.) [And m the West] h was amazing what one saw, what one
could buy.
B-And the family relationships were perhaps closer...
H-And despite aU that the people were happy because there was work. Everyone had a
job. There was no unemployment. There was no hunger. No one Uved hi the streets...
B-There were no homeless...
H-That was actuaUy not a topic at all.
B-Is there anything m this system [GDR sports] that one absolutely should and must
reject?
H-In the GDR system?
B-Yes, in the GDR sports system.
H-Hininm...I was an athlete body and soul. What I would reject would be the
quaUfication system for competition. One had to quaUfy for European and World
championships, just lflce they stUl do tocfey. But this qualification put you under such a
high stress for performance that, h was such a nerve wracking burden, that I always say
that h never was enough ifl threw for 21 meters.
B-Twenty-one meters? For women?
H-Twenty-one meters. Somethnes h wasn't that much, but 21 meters at the
championships. It was harder to establish yourself in the GDR [as a shot put thrower]
than h was m the world. When I competed m the GDR, I was always thfrd best m the
GDR. But in hitemational compethion, I was always good enough to win a medal. The
performance level [in the GDR] was so high, that h was harder to compete m the GDR
than h was m the world. It was that bad. And I, for example, bad the experience that I
had afready been nominated for European championships because I fulfilled the norm m
590
1968. We went to the European championships m (unclear) and so I was m the EM team
and there (m the GDR) a gfrl threw ferther than I did although I was afready nommated!
B-My goodness.
H-And she couldn't go because she was hijured. And that was bad. It was nerve
wrackmg.
B-What supported you psychologicaUy? Your family or the people here or...?
H-The enthusiasm of the people then was much greater towards our system (than today.)
One was looked up to more. I don't know...people were more mterested m sports.
[Comments unclear.]
B-There were these mezo-cycles and macro-cycles, trahung plans, right?
H-Yes.
B-Could you explain that?
H-One always had a 6 week plan and then certam trahung work loads had to be fiiffilled
hi that period. For example, m 6 weeks I would have had to have thrown the shot put
1,500 thnes.
B-Man...
H-Yes, somethnes for a weekly maximum, I had to throw h 400 thnes...m one week.
B-Didn't your arm hurt at night? Pam every night, or no?
H-Certainly. But because one frained evctyday, with weights...
B-Didn't your arm get quite big?
H-No, h wasn't a one-sided development. The whole body is thoroughly tramed. But this
work load norm had to be fulfiUed. And that's how h was m the GDR. And that's what
one did. Unless you were injured.
B-You also had the macro-cycles. And what were the macro-cycles?
H-That was, for all practical purposes, a long term plan, a quarterly year plan.
B-There were then those two.
H-There was also a yearly plan and a shorter version, 6 weeks, a mezo cycle. This yearly
plan was created by the coach and would then be checked by administrators. They would
say then, "Why haven't you fulfilled your ttaming plan?"
B-My goodness. And you had several coaches?
H-I only had one. Herm BOttcher, the coach of lUce Wyludda, who is cunently here in
Halle.
B-...in Halle, ok. And you had the mezo-cycles, the macro-cycles. You were probably
also told when you could go on vacation, when you could go home....?
H-Yes that was aU determined P)y them]...yes, during vacation thne, we framed, during
holidays we trained. Durmg school vacation we always trained.
B-And diets and nutrition were planned for you, what you could and couldn't eat...?
H-The whole year was planned and we rarely had vacation. When one is on the A cadre
(team) then one has very Uttle thne. You know, the year's cycle beghis m August. And m
September then, the new fraining year, for aU practical purposes, starts, and one starts to
build one's performance for the coming year. One starts with general trahung (comment
unclear) m order to build condhionhig...when you start with a high parameter of trahimg,
then you do alot of strength framing and then you have a phase where you do alot of
throws.
B-You certamly must have had a good deal of preventive medical care, sports medicme...
H-The medical care was totally secure. There was a sports medical service and m every
591
chy, evety region, evcty sports club, wherever sports was done, evcty state. [Comments
unclear.] There was a sports medical service. One always got preventive medicme and
massages. And they always did regular check ups.
B-And did you also get vhamins and a specialized diet?
H-Well diet, as a shot put thrower, one had to eat a protem rich diet but...
B-Probably alot of fron too, right?
H-Yes, but we got that, for all practical purposes, in meat. And vitamin tablets, vhanun
C, otherwise nothing else. And h was good. This sports medical service no longer exists.
B-Sports medicme was started first m Gemiany, that is, the Germans thought of this first.
H-Ummm.
B-Good, I beUeve that's it, unless there is something else you would Uke to say.
H-No. But at any rate I thought that that system was (comments unclear) at any rate
better, much better. The sports system, that is, was much better.
B-If you could do it aU over again, would you?
H-By all means, agam and agam. I would do h agam and again.
B-You would? Do you have any long term hijuries?
H-Yes, tom tendons m my back.
B-That happens frequently m this sport, doesn't h?
H-Yes, because we have to do a lot of weight trahiing. Every day we had strength
training. Just Uke the weight Ufters (comments unclear), knee bends...
B-That's what Mr. ROsch also said, that he has problems whh his back.
H-Now I get a (unclear). I don't have any bad problems. That's why I had to stop domg
my sport.
B-What can you do for that? Swhnming?
H-One can strengthen your stomach muscles...
B-Ok.
H-Ok.
B-Thank you.

592
 APPENDIX M
INTERVIEW WITH
ANTJE MAAS

593
 Interview with Antje Maas
FRG national rowing team member,
GDR national Junior rowing team member
GDR Three time Jr. Rowing World Champ for under age 23
Saarbriicken, Juty 6,1997
Interviewed, Transcribed and Translated by
Barbara Cole
A=Antje B=Barbara

B-TeU me first your name, when you first started to do sports and the success you've had
up tiU now.
A-Ok. My name is Antje Maas. I'm 24 and I started to do sports m '89, rowing m
Potsdam at the former KJS. Then, m '91,1 was Junior World Champ m the 4 man u-23,
'93 and '92 World Champ 4 man u-23, u-23 '94 World Champ m 2 man and I was a
stand-m substitute for last year as weU as this year for the World Championships.
B-You were a World Champion three thnes you said?
A-Yes, Junior World Champ and u-23, that is, those under age 23.
B-Ok, I see. And now you're on the Olympic team of the FRG.
A-I'm on the national team, exactly.
B-Then you were only on the GDR team one year.
A-Yes I was, m 1990, the last year that anyone could start for the GDR, a so caUed Junior
B., which is what h's caUed today. I was 16 and that was at the JDF-Jugendkampfe der
Freundschaft (Youth Con^ethion of Friendship). That's a lower level of the Junior World
Championship, because the Junior World Championship wasn't m Germany yet.
B-Okay, then you only were mvolved in one year of compethion.
A-Yes, exactly.
B-Were you selected as a chUd?
A-Yes, at that thne we had talent scout tramers who went to aU the schools and spoke to
aU the gfrls and boys who were relatively taU and they had to go to BerUn or Potsdam or
Dresden or Leipzig for abiUties' tests. They were held m aU these Sports Centers and then
they decided who'd be taken m (to the KJS).
B-And how long were you m a KJS?
A-I was there in the 9* and 10* classes. I started m the 9* grade and left my home school
then and then finished the KJS up m the 10* grade.
B-Did you Uve there at the KJS or did you Uve at home and go there to school?
A-No, I Uved dfrectly then at the KJS because h would've been too far. The KJS was m
Potsdam and I came from KOnigs (unclear). That was one hour away and that would have
been too far to travel every day.
B-I see, and what kmd of an experience was that for you at the KJS, this boarding school?
A-That was a very good experience for me, I'd have to say and I'm of the opmion that aU
athletes there hi the GDR had h reaUy good. We received a good deal of support, starting
with room and board. We had overseers who took care of us from morning tUl night. We
had a very high quota of care-taking, the rowers did. We went to school and h was

594
adjusted so that 2 thnes a week we could tram before school m the mommgs and had
school then in the aftemoons and then, three thnes a week we'd have school m the
mornings and then frahung.
B-Were the performance goals too high or were they just right? What was your
experience?
A-The performance goals m the school?
B-In sports.
A-Oh, from sports. No they were exactly adapted to the athlete.
B-Are those predommantly East Germans who are rowing now for the FRG?
A-Yes, yes they are. The majority are from East Gemiany. There's stUl a difference in the
individual boat categories. I'd say m the women's (unclear) realm. I'd say h's 80-85% for
sure from the GDR. In the scuttle reahn, h's now about 50-50. So h's risen some in the
meantime (for the West Germans.)
B-How can that be that so many East Germans are hivolved? What do you thhdc?
A-I'm of the ophuon that then in the GDR, sponsorship was much better from youth on
up. They had the talent scout tramers. Most leamed rowing at age 14. They were brought
mto the KJS in the 8* grade and that was naturaUy relatively young. With Juniors one start
with age 18 and then m the open Seniors starting at 19 or 20. And then, when you are
dfrected hito this afready at age 14, you come in this huge group. We were at that thne in
a trammg group of over 20 (I'm the only one stiU m this from that group) then you have a
huge potential. You can be certahi that from such a large group that you're going to get a
few good ones.
B-Did you find h difficult to juggle school and sports or did they adjust that for you
properly?
A-It was weU organized. I had absolutely no problem with h...with school and sport. I
could do both vety weU.
B-How many hours a day did you train on average?
A-Then or now?
B-Then.
A-That's hard to say. I thhdc we also tramed on average of 2 trainhig units a day. So, four
hours a cfey.
B-...on average.
A-Yes.
B-Somethnes more?
A-Somethnes more. On weekends, h was naturaUy more when we had more thne or m
TCs when we had the whole day, naturaUy.
B-Did you thhdc that was too much or exactly enough or could h have easUy been more?
A-No, I thhdc h was appropriate because the end effect was we got the resuhs we hoped
for at the end of the year.
B-There was also at that tune the so-caUed micro cycles, macro cycles, Olympic
cycles...with vety specific goals that you had to accompUsh in those cycles.
A-Yes, that's difficuh for me to answer because during the time of the GDR, I wasn't yet
m that Olympic cycle.

595
B-Ok, I see. But you did have somethmg Uke that: these micro cycles, macro cycles or no^^
A-WeU, not so much actuaUy.
B-Not so much? Didn't they have any trammg plans?
A-Yes, we had trammg plans.
B-Was there a possibiUty of deviatmg from those plans?
A-Why would one deviate from them?
B-WeU, maybe you're not feeUng weU at the moment or you don't feel Uke h.
A-WeU, not feeUng Uke h is a bad excuse. You couldn't say that (laughter).But tf there
were any kmd of problems, then sure, you could deviate from them. But generaUy, we
puUed through, for the most part, on how the plan was written up.
B-Could you wheel and deal with the coach or no?
A-No, actuaUy not, not them They were pretty tough (laughter). They checked up on us a
lot more than they do now. They'd stand there in the weight rooms and count the
exercises we did. They'd count the repethions and took our frequencies.
B-Was there whoUstic kmds of trammg? By that I mean, as we caU h m EngUsh, cross
trammg, where you do several kmds of sports so that you'd be stronger m your own
sport?
A-More types of sport?
B-Say, for example, swimmhig, bicycUng, weight Uftmg, so that you'd be better m your
own sport.
A-WeU, in the winter, we'd be at a ski resort, that is, the older women would go to cycUng
camp, where we were this year also. Then swimmmg, we'd do that one time a week, as far
as I can remember, and m the wmter h was mostly thought of as a sport to get your
equUibrium. And strength trahimg is always done anyway. We always had to do that quhe
regularly, 2-3 tunes a week. And then we also did a lot of running for endurance.
B-What did you find to be particularly good about this system? What did you think was
particularly good?
A-Lflce I said, I thought h was especiaUy good that a lot of kids were taken off the street.
For example, we had some reaUy good athletes who came from the reaUy smaU villages
and I don't know what would have become of them tf they'd have stayed there.
B-I see.
A-They saw a lot more of the world. I think it brought many closer towards setf reUance. I
beUeve that was reaUy...for sports, that that was a good system.
B-What motivated you the most?
A-Motivated at that time? NaturaUy the goal was to be able to be on the national team by
the end of the year.
B-So that was a purely athletic motivation, h wasn't ever the poUtical speeches that you
always listened to that were held so much?
A-(lauglis) ActuaUy, no.
B-You were actuaUy supposed to represent the poUtical personaUty...to embody the
socialist personaUty, or no?
A-WeU ok, we did have some national pride...when you're on the national team and
you're representhig the national team wearing the national colors, then you're proud of h.

596
That's tme. But that's no different today. That doesn't reaUy have much to do with
poUtics.
B-And that didn't motivate you at aU, or Uttle or....?
A-It didn't motivate me Uke my own personal motivation, to stand on the victor's stand.
B-Ok, and m respect to the KJS, did they make aU your decisions for you, or could you
decide when you'd go on vacation or when you'd meet up with your famUy or...
A-No, we couldn't do that. It was afready established m the traming plan. We had certain
free weeks. Vacation, naturaUy, you could only take when the season was at an end. It
was approximately three weeks after the World Championships, or accordhig to whatever
major event was planned, and then, right after that tramhig started up agam and then
vacation was over.
B-And they were vety caring in this school; they made aU the decisions for you, or could
you determine your own Ufe a Uttle bh or....
A-WeU what do you mean made aU possible decisions for us? They couldn't take anythhig
away from us...education or degree. They did take care of us.
B-Were you ever told, or tf you ever wanted to quit, were you ever told that you wouldn't
have any future prospects or you won't get to go to high school or anything?
A-No, h wasn't Uke that. It wasn't Uke that. We had some who quh because they either
had health problems or because they didn't see any future prospects for themselves.
B-....m sports?
A-Because athleticaUy they shnply weren't gettmg any further. They went into the so-
caUed "I" class, or intensive classes, and then they concentrated on school aU the more.
And then they "down trahied" the muscles, for sure, as that's too crass shnply to abmptly
stop. They were cared for aU the same at the KJS and would finish thefr diploma there
anyway. They weren't aUowed to shnply "decay."
B-Ok, the West Germans always accuse the East Germans by saymg, "You were only
good because you were doped."
A-(laughs).
B-...and the East Germans say, "We were good because we had a good system."
A-Yes.
B-What do you thhdc of this whole dopmg history? Could dopmg even help m the reahn of
rowing?
A-Yes.
B-Could h give you an advantage?
A-Yes, theoreticaUy h's possible to do somethmg with dopmg m rowing because h's an
endurance sport and there's enough, let us say, medications that could help endurance
sports. That's clear.
B-But dophig helps short burst of power sports mostly, track and such.
A-Yes, one hears that often. I can only speak for myseU; that I never doped and I never
received anythmg where I never knew what h was and whatever happened to the older
ones (athletes), I have no idea. We heard durmg the GDR thnes that h was swimmers and
such....
B-Or track and field athletes?

597
A-Yes, but that one could say specificaUy that h was m rowing, weU, not tiiat I know of
B-What, from your perspective, was the reason that the East Gennans were so successfiil?
A-That's StUl, the same m my ophuon as what I said before, is that we were better
sponsored...from chUdhood on, by the state at any rate, and shnpty that many chUdren,
many young chUdren were led mto sports and of 20 kids, 5 were good enough to make h
to the world's top. And you look at how the Americans do h, they don't reaUy start
rowing until they're students (coUege) and that's too late.
B-What would you absolutely let go or reject from this system? From your experience....
A-Oh dear....absolutely reject?
B-Was there anythhig?
A-In the athletic sense?
B-Or anythmg at aU...
A-WeU let's see, anything at aU...It was always a big deal when h came to traveUng abroad
mto capitaUstic countries, I'd say, as h was caUed then.
B-I see, ok.
A-Not evetyone was aUowed to go and then what we're findmg out afterwards what went
on sunoundmg aU that and a lot of athletes m sports clubs weren't aUowed to go when h
was discovered that they had relatives m the West. That is, they were told, more or less,
they could forget contactmg any rektives, oh weU.
B-Did they observe the athletes or did they check up on them somehow?
A-Let's just say that they weren't aware of h. I can only assume h was Uke that. Because
the fear was that when the athletes traveled mto the capitaUstic reahns that they'd stay
there. I'm convinced that somehow they exerted some controls in that respect. I beUeve
that.
B-But you yoursetf never experienced that, you only heard of h.
A-Yes, they just taUced about h afterwards.
B-If you had a chUd would you have put the chUd m such a KJS?
A-Yes, why not? I think so because I'm of the opinion that h was actuaUy good for me at
that time, as a 15 year old. I beheve I've become much more setf-sufficient as a resuh, as h
did for many of that age. And you don't know what's happening to kids now who just join
up with any old cUque on the streets. I find h to be a good ahemative, to do sports.
B-You mentioned something about the West. What were your mitial hnpressions of the
West?
A-.,.of the West? AthleticaUy speakmg?
B-Just in general sports or whatever.
A-WeU, at the very first when I was m West BerUn, everything completely amazed me. It
was aU so colorful, a lot of advertisements-h was just too much for me.
B-...too gUtzy.
A-Yes. And ok, I've been trahung here now for 4 years m Saarbrticken. I'd have to say
that here at the Olympic trammg center that everythmg is also very weU organized...with
the professional advisor and Lothar Altmeyer downstafrs and also the possibUities with the
weight room downstafrs. Our rowing organization isn't too far away. Thhigs are opthnaUy
planned here as weU, as much as possible, at any rate.

598
B-I think another advantage that the East Germans had was that you had no fears about
the future. You had a secure place at the university, a secure poshion m the profession of
your choosmg and that's not aU so certain here.
A-Ok, weU-secure profession, anyone could get a profession at that thne m the GDR.
That's tme. And tf you also happened to do sports at the same thne, then we made h
possible that only one hatf of one's thne was dedicated to the course and the other Imtf
went to one's trahung and then you'd get twice as much thne to leam one's profession. I
know that's how h was then. And for me, h was completely normal I started to study my
profession as usual and then was trahiing on the side anyway. It's tme that anyone could
get a profession or a pkce to study at that time. That's tme.
B-If you had had the possibiUty to defect then, would you have done h?
A-No I wouldn't have done h.
B-And why not?
A-Because thmgs were going very weU for me. I had no reason to say "I want to leave this
place." Why? I had no disadvantages at the thne.
B-Had you been to the West?
A-Had I been to the West?
B-Were you m the West before the Wende?
A-No, I wasn't. I was too young for that. The only place I'd been to was in Hungary with
the (unclear) in 1990. Before that I actuaUy never was [in the West.]
B-Did the East Germans tram, on average, more than thefr opponents, in your opmion?
A-Yes, I'd say so. I'd also say, weU, as a Junior athlete, h's difficuh for me to compare,
but I'd say m the comprehensiveness of trainmg, that h's [what was done m the GDR]
shnUar to what I do now. We had, at that thne, worse materials than what we now have,
boat material that is, and we stUl rowed faster thnes than what we do now.
B-Faster times than now? Even though you were younger?
A-Yes. No, I don't mean me personaUy, but...
B-...the team in general.
A-Yes, exactly. The earUer team was faster with worse materials than the team today.
B-How did the....now that's mterestmg. Whh worse material you did faster thnes. How
did the East German women hi '96 fare?
A-The 8 man did pretty bad last year. We pfeced 8*.
B-Out of how many?
A-Outof8.
B-[laughter] Were you one of them?
A-No. The 2 man was pretty good. They placed 4* last year. The scuUers were good. The
double 4's won last year.
B-The scuUers are how many, two? , .• , •
A-No the scuUers and the reamers are dtfferent. The scuUers have two (unclear) m their
hands and the reamers only have one. They fram also at completety dtfferent Olympic
centers. This is a big Olympic Trahung Center for women's reamers. And Potsdam is a big
one for scuUers for women. Because they're completety dtfferent from us. FRG
coaches...we don't have much mteraction with them.

599
B-Ok, so how many discipUnes are there?
A-The scuUers and the reamers.
B-And the 8ters?
A-The 8ters are aU reamers. It's dtfferent whh the Olympic categories. There are, for
example, the scuUers. There's one man, the double and the double 4 man. And witii men,
h's dtfferent altogether. There's the two man, the 4 man, the 8 man and then two non-
Olympic boat categories (unclear).
B-And what are you then?
A-This year I'm a stand-m substitute for the 8 man.
B-Whh the 8 man.
A-Yes.
B-And you thhdc you'U be able to participate m the next Olympic Games?
A-I hope so, that I'U be m the 8 man.
B-Why do you tlunk that they placed poorly last year?
A-Last year? Because there were so many points of disagreement among the rowers,
towards the coach. It didn't work out so weU last year. They were stUl pretty weU
prepared, aU the different regattas. But then, h just didn't work out weU m Atlanta.
B-But m the GDR you said previously, they did better with worse materials.
A-Yes.
B-Why is that?
A-I thhdc because the physics then were better. There, there was a higher and more
comprehensive standard of training. I see h m mysetf. I'm Uftmg the same amount of
weights now as I did as a Junior (In the GDR) in the weight room, 5 years later. That's
actuaUy....normaUy one should be much further developed, advanced...
B-...buUding up. You should actuaUy be Ufting more now and heavier weights.
A-That's right. I reaUy should be.
B-Doesn't anyone check up on you?
A-Yes they do. And I have advanced in the meantime, somewhat. It's just that....I don't
know where the Umits are. I don't know tf h's because we did more weight Uftmg then, or
what. I don't know.
B-Is h too lame m the FRG in contrast to the GDR....much lamer?
A-No, you couldn't caU h lame. I'd say that the coaches assumed far more responsibUity
for us then. Here, we're taught to be far more setf reUant. That we also can train alone and
that when we're m the weight room that the coach doesn't necessarUy have to be there.
He doesn't have to stand there and count our repethions. Either we do them because
we're convmced we need to and we want to do h...or we don't do h and we'U see what
the resuhs are from that.
B-What do you thhdc of this [FRG] system?
A-I thhdc, m the meantime, that h's also not so bad. Because I thhdc we're also more
mature (unclear). As Juniors, I thhdc you need to have the coach to be after you....one that
goes with you on the boat to see how many kUometers you do on the water; someone that
does look after you m the weight room to see whether you do everythmg. I thhdc we're at
the pomt where we know what to do m a trahung unit and what we must do, whether

600
there's a coach there or not. It does somethmg for us.
B-But with the other system you had more success.
A-Yes, when you look back m retrospect, tiiat's the way h was. Because the GDR always
had, whetiier at the World Championships or the Olympic Games, coUected one medal at
tiie very least by those who quaUfied for tiie national team (unclear.)
B-They got medals quite frequently.
A-Yes.
B-And that was mostly in the 80's or was h also m the 70's?
A-I don't know 100% about the 70's, but m the 80's
B-They always got at least one medal..
A-Yes, hi rowing, always.
B-Did the possibUity exist of gettmg into rowing from other athletic discipUnes? For
example, with bobsleddmg one could easUy use people from track because they run, jump
in and go...
A-Yes, rowhig doesn't reaUy have much of a high level of technique that needs to be
leamed. There are, of course, naturaUy talented people who leam m a year, who say, come
from swimming to rowing and then they're simply good, but they're the exceptions. It's
relatively difficult. That's why, m the GDR we started on average at age 14 to dfrect kids
mto that sport.
B-How much of h is talent and how much of h is wiU power and training?
A-WeU, ok, I'd say that wUl power and trainmg are 70-75%. I would say that of h.
Because you have to wrestle with yoursetf every time.
B-Did they have any particular methods of buUding you up psychologicaUy?
A-WeU, actuaUy not so much. The coach would motivate you in particular and put you in
a racing mood, but for the most part, you have to fight with yoursetf. ActuaUy no one can
help you with that.
B-And a lot of people drop out imtU only the best remain.
A-Yes, that's the way h is.
B-Lflce a hierarchy or a pyramid.
A-Yes.
B-Only the best come out m the end effect.
A-That's how it was.
B-Did the mass sports suffer that so much was invested in ehte sports, or do you know?
A-I don't know exactly. But I wouldn't say that mass sports had. I don't beUeve h. Why?
B-If you had the chance to do this again would you select the same sport? Or somethmg
else?
A-No, I'd probably choose rowing. I've experienced so many wonderful thhigs because of
that sport.
B-Do you tram as much now as you did then?
A-Yes, I'd say so, perhaps now a bh more than when I was a Junior.
B-Do you have anythhig else to say?
A-No.
B-Thank you very much.

601
 APPENDIX N
INTERVIEW WITH
ANETT POTZSCH

602
 Interview with Anett Potzsch-Rauschenbach
Otympic Gold medalist for women's figure skating 1980
Two time World Champion, 1978,1980 and Four time
European Champion, 1976-1980
June 26,1997 at the ice skating center in Chemnitz
Interviewed, Transcribed and Translated by
Barbara Cole

B=Barbara; A=Anett

B-Ok, teU me please your name, athletic discipUne, the success you have had and when
you were athleticaUy active.
A-My name is Anett POtzsch, that is now, Anett POtzsch-Rauschenbach. I was an ice
skater and to be sure in the thne period from 1965 to 1980. My successes...1 started whh
ice skating m 1965, and was in compethion from approxhnately to 1973 to 1980.
B-From '73 to '80 conpethions?
A-Yes, yes. And my successes: I was Olympic Champion m 1980, World Champion m
1978 and in 1980 and was European Champion from 1976 to 1980.
B-Man! That's unbeUevable! And why did you stop?
A-Why, yes. At some point the time comes when you want to quit and we had at that thne
no possibUity to continue on ice skatmg as amateurs and with compethion, since I didn't
necessarUy want to compete anymore, then the onty possibiUty was to stop doing this
sport.
B-As an amateur participating m [first] compethion and then later in shows as a
professional that came actuaUy [feter] with Katarina Witt, after your thne?
A-Yes, yes. We were not aUowed to become professional ice skaters. There was no
possibUity to skate as professionals. The topic was taboo.
B-So that happened first whh Katarina Witt?
A-She was the first one who was aUowed to do this.
B-And how did that come about?
A-The thnes were different. It was afready 1988 when Katarma stopped skating as an
amateur. And one had afready...according to opmion...one had to graduaUy give the
athletes more possibUities hi order to lengthen out the success for the state and to reap the
resuhs. And shortly thereafter, the border was opened up anyway.
B-Yes. Were you then in a KJS?
A-Yes, m the second grade, namely in the thfrd grade I went to the KJS. And later one
would come m m the first grade, from the very beghmmg [of one's schooUng.]
B-At the age of 8 you were selected.
A-In my case h was my parents who brought me to this sport. They wanted me to do
sports and h was just comcidence that I came to be an ice skater.
B-Why coincidence?
A-Yes, because my parents Uked ice skathig and swhnmhig and my mother went with me
on the ice for the first thne and h was fiin for me, as much as a five year old can judge, and

603
so I stayed with this athletic discipUne.
B-The degree of difficulty has substantiaUy changed smce your active period m sports.
A-Yes.
B-...with jumpmg, more gymnastics now m ice skating. Did you also do, sunultaneously,
other types of sports so that you could achieve a higher level of degree of difficulty? For
example: baUet, gymnastics, weight trahung and so forth...?
A-Everythmg progresses and up tUl now, there was a pretty substantial jump m levels of
perfonnance from one Olympic Game to the next.
B-The performance, for example, that Katarina Witt had in 1984, would today be
considered msufficient for the Olympic Champ, would h not?
A-We did, for example, m 1980 two dtfferent types of triple jumps. But Katarina did two
different types of triple jumps m 1988, as weU, as Olympic Champ. I'd say the difference
then was not that great yet at that pomt, but there were afready many ice skaters who
performed more than two different types of triple jumps. But, h was afready the thne
period when good progress was being made in the artistic areas. That was in Katarina's
time...
B-Artistic?
A-Yes...
B- More dtfficuh?
A-At that thne we started with Frau MtiUer, to reconstmct the programs differently. And
Katarina took this much further than ever before. That means, for example: the ongohig
programs, which means having a music theme with an accompanymg skate program and
then one attempts to reenact this theme on the ice. And yes, we did a number of types of
sports, baUet, classical baUet and jazz, and we did a lot of athletic sport discipUnes for
speed, jumpmg sfrength and sfrength so that the body would form m a heahhy manner,
and...then, now and again, swhnming or bicycling, whatever one desfred to do.
B-In the reahn of health education, which you mentioned, in the reahn of gymnastics, one
says the chUdren are under a good deal of pressure, and they are, some of them, bulemic
or anorexic. Was this the case in your time?
A-In ice skating I don't thhdc h's so bad. But attention is paid to weight because the
heavier one is, the harder h is to do the jumps, for example. Or, tf one is heavier, than
one's condhioning becomes more critical and that's why h's hnportant to have a certain
weight.
B-Yes.
A-Certainly not too thm, because then you don't have enough strength ehher, but then for
one's physique, one should look good, but then also have the strength to show what's
hnportant to show.
B-Yes. How many hours a week did you tram on average?
A-I think 4 to 5 hours.
B-A day?
A-A day, yes. Because m our time we stUl had to do the compulsories. So we had to do
the compulsoty figures, you know?
B-The compulsories? Oh yes, yes. The figure 8...

604
A-Yes, certam figures, such as 3 figure eights and big loops. We did at least 2 hours of the
compulsories a day, then 2 hours free skathig and then athletics and baUet and endurance
trainmg, that was at least 5 hours, or somewhere around that, a day.
B-Do you thhdc that was too much for a chUd or do you thhdc that was sufficient or what?
A-It certahUy was rigorous, but I thhdc also that a certam amount of tasks (lessons) were
necessary or h wiU be dtfficuh for one to develop further, because a certam degree of
performance has to be reached and then you have to surpass that m order to make further
progress. And in order to make that progress you have to have a certain amount of tasks.
To tty and do h with just one or two hours a day m high performance sports is
msufficient...to become good that is.
B-How many hours a day do the cunent ice skaters train?
A-They tram about 3 or 4 hours on average.
B-So somewhat less...
A-Yes, yes. It's a Uttle more difficuh because we had h easier as we were at the KJS, for
example, for me to get a 10 year diploma, I dichi't go 10 years, but 12.
B-And that was fuUy aUowed.
A-Yes, that's what those schools were there for. We didn't have to orient ourselves
around a time schedule of the schools, but rather, the schools oriented themselves around
us. That means that when we had to go to competition, the class room education took a
break and we didn't have to make up the thne we lost m the least amount of thne possible,
but we got more time made avaUable to us to finish up our education.
B-Did you Uve in the (KJS) boardhig school or did you Uve at home?
A-No, I Uved at home.
B-And, Jutta MiiUer was your personal coach/trainer. Is that right?
A-Yes, but not from the very beghinmg. Before that I had other coaches. I thhdc for two
years I had Gabi Seyfert...
B-Yes, I know her.
A-...and then I came to Frau MfiUer because she tramed then the best skaters, or the highly
talented people m Chemnitz, then Karl Marx Stadt. And so I came over to her trahung
group.
B-You are somewhat older than Katarhia?
A-Yes, I'm five years older.
B-Five years older...And there were also certain trahung plans that you had to achieve m a
certam thne? Such as micro cycles, macro cycles, Olympic cycles...etc.
A-Yes, yes. In the GDR sport [system] everythmg was very precisely planned. The
coaches, certahUy under the dfrection of the higher admmistration, estabUshed certam
goals that had to be attained and they had to be attamed on an annual basis. And of course
h was very good to have certain goals dfrectly m mmd that one had to attam m a certam
amount of thne. That was actuaUy a vety good thmg, because one appUed aU one's
energies to reach that specific goal. And m the course of the year, due to the various
seasons, one would do, say m the summer, m the first hatf of the year, one would do a
good deal of athletic groundwork, trainmg on technique and estabUsh a [free skating]
program so that the closer one got to compethion, then one would do more figure skatmg

605
and programs which were hnportant for the free skatmg. So m the summer, one would
endeavor to do the fimdamental groundwork to make one's setf fit, and above aU to
prepare the body so that h can endure a certam degree of physical work load. We notice
today that the athletes do not have as much thne to tram because they go to a normal
school And therefore, because there's not as much thne for traming, not as much thne is
dedicated to do the basic groundwork. There's a lot done on the ice, but the resuh is that
one is more prone to hijuries. For example, one does things on the ice and then one
notices relatively quickly that one is over taxed or, yes, the prerequishes are missmg, the
[prerequishe] groundwork is nussing. One notices that today with the new (FRG) system
that that is clearly evident among the new young athletes.
B-...that they are not so thoroughly, scientUicaUy [framed]...
A-Yes, not so thoroughly [tramed] right from the very beghinmg.
B-Aha, so the advantage of this GDR system m this respect was that every developmental
stage was thoroughly planned and thought through...
A-Yes.
B-Then you also had the experience that you were filmed and biomechanicaUy analyzed?
Or...?
A-That didn't reaUy start in my time frame...with, no wah a mhiute that's wrong. They did
have the video cameras on the ice and they fihned the jumps. Yes, that's what happened.
There was a groundwork technique, [that is] a technique as to how the jump is supposed
to be and every athlete has to tty to emulate h and buUd on that technique. And that works
weU when one is filmed and looks at h and can evaluate it.
B-What are the gfrls doing today that you did not do in your time period? Triple axles
or...?
A-The gfrls?
B-...or the women.
A-We did three different types of triple jumps. Today, the gfrls do aU the elements, aU the
triple jumps.
B-And the degree of difficulty is considerably...
A-...much more difficuh, yes. It's not easy to conelate the two: the degree of difficuhy
and StUl make the whole program as beautifiil and artistic appearmg [as possible], m the
sense of ice skating done artisticaUy, but many athletes can translate this into action very
weU.
B-Did the possibiUty exist of deviatmg from the tramhig plans or of makmg them stricter?
A-Yes certahUy, but only under the dfrection of the coach. Many thhigs would happen that
were not planned for. For example, tf someone would happen to have an injury or tf
someone became sick, then the plans would be put on hold and, say, tf someone had been
sick, then that person would start again at a lower level and graduaUy buUd up.
B-But you just take h for granted that other people [i.e., the compethion] are havmg
shnUar experiences and are also getting sick and havmg mjuries...
A-CertahUy, certahUy...and m other countries h's handled in a shnUar manner. And the
coaches who have been there many years and have had lots of experience, they know how
to plan for and tram athletes. They've certainly estabUshed goals. Then h's hnportant to

606
keep records and write down what the athlete has done: how many jumps one practiced
and how often onefeUsor lands properly (on the jumps) m order to see how one is
developing and also to estabUsh goals.
B-Have you ever been fed up and said, "That's h, I've had enough!"
A-CertahUy. CertahUy. And certahUy not just once. There are always thnes when h's
difficult when you reaUy want to give up. But tf I had h to do aU over agam, I'd do h.
B-ReaUy? Even the KJS?
A-Yes, ok, this is another tune, but tf I could tum back time, I'd do h agam. I don't regret
h.
B-Hehnut BCnorscheidt, she works at a KJS, I don't know tf you know her...
A-Yes.
B-She's a shot put thrower, and she hersetf works at a KJS and she said h [such a system]
has declined considerably.
A-The Khider and Youth Sport School as such, does not exist anymore. The chUdren
here (at tiie ice skatmg rhdc) they aU go to normal schools. Junior High or Senior High.
B-What was the secret recipe for success for this system from your standpomt? The many
hours of training? The good coaches? Or...
A-The secret recipe...There are many thmgs that contribute to this...I thhdc because one
could concentrate predominantly on trainmg, that one had no problems, which are usuaUy
abundant, they (the problems) were taken away from us and assumed by others, so we
could reaUy concentrate on the traming. The schooUng was also hnportant but one didn't
have to always strive to catch up. We just knew and assumed that we could go to school
for a longer time. That the trahiing was planned...it was a good system: weU thought out,
we had the basic [conditioning] groundwork estabUshed in the summer and a buUdup
[which led] to the competition season. But other countries did that (the latter) too. It's not
tme that the GDR was the only one. And then it was very important that one has a very
good coach. That's quite clear. My coach was Frau MiiUer. Ice skatmg was everything to
her and it stiU is. CertahUy when she heard music, she had her skaters on the ice. Her Ufe is
ice skatmg.
B-Yes, yes.
A-And of course, she was a very hard coach. She never let anythmg just sUde. If there was
a goal for that day, then that goal had to be achieved. And tf as a young athlete, you'd tty
to squirm out of thmgs, she wouldn't accept h. She saw to h that that goal was reaUzed,
and in vety few cases would she reUnquish ground. But I thhdc that that was hnportant.
One tends to be vcty complacent somethnes. It just has to be that way, "Now do h." You
have to be firm.
B-Juta MfiUer has a vety good eye for who could or coulchi't be good. She could just
dfrectly spy them out.
A-Yes, that certahUy comes from her experience, who has talent and who has certam
advantages as a skater.
B-Was she not hersetf an ice skater?
A-Yes, she was, she did pafrs.
B-Did she have any kmd of success?

607
A-I beUeve German champ m the GDR thne period. But I don't know for sure.
B-The Americans marvel at the system. The West Germans naturaUy pamt the picttue of
this system completely black, they say, "the Ossies were only good because they were
doped...."
A-Yes, that's too bad that they do that...
B-Whereas the Ossies say the system was holy and we were good because we had a good
system. What do you thhdc? Such a sport as ice skating, there can be no advantages m
dophig, can there?
A-In some athletic discipUnes dopmg can not be taken at aU because they are, weU sports
where there is much technique. There is cycUc or a-cycUc, that is every movement is
different from the others.
B-And the jumps they did then do not have even the degree of difficulty that they do now!
A-WeU yes, but for that thne period they were difficuh...progress goes on. It's just too
bad that they try to aboUsh everythmg about the old GDR and insthute the system of the
FRG mstead of incorporating here and there the good thhigs mto a unified form. Many
things of the old system just wouldn't work anywhere. That's clear. A lot of money was
mvested m this system (GDR), but one could stUl attempt to use the advantages of the
system. Unfortunately, they don't do that. (Comments unclear.)
B-...such as the KJS...
A-...perhaps, or maybe they should try to take thne to do the prerequisites for ice skating,
such as ( a more comprehensive buUdup) athletic program. Today they tram on the ice, but
there is too Uttle done whh training whh a comprehensive (whoUstic) athletic buUd up.
B-...such as baUet, athletic exercises in the summer...
A-Yes, yes. It is contmgent upon how involved the individual coach is. It depends on that.
But this system no longer exists, but everyone is stiU, how can I say h, more free in what
they do.
B-The sports system of the GDR was emulated from the Russians and then with the
German attributes of thoroughness appUed...
A-I think they grew together (the two systems) shnultaneously. The system m Russia was
certainly also a good system.
B-The Russians had a more classical style (hi ice skatmg), much more classic.
A-Yes.
B-But they, could h be that the success of the system was contmgent upon cultural
characteristics which the East Germans appUed? That they trained scientificaUy, everythmg
was planned on a comprehensive (whoUstic) basis, as you mentioned beforehand, with the
prep tramhig m the summer to prepare for the different trahung hi the winter, whh the
macro cycles and the micro cycles. Could this be due to certain cultural characteristics
which gave them an advantage?
A-WeU, one advantage was that everyone could do sports, whether the parents had a lot
of money or not. And today [m the FRG] that is another [debatted] topic, because h aU
costs money and m the GDR sports didn't cost anything. If an athlete had talent, then one
most certainly had the opportunity to train.
B-You were probably told that Americans could only train tf they had alot of money.

608
A-That was part of the system. Ifl go through a frammg progam (now, here m the FRG),
then everythmg would have to be paid for by the parents, and tf the trammg is frequent or
expensive, then many chUdren cannot participate. It's a matter of finances. Ok, m some
leadhig cfrcles there is support. But untU you reach that stage, h's not easy, then a
considerable financial burden is placed on the parents.
B-You were supposed to prove, as an athlete, that sociaUsm was superior to capitaUsm.
A-It (sport) was used for that purpose.
B-And you were supposed to embody the sociaUst personaUty, m the same manner as with
Christianity, the Spfrit of God, and so forth. Did you ever feel yoursetf motivated by this?
A-Sport was most certahUy an advertisement in those times. But, motivated? That was
most certahUy not the reason (for my motivation). When one did sports one had the
possibUity to travel to go to compethions, to go places that others could not.
B-...to have the esteem of society, for example...
A-That was part of h. I must say that tf I won, they raised our fiag, and I was proud of h,
because that was my success and I came from the GDR and I knew that many stood
behmd me and rejoiced with me in my successes. I thhdc that that's conpletely normal
when one has a certain amount of pride along those Unes.
B-...yes, one has pride m one's famUy and one's country, but m the poUtical system?
A-...we [the athletes] were very protected. We were ahnost entfrely unaware that there
were so many economic problems.
B-What kmd of unpression did the West make on you when you first traveled there?
A-I was very young the first thne I traveled to the West, and probably too young to see
things with a fuU awareness. Certainly I was hnpressed with many things. But I have to
say, I was always so glad to go home agam. And tf some athletes left the GDR, they just
left, and for me that was not an issue because I was very connected to my famUy. And on
the other hand, tf I had left the country, then I would never have had the chance to see my
famUy again. And that's why h was a complete non-issue for me and other athletes to do
such a thhig. For this reason I didn't even give the matter any thought because for me, my
famUy and home was the most hnportant thmg. Sure h was great to go ttaveUng, but I was
always glad to retum home.
B-That's exactly my experience with Europe. I marvel at the beauties here, but I stUl yeam
for home. With this traveUng issue m the West, you said you never wanted to flee there.
Did you have acquamtances or fiiends among the athletes [in the West]?
A-WeU, one knew many athletes and we got along weU together but...
B-You weren't aUowed to have contact with them.
A-It wasn't aUowed. StUl we got together at compethion and we talked to them. That's
normal
B-And you dichi't have contact whh them by maU.
A-We weren't aUowed to do that. And I didn't do that because one caused alot of
problems tf one did thhigs we weren't aUowed to do. And sport was very hnportant to me,
so one would tty to adhere to the mles.
B-Back to this theme on motivation: You said that the biggest motivation was the sport
hsetf and not the travel to the West or a bigger apartment or gettmg a car quicker, or

609
whatever, because you were too young for aU that anyway. What was the greatest
motivator for you?
A-ActuaUy h was always to do better at the compethions than I did the previous year.
B-And the poUtical education had no significance for you?
A-With what?
B-With the poUtical education, that had no significance for you?
A-One was poUticaUy raised, but that was not the primary motivator, nor the most
important one, but rather to accompUsh more each year than one did the previous year.
And one's parents were so happy because the wholefemUywas mvolved and caught up m
the stress. When one won a medal then that was for everybody and h was actuaUy a very
beautiful thmg.
B-The West Germans bedevU the system. What do you think the West Germans should
and must appropriate from the system?
A-There are certainly several good thmgs which one could transfer over. For example,
more discipline and the prerequishe, groundwork training. I think there are many good
thmgs which one could use, m which the GDR had much experience, concemmg sports.
B-As an example, the personal training you received from Juta MfiUer, was that
particularty exceUent?
A-One has to look at many factors. You have to consider what you want. Do you want to
do sports or just amuse yourself? But tf you want to do sports, then you have to be wilUng
to sacrifice many thhigs. I mean, when one is young, there is such a variety of thhigs to do
now: go to the discotheque or go to the movies. You can't do everythh^. You don't have
to give up everythmg, but then you have to be moderate so that you can be fit for trahiing.
B-The East Germans, or at least the East Bloc, were accused of competing with thefr
professionals agamst our amateurs. What do you think of that?
A-That wasn't the case m ice skatmg that the professionals competed against the
amateurs.
B-Ok m that speciahy maybe not, but they (the East Germans) only had to tram and they
didn't need to concentrate on anythmg else, that's what I mean.
A-Hmmm, one didn't taUc about this. The topic of professionaUsm was a taboo. One
wasn't put m a good Ught (tf one did.) But tf I look back on h now, I would have Uked to
have had the chance to continue skatmg, because I stopped the sport and at first I was
reaUy grateful not to have the stress of trainhig and compethion, but then after awhUe, I
reaUy missed h. So I did miss the sport, because up untU then h was my whole Ufe. And h
reaUy was nice to be on the ice for so many years and have such success and then to be
able to use h m such a manner that one could contmue on and perform for the pubUc.
That's just nattiral, somehow you need h. It's Uke a compulsion. And tf you can cam
money from h, then I thhdc that's great. Although, I'd Uke to make sure, such as with my
chUdren, that they do not neglect to get a profession, and had some professional basis.
B-Did you have a "down" trammg program? Did you [adapt] down tram?
A-WeU, yes, with mysetf.
B-You stopped [competmg] at age 19. Why so early? Why so young?
A-Because I had done evety compethon for 8 years and had been m two Olympics. And at

610
that thne I was havhig problems with mjuries, with my knee, and I was no longer
sufficiently motivated. Because I had afready done everythmg and that was the pomt
where I said to mysetf, "I'm gomg to stop now." Although, today I'd have done h
differently. Somethnes I get mad about h, that I made this decision prematurely.
B-Some athletes told me they've had problems with thefr back. Do you have any long
term physical problems?
A-No, up untU now, I haven't.
B-There doesn't seem to be many long term physical mjuries whh this sport.
A-No, there haven't been any injuries...yet. (Laughs.)
B-With runners, for example, they have knee problems or ankle problems...
A-Yes, yes.
B-Shot put throwers have back problems...
A-Up untU now, h's been okay.
B-You mentioned that you were m the US twice and that when you won the gold medal...
A-No those were just shows with the Olympic gold medaUsts, ice skaters.
B-Is there somethhig else you would Uke to add? Somethhig you'd Uke to recommend
from the system or something else you would do or is there something else which you
absolutely wouldn't do which was in this system?
A-As h was then? I mean we were certainly protected from many things, and I know now
in retrospect that we were very controUed. But one did not always notice (feel) h.
B-In what respect were you controUed?
A-There was the State Security system and that one was very closely watched m
everything one did and how one did thhigs. But tf you try to make the best of thmgs, and tf
you know what you want, then you have to try and put h into action, I think. But for the
chUcfren, and I know this because my own daughter is an ice skater, that h is afready
considerably more difficuh today...because there's less time to train. There are many
thhigs that are unclarified and there's msufficient thne. More thmgs then were more
peaceful and more organized, more time was avaUable, and above aU it was better planned.
Maybe m that respect too much.
B-Do you think the chUdren of this generation are less ambhious because they have other
opportunities and are not as goal oriented? Or how do you see that?
A-That could be, but I thhdc that one has to motivate the chUcfren. You have to taUc to
them. When one is young there is so much dancmg around in one's head that h's difficuh
or I thhdc there's very few that have a goal m mind, who know, for example, what they
want to do professionaUy or who love a sport. You just have to taUc to them to help them
find out what they want themselves, (the athletes.) There are too many factors which
disturb (this process), I think.
B-And what would you absolutely abandon from this system..what would you absolutely
not do?
A-From the earUer system?
B-Yes.
A-One did not have much of a chance to become independent. Many decisions were made
for one's setf. One made few mdependent decisions.

611
B-Such as, when, how often and how long you'd meet with your famUy? No, you Uved
with yourfemUyanyway.
A-No I was so young...
B-How often and how long you'd tram?
A-No, those aren't exactly the thmgs that concem the athlete. The profession was so
reghnented and there was Uttle opportunity to swerve from anythhig that had afready been
done or was thought out afready for one's setf. It also depends on yoursetf but tf you
aren't serf aware enough or setf sufficient enough then h could have been difficult for a
person. One did not do what one wanted to, but what others wanted from you.
B-You said that the Stasi controUed you. What could the Stasi possibly be mterested m
with chUcfren?
A-No h was just that, one's parents house was under observation, that one...
B-The maU was controUed...
A-Yes, that too...
B-Telephone caUs...
A-apparently...
B-That's unbeUevable. I can hardly imagme that.
A-In the final analysis, I didn't have any problems with that, but I discovered aU of this
much later, when one had the opportunity to do so.
B-ChUcfren are actuaUy a refetively innocent group, somehow.
A-One could exert a certain amount of hifluence on chUcfren. They exerted a certain
hrfluence on the flunking of the athletes...that one would think Uke the state wanted you to
thhdc. But, for me h was the whole traming system...I made h, I made h with the system.
A big part of h was the trahier was behmd me and my parents and how much everyone
stood behind me.
B-Did you beUeve then that capitalism exploits people? What did you thhdc of h?
A-That's what we leamed. We had our educational system and I beUeved m much of what
I leamed. But one knows that when one has success and certam goals m mind, that we
could not translate them into action, and the opportunities were not there. We had our
goals and (freams, but many of them were influenced from the external reaUties.
B-Do you mean the goals you had in relation to training were too difificuh?
A-No, those were good. And as you can see, we achieved what we wanted to and tf the
goals had not been so high then I don't know tf I would achieved as much as I did. They
were good and that was hnportant.
B-Was the GDR more successful on average than other countries (m ice skatmg)?
A-No, I think the US and Canacfe and the then Soviet Union had at least as much success
tf not more.
B-But you have to remember that the GDR had only 17 mUUon people and they were 12
thnes more successful than the Russians. I mean as a whole.
A-They were?
B-You didn't know that?
A-No, no.
B-...fo the entfre sports spectrum. I don't know m the reahn of just ice skatmg, I'd have to

612
check. ActuaUy, I've asked you everythmg, unless there's somethmg else you'd Uke to
add.
A-In the GDR there was (unclear) professions.
B-You wanted to become a coach (trainer)? What were your plans?
A-I studied sports, at the sports coUege in Leipzig...
B-...the German CoUege for Physical Culture.
A-Exactly.
[Break here m dialogue. Aimet responds to what she did not Uke about the GDR sports
system.]
A-It's difficult to understand. You know when one was competmg one could travel
anywhere. Yet the moment one quits [competing m the sport], one is suddenly not aUowed
to travel anywhere to other countries. And that was difficuh to understand. One moment
one could travel and the next one couldn't. It's not as tf you had become a different
person or anything. You remained the same, you had the same attitudes, but stiU you
couldn't travel. And tf an athlete wanted to leave, he could've done h then before he quh
competmg... and I'd always come home, we had our famiUes and our homes, and we
didn't have bad attitudes or anythhig. We had had the opportunity to do what we wanted
and yet we stiU stood by the State. They gave us the opportunity to do what we wanted
[defect] and we dichi't...
B-And even for those people who weren't married, that was also deemed hnpossible, to
leave just Uke that.

613
 APPENDIX O
INTERVIEW WITH
FALKO POY

614
 Interview with Falko Poy
Former elite athlete in Gymnastics
June 16,1997 in Potsdam
Interviewed, Transcribed and Translated by
Barbara Cole
B=Barbara; F=Falko [The first 15 minutes were lost due to technical difficuhies,]

B-What did you thhdc of the care you received (at the KJS)?
F-In respect to the physiotherapy I have to say, we got to go, as chUcfren, once each week
to the sauna. We also had under-water massage procedures every afternoon, which today
(adult) people pay a lot of money for, we received this then as chUdren, and we got h for
free. This was a part of the preventive medicine m Oberhof to accUmate the body and so
one could reaUy relax or to relax one's body.
B-The care was good; you stated that you were never put under any undue psychological
pressure to perform more or that you had to do more...?
F-Ok, good, when I thhdc of what one does with chUdren today. There were plus and
mmus pomts. NaturaUy we were glad when h was the end of the month and we were the
best. It's no different today as they do m the schools, naturaUy when you give a chUd an A
they'U be happier than when you give hhn a C. But this view that the coach put undue
psycho-pressure on the chUd which is what I hear from many who weren't even there,
[that is from those] who have heard that aU thfrd hand, that didn't happen with us. That
some were locked in rooms and I didn't happen to see h, h just didn't happen.
B-What were some other advantages there? Were the coaches particularly scientificaUy
tramed, were they very supportive, were they very nurturing and carmg?
F-I'd say they were average. There were good coaches, there were also bad coaches.
Nothing particularly stands out as being positive or negative.
B-If you had any problems with anything, did you always have some kind of aduh contact
or received some kind of aduh guidance?
F-Yes.
B-And tf you on occasion wanted to go home, even though you weren't supposed to go
home for the weekend, could you stiU go home or not?
F-The question doesn't reaUy apply to me because I never had so much homesickness that
I cried and said, "I'd reaUy like to go home." I can't thhdc of any one chUd in the whole
group at the school who cried and said they wanted to go home. That's just the way h
was. There were a lot of chUdren there who weren't from BerUn [where the KJS was] and
somebody always did somethmg with those chUcfren, whether h was the teachers or
guardians. They'd take us to camp, or to a lake or to some home.
B-They had excursions?
F-Yes. The admmistrators gave considerable care that the children were taken care of
B-What kmd of chances do you thhdc you would have had tf you had had success? Would
you have been better offfinanciaUy?Or...
F-I'd have to say tocfey, "Yes." but I did not do h with money in mmd as my goal. That
was utopic. I thought what would perhaps be mteresting was tf I could eventuaUy work as

615
 a coach there. I thought of that more so than anythmg else, to maybe have some success m
one's own athletic discipUne, maybe as an Olympic champ, and then after university
frammg that I could easUy become a coach. That would have been a nice thmg, an
mterestmg thmg. That's what I was strivmg for.
B-You also most certahUy received some poUtical education, didn't you?
F-Yes.
B-How sport is supposed to prove that sociaUsm is superior to caphaUsm...that caphaUsm
is flmdamentaUy bad and sociaUsm is fundamentaUy good...
F-That was taught us m the KJS where I had my State Chizen course work. That was
naturaUy one of the fafry tales they told us, but...
B-Fafry tales? (Laughter)
F-Every Monday we had hi the earUest hour a hatf hour of poUtics and (unclear) or
whatever they caUed it, and daUy...
B-That was supposed to motivate you, wasn't h?
F-WeU, h was a summary of what (poUticaUy) had happened m the previous week and
then they told us we were supposed to also be mterested m the poUtical world events and
Saturcfey night we cut out lengthy articles from the newspapers and mdicated why it was
mteresthig to us. But I thhdc that m ehher sports school or normal school that there was
no difference (m the poUtical education.) That was just the way the system worked.
B-I see. Did the athletes, or at least you, beUeve that the success of the system, this sports
system was an mdicator that socialism was superior to capitalism? Did you beUeve this?
F-At that age I don't think I even thought about h, but when I thhdc about h tocfey, I thhdc
that was the dfrection they were leadhig us to. I was in the age bracket of 10 to 13 years
of age and I didn't see anything bad about that.
B-Yes. Many people beUeve there were cuhural characteristics which rendered this system
so good. They emulated the system of the Russians, and then the Germans, with thefr
thoroughness and scientific methods made a system that was mcomplete, complete,
through these "Pmssian virtues." Do you beheve m this? Do you thhdc h was German
cultural characteristics which made this system so successful?
F-(Laughs). I don't know what I should say to that! No, I don't beUeve h.
B -You don't thhdc that the Germans were at least m this respect more scientific?
F-Yes, they were that at any rate...
B-They were more scientific?
F-Yes. When you mentioned Kienbaum^ I thhdc that was such a, weU today they say bad
thmgs about h, but with me that wasn't the case. I was supposed to go there but I couldn't
because I got sick. I would have been mterested m gomg there because as a chfld, one was

'Kienbaum Ues approxhnately 30 mUes outside of BerUn and was an eUte athlete trahung
camp with such new developments as, among other innovations, an underground high ahitude
chamber which would shnulate trahung m a high ahitude region. This would give the athlete that
"high ahitude advantage." The camp was suhed for a wide variety of athletic discipUnes. It
resembles a smaU American coUege campus and was a setthig which requfred security clearance
for admission.
616
fescmated with the prospect of gomg to Kienbaum
B-Aha!
F-One used to taUc about h, "Hey we got to eat this and that and..."
B-You were m Kienbaum?
F-No, I wasn't. I had the chance but that was....unless you were filtered out. That was a
goal of mme, to go to Kienbaum. And I was close to going there but I didn't get to do h
because I was either sick or had an mjuty so h wouldn't have been worth h to go. But I
know h at least came m question for me, but unfortunately I wasn't up for h and h would
have mterested me. Afterwards (after the Wende) one heard so many negative reports
about it.
B-What khid of negative reports?
F-What do I mean by negative? WeU that they had to ride stationary bicycles m a tent whh
very Uttle oxygen for hours on end and constantly had [physiological] body monitoring
devices on one's arm and one was always bemg monitored. And tf I wouW have seen that
mysetf, then I could have better judged the situation, whether that was tme or not.
Because I'm of the opmion that the stories [on the system] are exaggerated. I know from
my discipUne, gymnastics, that h was never as extreme [as they make h out to be]. I have
to say that there was a lot of striving, concem and tears, but h wasn't a torture setting as
they now make h out to be. It was sometimes a hard thmg. (Comments unclear.)
B-Do you think that you and your coUeagues trained more than the average chUdren?
F-Yes, we had on average of two hours of sports mstmction on a weekly basis m the
schools. We had an average of 6 hours a cfey.
B-There are chUcfren who have the capacity for so many hours of sports a day, and then
there are other chUcfren who don't have that capachy. In general, you would say that is
too much?
F-Yes, by aU means. Unless the chUd himsetf can justify it to his mother "Mom I want to
become a coach," or "Dad, I Uke to do h cause h's flin," then, the kid should do h, but not
because he's put under pressure and told that be has to do h.
B-You never had, at that thne, the opportunity to travel hi the West, did you?
F-No, but I did have the opportunity to go to Bulgaria for two weeks.
B-Where?
F-In Bulgaria.
B-In that high ahitude trainhig camp?
F-No h was a normal compethion, between Bulgaria and our trainhig camp, in a center. In
summer, and that was one of these high pomts which I Uke to remember, as a chUd we got
to fiy to Bulgaria, which durmg the GDR (period) to fly and then to Bulgaria was an
enormous plus and then we did a whole lot of bus tours and then we had our compethion
events as the high pomt. But there were other thmgs we did which I also found to be quhe
nice. It was reaUy great. I Uked Bulgaria.
B-ReaUy? Did you get to go to other countries as weU?
F-No, that was the only one.
B-What kmd of attitudes were there in respect to the Russians? Were there any particular
attitudes towards the Russians? As athletes...

617
F-They were "the Russians," I mean, I had a Soviet pen pal who had been an Olympic
champ. And this was fascmatmg, that reaUy was fim. I know from another friend, who was
with me in my class and he became an Olympic champ in Seoul m (Geraete tumen)
equipment gymnastics. And he was also World Champ. And he had been m Russia too and
said they trahied better. That is probably an ersatz pomt. But as a chUd I never had this
h n ^ e of them as the enemy.
B-You just spoke of equipment. How was the equipment? Was h good? Was h average?
F-It was good. It was good to vety good. It was, at any rate, among the best that came
out then, and that was what we had.
B-Were you ever m Kreischa?
F-Where?
B-Kreischa. The sports medical center there.
F-No.
B-Did you ever have to give blood or urine spechnens?
F-Yes, we always did that. What's always... weU, every hatf a year or so we gave blood for
our routme check. That was just a general overaU check up.
B-But you never were abroad so you don't know what they did with h [the resuhs and/or
why they were necessary.]
F-No.
B-What kind of disadvantages did you perceive with this system? You said the advantages
were good equipment, good nutrition, a lot of trammg, the chUdren were quhe ambhious...
F-, AATien one looks at this retrospectively, the disadvantages are that 4 years of one's
chUdhood are gone, one thinks of other thmgs one could have done, say developed other
hobbies or interests (comments unclear). I could have had a moped or a motorcycle or
this, that or the other. Sports was the predominant thing. I was in Erfurt the whole thne
and I think also the distance away from one's parents, it seemed Uke an eternity. Our
parents had 3 weeks vacation and the school chUdren 8 weeks. I can't remember quhe so
weU, but I flunk we only had 3 weeks with our parents in the vacation thne and we spent
some thne in traming camps..
B-If you had not been selected out (le., dismissed from the KJS) would you have Uked to
conthiue on (m the eUte trainmg program)?
F-I don't beUeve so.
B-And why not?
F-Oh, because with gymnastics the thmg was that one had to have a good deal of courage
m order to do many of the different elements with gymnastics and to tram. And then the
coach said, h's Uke bemg a parachutist. You always have to jump down and overcome h
(i.e. the fear) And then you can jump agam. And with gymnastics there are always new
elements and when I see what they are domg now-a-days, how they fiy around or Uke how
they use one arm (comment unclear)...or I had many friends when I see how quickly they
became hijured (comments unclear) or broke a leg or this, that or the other...
B-They (the various moves) are gettmg to be more and more compUcated and difficult...
F-More difficult and more difficuh to evaluate, I mean, when I see these moments and
remember personaUy how much fear I had when I was studymg the new elements and

618
leammg how to tram with them without gettmg mjured...
B-Have you ever injured yoursetf?
F-WeU, no serious hijuries, no breaks or I don't know, no major breaks. (Comments
unclear.)
B-This comment you made m respect to the gymnastic elements becoming more and more
difficuh, Katarina Witt noted that with the performance that she brought forth m 1984 and
1988, that today she would not have had a chance with that same performance...
F-Yes, yes. That's tme.
B-Because there would not have been enough jumps and not enough technical tricks and
h wasn't dangerous enough, somehow. That's how the performance levels are mcreashig.
F-Yes, wiUingness to take risks. That's why I never would have made h, as a chUd. When
I see what the elements are which they do now, that commands considerably more respect.
B-If you had a chUd and that chUd wanted to do such things, would you aUow h?
F-As gymnast or an ice skater? When I see them, they have such beautiful (comments
unclear), maybe as a soccer player or a hand baU player, where one (parent) can decide for
hhn/hersetf but at that age, because the chUd cannot consider this at age 10,1 mean I
started in Kindergarten, from [the thne I tumed ] 7,1 started sports, I don't thhdc I'd want
h. Unless the chUd himsetf wanted h, then he should do h. But I would never pressure a
chUd to do h.
B-And tf you had the chance to do it again? Would you do it again?
F-The question is...
B-If you were a chUd agam and had the chance agam, would you do h?
F-I don't beUeve so. I know what I went through and what I lost from this, but agam h
brought me many advantages so I can't reaUy answer so dfrectly Uke that. I mean, maybe
with another athletic discipline.
B-You were never threatened or told you had to do this...
F-It just belonged to the thmg...one doesn't anive at the idea of voluntarUy quittmg,
nonnaUy speaking. It was fun and there were some smaU successes there, tf one is GDR
champ, when one wins a Spartakiade, when one gets to see the entfre GDR and travels to
various competitive events for 2-3 weeks, then that was also mteresting. One got to Uve
elsewhere, got to stand on the victor's steps (comments unclear.)
B-You were actuaUy just a pure athlete, just motivated purely from the sports hsetf?
Could one say that?
F-What was that?
B-You were predommantly motivated by the sports hsetf as a chUd.
F-Yes...
B-And the high esteem...
F-WeU, as for the high esteem, that was not much of an issue, not Uke today. Unless, of
course,' tf one becomes an Olympic champ, then you get a Lada or a house or somethmg,
that's part of it, but...
B-You never thought about h...
F-No not reaUy, I never thought that far.
B-It was just the honor of doing the sport...

619
F-Yes, to be able to go to the sports school with aU these people who were Olympic
champions, that was fescmatmg. There you'd be at breakfast sitting next to these people
who were m top form, ice skaters and such, some of them seemed to be completely
normal people, and you knew them and greeted each other. That was a nice thmg that so
many people who were depicted as bemg great m the GDR at the Olympics and in World
Championships, and one knew them and greeted each other on the streets, or we'd see
each other at the soccer club or play soccer together. It was as simple as that. That was
also, somehow, a great thmg. And that was just because we saw each other every day.
Many people were envious of this, of who we got to see everyday.
B-One had certam trainmg plans, isn't that right?
F-Yes.
B-One had macro-plans, micro-plans, Olympic plans, plans for one month, goals for one
month, goals at any rate, that you had certam performance goals to accompUsh. Was that
also tme m gymnastics? That you had certam performance goals to fulfiU?
F-Of course. In one hatf year there were compulsory exercises and (unclear) exercises.
And with the compulsory exercises, I beUeve they were changed every hatf year whenever
there were compethion events, when we had compulsory executions on the horse, the
fioor, and the (comments unclear) and we always had to acfept to the new trainmg. But
that there were big new difficuh goals to accompUsh, where you were told that you have
to accomplish this and that and this, weU I can only imagme that maybe you could say that
in the realm of track, such as you have to sprint under 20 seconds by next month and then
you have to do thfrty of somethmg else...
B-...or maybe with the shot put throwers..."You have to throw that thing 120 times a
day..."
F-Yes, yes, that's right. This just wasn't the case (with us in gymnastics.)
B-This type of athletic discipUne is difficuh to measure, isn't h?
F-Yes, yes.
B-Other athletic discipUnes you can measure (more readUy). You can say, "You just did
that m 10.6 seconds." or "You just threw that 500 meters."
F-You can compare h to ice skating. I mean, ice skatmg has, m the meantime become
so...I thhdc when one has reached the pinnacle that one can eam so much money domg h,
especiaUy hi the US that's the case, isn't h? Or is h not?
B-Yes, they have a lot of shows.
F-Now with gymnastics, h's too bad and also sad that for so much work and aU that one
has to sacrifice and what one must do as champion...I saw recently that the champion only
wins maybe 5,000 DM. In tennis, the tennis player wouldn't even play for that amount.
B-Yes, yes.
F-That's grotesque when you thhik of what one has to do and fight for and nothmg resuhs
from h m comparison to other sports. (Comments unclear.) Soccer is a sport where one
trams m condhionmg, but you don't have to be specificaUy tramed mto achievmg a certam
skUl level. And soccer, you can do as a spare thne sport. Gymnastics isn't a sport one does
m one's spare thne or when one is bored or when one just has the yen to do somethmg
Uke soccer or tennis or squash.

620
B-Gymnastics is such a (visuaUy) hnpressive sport...
F-It aU depends on what the feshion is, who earns what. Maybe some day people wUl be
able to make good money from h before they stop. A fiiend of mme, Andreas Wecker, [a
gymnast] who I recently saw at the university and I asked hhn about his fiiture prospects
and he said he did not reaUy know. He dithered around a bh and said he had a lot of ideas
and plans but cUd not reaUy know what would become of hhnsetf. He didn't have anythmg
concrete to say. It's hard for hhn now. See now tf Boris Becker or Michael Stich or Hemy
Maske were to quit, evctybody would want them, because they've got aU these gold
medals hangmg from thefr necks or they're Whnbledon champs and (yet the gymnasts)
they've worked so hard for so long for thefr sport and stUl they have a hard time because
they don't have a profession. I saw on this one mterview, that one [such gymnast] didn't
have a profession. He had nothmg and he was 20 years old or around my age. NaturaUy,
he had a house and a car and so forth but he did not know how thmgs would go for him
from there on.
B-Would you say that, and I'm askmg you a vety global question, that this system was
leghhnately successful due to hs varymg aspects: the KJS, the talent selection, the
scientific procedures, or did h also rest on this whole dopmg history? If you look at the
kind of athletic discipUnes where the most success was accompUshed: swimming and track
and field, one could profit the most in these disciplines and only bring forth such high
levels of performance with dopmg, or not?
F-I don't know, I can't judge h. I wouldn't Uke to so hastUy comment on this, but
naturaUy it could also be that we did win much from this doping history, although I don't
beUeve it because I see how hard I had to train for no success, and I saw the others, track
athletes and others, how hard they had to train.
B-And there are many athletic discipUnes where one cannot profit at aU from dopmg.
F-I would not dismiss the system so readUy as such (with dopmg accusations and
judgements) because I reaUy thhdc h was due to the talent selection system and the fact
that these people trahied from when they were very smaU, and the chooshig the right
people out of some, say umpteen thousand people from which maybe two people wiU
become world champs.
B-I see. What would be a more humane method to train chUdren instead of 6 hours a day,
maybe just 3 hours a day and the high school would then be lengthened for an addhional
year?
F-They did that whh us anyway (i.e. lengthened the school year)...
B-I mean tf they were to just lengthen h another addhional year? And then the chUdren
would trahi a Uttle less (per day,) would that be acceptable from your standpoint?
F-Yes, that would be a possibUity, although, this idea of acceptableness, I don't know
what to do with h. I can't hnagme that that would happen. This system was unfortunately
dissolved, because h doesn't conform to Ufe here. And I thhdc that without that amount of
trahung thne, that success wUl never be accompUshed. I beUeve, and am flUly convmced,
that without the amount of thne we spent tramhig that that 6 hours [daUy of frammg] were
necessary. If we had only tramed 3 hours a day then...
B-You would have amounted to nothing...

621
F-Yes, weU, I was a nothmg anyway because I don't have any medals to show but...
B-I know people who tramed a good deal of thne as chUdren and I know other people
who have abUities, but were not capable of trahung that hard as chUdren. It is probabty a
matter of personaUty types. In your opmion, did some of the chUdren suffer that tiiey had
to train so much each day?
F-Yes.
B-Did you perceive that among any of your coUeagues?
F-Yes, m my crowd, weU among the boys h went afright. But I tiiought that among the
gfrl gymnasts that a week (of trammg) was harder on the gfrls. I mean they wore down
quicker, at age 13 they have to be m top form because at age 15 they are practicaUy
afready too old in gymnastics, you know? The wearing down factor is even greater now.
Andreas Decker stopped competing after Seoul. He's about my age, 25-26. Yet he stUl
had an Olympic championship. Whereas with a female gymnast, they usuaUy quh by age
16.
B-Although Shannon MUler, Olympic gold medaUst, is 19.
F-Yes, I know, but the agmg of the gymnasts is usuaUy much younger with the gfrls.
B-WeU, I guess I don't have any more questions, unless you'd Uke to add somethmg.
F-No. (Laughter.)
B-If you would have said to your parents that that's aU too much for you, would your
parents have taken you out?
F-Yes. I think of when we were m Erfurt and I'd say to my mother, "Mom, I don't want
to go to Berhn," then they'd say, "Just thhdc m 14 days..." (Comments unclear.) But tf I
had explained it otherwise than...
B-And with this heckUng, did you have any? You never feh as tf you were pressured?
F-As a chUd I saw my parents twice a month and then, not even for 48 hours. I didn't have
this consciousness that h was miserable for me because other chUcfren Uved differently.
But because I was m BerUn, I missed out on, say, my grandmother's or grandfather's
birthday, my sister's birthday, which is naturaUy sad because feter you realize you missed
that.
B-But this taUc that the chUdren were heckled and whipped into shape for success is yet
agam another form of exaggerated polemic speech isn't h? With the "heckling" of the
chUcfren...
F-Yes, that's tme at any rate. But are we taUcing of the principle of the thing? There
weren't just bad thmgs here, m participathig in it. I had many advantages from this whole
thmg. It was a lot of fun. And tf I say today that I participated in h, weU, I had a taUc with
a feUow employee and he said just terrible thmgs about h [the system] (comments
unclear.) And I thought, "Man, you don't know what you are saymg because you weren't
even there." I was there and everythhig wasn't perfect, but h wasn't anywhere near as bad
as he claimed h was and he wasn't even there, and h was aU exaggerations. It's aU
nonsense. These stories about gettmg shot up with doping substances, and the results of h,
or that we doped. I found to be untme. At least among us h was false. Or at least for me h
was false, I can't speak for other athletes.
B-Ok, that's h. Thank you very much.

622
 APPENDIX P
INTERVIEW WITH
EBERHARD ROSCH

623
 Interview with Eberhard Rosch
Biathlete
Otympic Silver Medalist in the Relay, 1980
Olympic Bronze Medalist, Individual 20 Kilometer 1980
World Champion in the Relay 1978,1979,1981
World Cup, All Around Division, Third Place 1978
Junior World Championship Second Place, 15 Kilometer 1975
Interviewed in Altenberg at the Otympic Training Center, April 20,1997
and by Telephone from Anchorage, Alaska, March 15,2000
Interviewed and Summarized by Barbara Cole

Mr. Eberhard Rosch started trahung m the biathlon division at the age of 14 years.
He did not attend a KJS sports school but mstead attended a normal secondary (senior
high) school and would train each aftemoon starting at 2:00 PM, three to five thnes a
week. The hours of trahiing would be hicreased as he got older, m keephig whh his
physical abilhies and development. He started hutially to train at the Tramhig Center m
Weisbach hi 1974. Then, m that same year of 1974, he started to tram at the Sports Club
Dynamo m Zhinwald. While he did have a coach, he did not have the usual Individual
Trahimg Plans used so readily m other athletic disciplmes. Mr. ROsch claims that he
trahied m a group often to twelve with athletes of similar age and athletic abiUties. By
1975, he was fraining at the high rate of 10,000 Kilometers a year. This level of traming
was deemed to be a very demandhig program. In the year 1975, Mr. ROsch joined the
national Olympic team for the GDR for the biathlon team. In 1979, Mr. ROsch moved
mto a sports dormitory and commenced a distance learning program whh the German
CoUege of Physical Culture and Sports based m Leipzig. He majored m the study of
sports. He assesses his entfre sports career in the GDR as being a highly poshive and
good one. He notes that the aspect of this sport which was particularly difficuh for hhn
was improving his shooting skills. Mr. ROsch therefore put in extra thne and effort to
improve his marksmanship.
Mr. ROsch believes there are many commendable aspects about the GDR sports
system. Those aspects he believes which should be retahied or emulated in Germany
today are the GDR's former method of both talent scouthig and selection among the
youth. Other aspects Mr. ROsch deems worthy of mcorporating into the present day
Gennan sports programs are many of the tramhig methods as weU as the system
employed by the KJS (le., Chilcfren and Youth Sports Schools) m which the children and
youth's schoolmg was coordhiated whh both framing and compethion.
In respect to the hifluence of the state on the young athletes, Mr. ROsch clahns he
had had poUtical education m school. These classes were the basic civics courses or
social studies courses taken by all students m the GDR. He believes that this poUtical
education did have a strong hifluence on his attitudes. While the state provided strong
support for his athletic career, he clahns h was difficuh to say to what extent he actuaUy
believed m the Socialist Unity Party. He did profess to have a pride m his country, even
when he witnessed the strong contrast m material well bemg of the GDR to the West. He
also claims that he always thought that the level of prosperity he whnessed m the West
would eventuaUy come to the GDR, thus he retahied his belief in Socialism as a viable
system. When asked specfficaUy what h was that motivated hhn hi his athletic career and
624
if the poUtical emphasis had a role m this, he claims he was motivated purely by athletic
goals and the love of the sport hseff. While the kmd of money an athlete could make in
the GDR was good refetively speakmg for GDR condhions, h was not a motivathig factor
for him to sfrive to greater levels m his athletic achievements. The poUtical education was
also not a motivator to excel athleticaUy.
Mr. ROsch furthermore believes that the cunent negative press and history written
m Germany today is too one-sided. He states quhe pomtedly that doping and steroids
were not distributed ehher to him or his fellow athletes. He claims that they [his specific
trahiing group] were not even given vitamins. The assessment Mr. ROsch gives of the
medical care of the athletes was highly poshive. The athletes received a very
comprehensive care, mcluding massages and other freatment. Doping pfeyed no role
whatsoever in his successes, nor could it have, he asserts, as "supportive means" which
would have made him faster as a skier, would have been dismptive of his abUhy to be a
good marksman in the shooting division.
Mr. ROsch is cunently a trainer, educator and the Dfrector of the Olympic
Training Center in Altenberg, where he himself trained in his youth.

625
 APPENDIX Q
INTERVIEW WITH
DIETMAR SCHAUERHAMMER

626
 Interview with Dietmar Schauerhammer
Two time Otympic Gold medalist for Bobsled, 1984
Silver Medalist, 1988; Four time World Champ; Three time European Champ
For Decathalon: European Champ and GDR National Champ
June 8,1997, Suhl/Oberhof
Interviewed, Transcribed and Translated by
Barbara Cole

D=Dietmar; B=Barbara; M=Mrs. Schauerhammer

B-Ffrst of aU, mention name, athletic disciplme, years that you competed and the success
you've had.
D-[Laughter] That's an entfre cassette right there.
B-Yes? [Laughter]
D-Dietmar Schauerhammer, now 42 years old...
B-...speak a Uttle louder...
D-Dietmar Schauerhammer, now 42 years old, manied, two chUdren, both gfrls. EUte
sports that I've done: ffrst of aU, decathalon, from 1974 to 1981 and m this thne period I
was the GDR Champ four thnes and European Champ and thfrd place in the European
championships on the team. Then I went mto Bobsleddmg m 1983 imtU finally 1988 at
the Olympic Games in Calgary. Successes, as previously stated, have been many, totaling
16 medals [ahogether] at Olympic Games, World Championships and European
Championships...
B-Sixteen altogether?!
D-Sixteen and at European Championships and the ones that stand out the most were the
gold medals at the Olympic Games in '84 in Sarejevo hi the 2 man and 4 man Bobsled;
the silver medal in 1988 in Calgary m the 4 man Bobsled. I was 4 time World Champ and
3 thne European Champ eunong the other medals I won in the bobsledding sport.
B-Amazing. Ok, how old were you when you ffrst started to do sports and...?
D-What's reaUy funny, I must say, which is really a chapter in and of itself, is that I did
not fread the normal path of the GDR eUte athlete, which was the path of the TC, the
trahung centers where the little kids would go and then mto the KJS, that is, finally m to
ehte sports; but rather prior to this I really enjoyed my youth.
B-LUce Dan O'Brian?
D-Exactly, like Dan O'Brian. My parents were farmers so m our chUdhood we had to
work relatively hard when others were gomg swimming and so forth, and h was very
physical so therefore, hi my youth I developed a certain amount of strength as a
characteristic and preoccupied myself whh sports very sporadically. Therefore, I came
from a village of 5,000 residents, Aumer, [and I] was m District and Regional
Championships and I took part m many disciplmes: m track, m cyclmg, m downhill
skimg, jumped off of our village 46 meter ski jump, played hand ball, as I said,
everytlUng possible, and there I amassed many medals at District Championships,
Regional Championships, possibly anywhere from 60 to 80 medals. But I never found my
way to eUte sports. I never really trahied, m prmciple, as h was as good as done. And no
one even asked me if should become an elhe athlete and mstead I took the path of gomg
hito music. I played hi a band, as a drummer, for many years [laughter], and then I
627
wanted to become a professional musician, that was my hobby, and then, suddenly sport
anived. I did an apprenticeship at Zeiss, by Karl Zeiss m Jena as a Bmocular Mechanic
witii an Abitur and m this thne period I met Otto Lmz, or rather he found me, who was
the coach of Woffgang Nordweg. He plucked me, as one says, from the woods and
recognized that I had talent and formed me into a decathlete at the age of 18.
B-Eighteen years old!
D-Eighteen years, was when I first started.
B-Then you were never in a KJS?
D-Never. As I said I was...
B-You were a pure exception.
D-There are a few, but there are some. For example there was Thomas Mongold who was
Olympic Champ m the hurdles, he also started very late. So as I said, sport had always
been my life, but vety sporadically earlier and actuaUy only as an 18 year old did I make
the change to become an elhe athlete. I grew mto h, I never wanted to. I actually had
placed bets whh my buddies that I wouldn't become an elhe athlete. They were always
saymg to me, "You've got talent, you'U do that." You just grow hito h, out of the blue. I
was m a District Championship, that was 1973-74, and I hnmediately won the 200 meters
m 22.9 seconds and the broad jump m 6.50 meters and got a medal hi the four disciplme
event. At the Regional Championship, I won a medal m the apprenticeship event. After
one year, or three fourths of a year of fraining, I was afready way under the 11 seconds
for 100 meters, 10.7, 10.6. My best thne for the 100 meters was finally, then, 10.4
seconds. Then I did the decathlon and after one year of trahiing, I broke my arm just one
month before the compethion, so I had a cast and everythmg. So I was thfrd at the GDR
Championships...
B-Oh no...
D-So, m principle, I was thfrd afready at the GDR Union Championships m decathlon.
B-Then you are actually an athlete, body and soul.
D-Most certahUy, and stUl am.
B-Then you didn't need any prodding to be motivated. Sports was everything for you.
You didn't need to be motivated with traveling in the West or to get a car quicker or an
apartment quicker...those were most of the motivational reasons for the athletes, or no?
D-Yes, weU I'd have to say, whoever does sports, grows mto h. As I said, my original
goal wasn't to become an elhe athlete but a musician. But step by step, I grew mto h.
What's important is who you have for a trahier, what kind of relationships one has, who
you have for sports colleagues, how one is supported, what kind of future professional
prospects for further development one has, because that was the most hnportant thhig m
the GDR above aU, that one did not solely do sports, but rather...as they always said, "the
muhifaceted, fuUy developed socialist personaUty." [laughter]
B-Yes, exactly, exactly. And h was always impressed upon you that you were supposed
to represent the socialist personaUty. What did that mean for you?
D-Well I would say that that was one of the mam pohits of emphasis, but sports was very
much cfrawn hito poUtics, by the then state leaders.
B-Were you a committed Socialist?
D-How was that?
B-Were you a committed Socialist?
D-Was one a committed Socfelist...somehow or another, one beUeved m thefr ideals, by
628
aU means.
B-Did you believe m it?
D-You know, one is raised hi this countty. One leams this, and this facilitates domg one's
sports and one's (professional) trahung. I did not pay one shigle mark for that.
B-Yes, yes.
D-One has, m prhiciple, achieved everythmg shnuhaneously whh both sports and
profession hi order to have a good basis established for the rest of one's Ufe after sports.
B-Socialism by way of sports was to prove, that is, to the other athletes, that socialism
was superior to caphaUsm. You certainly had the opportunity to fravel abroad quite
frequently?
D-Yes.
B-And you saw the high standard of livmg m the West?
D-Yes.
B-Did you stUl continue to believe that Socialism was superior?
D-It's like this, ffrst of aU to speak just for sports: h was a fact that one did not need to
motivate an elhe athlete, and this is what is missmg nowadays. An elhe athlete was so
motivated when he was at his peak that he could travel abroad and so forth...
B-One automatically anives at a higher level of society. One has the esteem of society.
D-Exactly. One is, I should say, a privileged person, in light of the GDR system.
B-It doesn't matter ff it's capitaUsm, ff it's socialism, if it's communism, one is, as an
eUte athlete, automatically in another (social) niveau.
D-Exactly.
B-So, the constant poUtical education did not hifluence you aU that greatly, or did h?
D-No, one is raised with h. One has to see to h that one develops as an entfre person and
that includes self sufficiency and self consciousness. And if you don't have that to begm
with hi sports...I'd have to say that there are many, many elhe athletes m the world, but
the morale, the psyche, that is a basic premise and argument for victory right
there...especiaUy to wm hi hard compethion. That is mmd-boggUng.
B-And all the material advantages were not that significant? Say, that you got a car
quicker, that you got an apartment and a bigger apartment, quicker...that wasn't such a
big hifluence, or the travelhig to the West?
D-No, one has to look at this dtfferently. I don't want to generalise too much about this,
but it is tme that m the GDR that there were differences. I, for example...let me give you
an example here: I finished up my professional education concluded at Zeiss m 1975 as a
Bhiocufer (Distant) Mechanic with an Abitur...
B-Yes.
D-And there I worked as a specialist at Zeiss and earned around 450 marks, 450 marks a
month. So I had my profession and then I started in sports and appUed for a program of
studies at the DIffK m Leipzig and got accepted. And then I received, untU I was 27
years old, a startmg sum of 160 marks a month and concluded my studies whh 190 marks
a month scholarship. And that was what I received durhig my years as an elhe athlete. It
wasn't tme that through elite sports m the GDR that you could get rich. In the sports
clubs, say at Jena for example, there were very few successful elhe athletes. Renate
Stecher or Ruth Fuchs or Marli Skurl or Heflce Drechsler who is still jumpmg today, and
others...We got 60 marks a montii support to eat on. And money was available for
performance, I should say, that was extraordmaty if you had success at World
629
Championships or the European Championships...but who achieved that? There were
reaUy vety few who did. And there weren't a lot because you couldn't market yourseff m
the GDR. And there were marked differences, say m tiie civilian clubs where you got a
normal scholarship and another elhe athlete would have gotten that hi the miUtaty or m a
poUce club, and they got precisely the same even though they wouldn't have been as
successful as you would have been. They had though a service card from the NVA
(National People's Army) and received, via this service card, what do I know, whatever
you'd get in the service.
B-Were you ever tempted to defect to the West?
D-No, with a very strong [emphasis on] negative as I was raised, I'd have to say...we had
afready met (my wife and I) and had a completely mtact family...
B-...and if you could have defected with the fanuly?
M-We couldn't.
B-...tf you could have...
D-It never would have worked.
B-And if it had been possible?
D-I stUl wouldn't have done h, because one had an hnmensely strong sense of communal
spfrh here in the GDR,
B-Yes.
D-...also between the famUy members. We have an enormously big family, we have
many brothers. I have many siblings and they have lots of children. I have my father,
mother and all the relatives. As I said, in our town we have a close knit family beyond
description and uh...
B-What kind of impressions did you have the ffrst time you fraveled in the West?
D-It was, I'd have to say, initially very overwhelming. We noticed that also dfrectly after
the Wende. We saw a good deal. We saw TV and this, that and the other. I wasn't
completely bowled over, but...after the Wende when we cfrove over with the family for
the first time and the chilcfren saw h for the ffrst thne. They were hnpressed whh the toy
shops and the gUtz and Ughts and advertisements.
B-Well, h could be that h was better off materiaUy, but perhaps h could very well be that
that wasn't the case m the spfritual sense, just Uke you said to me before.
D-No (h wasn't). I am completely convmced of that. I am completely convmced of that.
B-You said that to me previously. You said previously that this (aspect) had declined
considerably...with the communal spfrh.
D-I'd have to say that m Socialism, everyone had a secure job...whether that's good or
bad, that's your ophuon. It couldn't go on lflce that any longer because many had had jobs
and in the final analysis the effectiveness was not so...there were good thhigs and bad
things. But one thhig was a fact, the community support of the people hi the GDR was
way greater than h is today.
M-The soUdarhy...
D-The soUdarity of everyone, the comradeship, the friendship, also the helpfuhiess of
everyone...
B-Yes, I beUeve that...
D-This collective spfrh has declmed enormously. That's regrettable, very regrettable.
Today many just thhdc about money. They only thhdc about themselves. I'd have to say
that I have had the good fortune m this area, Oberhof and Suhl, to have many, many
630
friends m sports. They have provided m that respect, a vety strong mamstay for our weU-
bemg and we'd lUce to stay here. But seen as a whole, the problems of tiie majorhy have
become crasser. Many from the sports assocfetion have become unemployed and that is
seen, naturally, as a personal flaw. I'd say tiiere used to be much celebration, now no one
gets work. Many have made h, but they are so tied to thefr work that they don't have tune
anymore for any social or athletic [activhies.]
B-How were you framed? And how many hours a week did you tram?
D-You can't say that m one lump sum. As I started, we trahied, maybe 10, 12 hours a
week. Then, towards the end, when I was a bobsledder, we framed maybe 30 hours a
week. EUte sports is a complete science m and of hself
B-Were you trahied by coaches from Leipzig?
D-No, notfi-omLeipzig, but rather coaches who did thefr studies at the DHfK m Leipzig.
And then, dfrectly, association coaches or Olympic trainhig center coaches m Oberhof
B-A ha, and then 30 hours on average m the week and scientifically...
D-Yes, weU, there were dffferent phases. There's a preparation phase, then a compethion
phase, then a post preparation phase...that's all a science m and of hself That's why we
had phases where we'd tram very extensively. That means, one skfrts comprehensively.
There's the coU phase where one builds on the physics, and also m endurance...
B-You also do cross trahiing?
D-...cross trahung aU belong to this. In bobsleddmg, the athletes would trahi frequently
lUce the decathletes. That's why h was a good sport for me as a former decathlete. That's
why one also needs, m the ffrial analysis, the quick power burst capabiUties, such as m
speed and sprmt, or the jump strength capabilhy m order to maxhnize strength. Those are
the three components that one needs m bobsledding. That's evident. In two man
bobsleddmg a five (unclear) round and m four man bobsleddmg 5 (unclear) round, that's
one you just have to get gomg and then before the real ridmg beghis.
B-What is actuaUy the reason for you, as to why the East Germans were 11 thnes better
than the Americans and 12 times better than the Russians? That's reaUy mcredible.
D-What was that again, 11 thnes as good as?
B-When you see that on a percentage basis, from the numbers of the population, the GDR
had 17 million, 17.2 mUlion people, USA 255 million people at that time,
D-Yes...
B-Russia was sinUlar 260 miUion then...the GDR received 12 thnes as many medals as
the Russians or 11 times as many as the Americans...or the other way around, h's actually
inelevant. 11 or 12 times. What is the secret recipe here?
D-[laughs] I'd have to say that the comparative relationship here is...
B-Yes, the West Germans would say h's due to doping.
D-Oh yes, that's nonsense.
B-And particularly hi strength sports they'd say that, especially m short distances say,
track, shot put, and, and, and, and...
D-That's complete nonsense, complete nonsense. Uh, the system was simply better. I
thhdc, the GDR...
B-...but 11 thnes better or 12 thnes better?
D-Yes, this systematic only existed at that thne m the GDR.
B-Which systematic, the selection of [talented] chilcfren, the...
D-The support system as a whole m elhe sports. That started with the ESA system, that is
631
the viewmg and selection system. I fell through that part of the system, as I told you.
B-...yes, yes. [laughter] You were a low cost athlete for the GDR, you didn't have to be
trahied by them because you were afready trahied.
D-As I said, tiie system existed. The system, fust of aU, brought out considerable
amounts of talent for selection, which [talented youth] started with sports m school and
then m the trahung centers and then on mto the KJS. In other countries, even now, there
are many possibiUties, even now, to do more say, on the computer or m mathematics that
could be emphasized or music could be emphasized. In the GDR, sports was the most
developed m the farthest reachmg sense. Why? The GDR had to prove hseff somehow
mtemationally and that was through sports. Sports was hs advertisement...the diplomat m
a sweat suh...that was the GDR athlete. So that was developed to perfection and that was
startmg with very smaU [children] through the people, those were coaches there, selection
coaches, there were masses of coaches there. That has aU disappeared now. And these
people got the children to do sports and ff one considers this relationship to the children
with say what they did m the USA then...
B-And what would you say to the accusation one hears that I mentioned to you before,
"Our amateurs contested agahist your professionals"?
D-I'd Uke to use an example for you as to how that system as a whole operated m
bobsleddmg. In the GDR system, everythhig was oriented to the primary compethion.
And the prhnaty compethion was, without dispute, the Olympic Games. The Olympic
Games were, for evety athlete, the biggest athletic event m the world.
B-The king of compethions...
D-In bobsleddmg you need, as a prerequishe, the right people. That means, you need a
good pilot, above average. Wolfgang Hoppe, I've always been together with him when
ridmg, with Woffgang Hoppe, m the two man and four man bobsled.
B-Were you ever pilot?
D-No, I was the brakes. Woffgang Hoppe, he stUl rides.
B-Ok.
D-Yes? Then you need the one who brakes and the others who ride with you. Then you
need, for the beginning, to have a good starting tune. Ummm, what should I say now? Oh
yes, you need to have a good compethion condhioning and you need to have a super
piece of equipment (bobsled). If you don't have reaUy top-level equipment which can
compete with all the other leading nations, or at least as good, then you can't win. And
the GDR system was in all this, in the trahiing methods, in the nutrition, hi all
components, scientifically thorough, sports medicine, sports methodology and all these
reahns, mcludmg the bobsled, that means [with all of this] you can have a guarantee [for
optimal performance]. That means in a cycle of four years, we developed a sled which
was the best we'd had in four years. Therefore, that means, we had had by the Olympic
Games, a sled for one year which had steermg capabiUties, axles, even the general
shape...every sled rides differently...afready had, which we had used afready hundreds of
times, ridden huncfreds of thnes...
B-And you also had these hidoor bobsled tracks so that you could also train in the
summer. Not vety many countries had those, or did they?
D-No, no. You can't trahi for bobsleddhig m the summer.
B-Yes you can. In Ahenberg there's the...
D-Yes, but they didn't have that m GDR tunes.
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B-Oh, I see. It wasn't finished by then?
D-No, they didn't have h. We only rode m the wmter. But you also had the advantage
that you could do specific trahung, which is dfrectly connected to bobsleddhig. That was
the start trahimg, which was conducted all year long. That means, we had a bobsled
which ran on wheels which were on fracks.
B-Yes, yes. I saw that hi Altenberg.
D-That's only for the pushing training, not for ridmg. That means you can do the pushing
trahiing for individual two man and four man. You have to proceed hi a scientific and
timely manner to accompUsh this. What is your maximum speed after 10 meters, after 20
meters, after 30 meters, after 40 meters? How is your starting thne? The start proceeds at
the beam, after 15 meters the bobsled is then on the clock, in compethion. And then you
have to be in tune whh what your thne is, what your speed is, what you have for a
finishmg thne. Who is, above all the best brakeman? You know? Individuals? And then,
who is the best team in the two man, or who's the best team in the four man? That
[method of trahiing] is trained aU year round. ..m this muhi [method], I teU you, or tf you
have done some shovmg, that is pushing training, where you've done some pushing and
then you jump m, you trahi to perfection. You get m and then do the muhiple rounds and
then you ride agam, and then you start your start program once again. In ridhig, in the
GDR, there were also advantages.
B-In old refrigerators on wheels, lUce in [the movie] Cool Runnings?
D-[laughter]
B-That'd be somethmg, wouldn't h?
D-Even the (unclear) which was existent m the GDR thnes...those were thmgs. Clearly,
we were always...see, I came from music, I could play guhar. The mood was completely
different among bobsledders. We sang, we barbecued, we reaUy partied. There wasn't
any mean-spfrhedness. However, even so when h was allowed, hi respect to compethion,
everything was subordmated to success. Everything.
M-Even the family life.
D-Even the family Ufe.
B-Yes, yes. I beUeve you.
D-And that was the pomt of departure, as I told you, in the GDR. The GDR afready had
the bobsled which we rode, which reached hs high pomt when you mclude the small
changes m the detaUs of the aerodynamics. But there was, for example, the so-called
ober-Bob by the Federal Republic of Germany, which was, easily, at that thne with hs
plexi-glass, one of the aerodynamically best m the world by the farthest of far. Normally
whh this bobsled, the FRG should have beaten the whole world. They should've cleaned
up. But as I said, there was a dearth of scientific procedure, the contmual work mcludmg
aU [the aforementioned prerequishe] components [designed to prepare the bobsledders]
for hard competition...
B-...one was filmed, biomechanics analyzed h...
D-...everything, everything...
B-...h would be coordmated and ascertahied with all the sports scientists...
D-...everythhig, everythhig. That was aU one. Exactly.
B-...and then the nutrhion was ascertahied...
D-...everythhig, everything.
B-...which strength frahung you had to do and cross frahung...
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D-...cross trahung, exactly. And h was the case, that the FRG only got thefr sled 13
weeks before the compethion, before the Olympic Games. And they never mastered this
sled, the best m the world. [They] went to the Olympic Games m the (Unclear) 80's and
only fell The athletes were reluctant to ride this sled because they didn't have the
contmuhy. And those are such reasons, I say, why the GDR was so successful, because h
was a continual process. And that's why...
B-[Training was done] throughout the year, throughout the year...
D-...throughout the year.
B-You were aware of the mezo cycles, the micro cycles, the Olympic cycles...
D-Exactly.
B-They had fumly established plans as to what kmd of performance you had to brmg
forth m one week, performance goals for one month, performance goals for one year,
performance goals for four years, and so forth.
D-Exactly. It was so scientific that the training plans were established for one entfre year,
includhig the compethions and everything hivolved, with hardly any deviation. That
means I could have told you m May, what I would be trahiing for one week m
September.
B-Amazmg. That makes me thhdc of ..you know what Udo Beyer told me...that they did
everything so that nothing would be left to chance.
D-That's what I mean!
B-And when I think about it, those are purely German characteristics.
D-Umhuh.
B-Could one say that there are cuhural characteristics which the East Germans grasped m
order to be so successful in this system? To do everything more thoroughly, more
scientifically, more precisely...those are German characteristics, aren't they?
D-I am 100% convhiced of that, that the German is a total perfectionist. The German is a
total perfectionist. That's evident.
BREAK HERE
D-The Gennan is a perfectionist and that means the will to win was there. And we were
convinced that we had the capachy to go into compethion successfully. And whh this
conviction you can move trees.
B-So with these genume Prussian, milhant characteristics...[laughter]
D-A German is not that easy gomg, for example, when I see the Canadians or the...
B+D-Americans...have fun.
D-When you tell them, "We're gomg to meet here at 4:00 pm at this place and we'll tram
this and that." Then the German is gohig to be there at 4:00 pm and trahung wUl be done.
B-Yes, yes.
D-And that's a bh of the German driU, I thhdc.
B-...but to leave nothmg to chance, to have everything planned down to the smallest
detaUs: what the people will eat, when they'll get up, when they're allowed to go on
vacation, where they're allowed to travel which trahung goals they're to achieve and
must achieve...
D-Yes.
B-Those are all cuhural characteristics which the East Gennans captured, or no?
D-By all means. I'd lflce to say that, scientifically speakmg, that for example, if you
wanted to get an athlete to run, say, a 100 meters thne of 10.20 seconds that I could build
634
up that athlete withhi 8 weeks to do that. I could do that.
B-How come the West Germans never were that successfiil tf they were just as Gennan
as the East Germans?
D-It's a question of disciplme and my ophuon is that that is also declmmg, which is the
attitude to sport. Tocfey you can...you have far more possibUhies to represent yourseff. As
I said, much more mterest rested m electronics [e.g. computers m the West] and m the
GDR there wasn't that much. You could not, m prmciple, leave the country.
M-Not legally at any rate.
D-Not legally. Or you were widely renowned in your profession, so that you were m
demand intemationaUy, or you were an artist, so that you could get out on occasion, or
you were an athlete. So very many youth went that route or not at aU...I can speak for
myself that I went that route not so that I could travel abroad, I just grew into h. And as I
suddenly became tops hi the GDR then I thought, "Man, I'm leading hi the nation, maybe
I can make h to the national championships." Then one was at the national
championships, and then there was the goal of medals. And that continued and that led
ever upwards and that led to other, higher goals to see what one could achieve. And
today, when I sometimes hear people who are put under pressure by the media, they're
not even aU that far from [whining] a mecfel..one reads m the newspaper, Bild 2Leitung,
or others like it, they are put under so much pressure. They are widely praised at the
World Championships or some such similar competition, and then...
M-(coniments unclear)
D-...and then that's the problem. The psychological problem then is that they have this
success burden set on them that they have to drag with them to all the compethions, and
they just can't come to grips whh h.
B-But there's always been this khid of pressure for athletes...performance pressure.
D-Yes, but, hi the GDR thnes [h existed also,] to be sure. There was a very difficuh
quaUfyhig trials system. That means, only those who could conceivably place m the top 6
[at the Games for each respective sport] was allowed to go. But the quaUfyhig system
was, as Udo said, a guarantee that if you went, you reaUy stood a chance of compethig for
a medal.
B-What could the West Germans leam from the East Germans. Or what would you have
them assume from the system, or what should they assume from the system?
D-They'd have to take over the whole system, then they'd be just as successful. And with
the capachies, I have to say, that the Federal RepubUc has today, h would be mhid
boggUng.
B-Ok, let us say the talent selection. They could emulate that, for example.
D-They won't emulate it, because h was way too expensive. There are some thhigs bemg
tried. There's an attempt to take some of the good thmgs of the GDR system and
reestabUsh h hi a new w^y.
B-But this poUtical thhUcmg [of the GDR], you don't need to have that m order to be
successful.
D-Ok.
B-This pronounced poUtical thhUcmg: "You embody the socialist personahty." Did the
people really believe that? The athletes? That's practically a reUgion.
D-No. I would never say h was that hard core, by no means. One thmg is a fact, the state
wanted to motivate the youth and (unclear) they could exploh the youth. That's always
635
been the case. That's just what Hhler did. It's unhnagmable today what happened then.
How thmgs were nm and so forth. But the system m and of hself, was, at any rate, for the
GDR vety good m the tiiiest sense. And tiiey had the prerequishes for success. And that
system is copied and emulated m many, many countiies and one sees what is happenmg.
B-Ok, we're speakmg vety generally, but what specifically could the West Gennans take
over from the East Germans, ff they were to assume some of the elements of the system,
what would you recommend to them that they must take over?
D-What they must take over? Ohh...
B-The scientific frahung methods?
D-Yes, they must ffrst of aU agam, take over from the whole system, which is not that big
m hs capachy as hi the GDR thnes, but which brmgs the athlete effectively as a
prerequishe, mto the junior levels of elhe sports. That means, precisely m the area of
junior sports there is much which has been neglected. Today, h's not so easy for a young
athlete or a young elhe athlete who has to tram a good deal...
B-...and the parents have to finance h.
D-...the parents, partially.
B-,..and the schooling is not adapted to the frahung.
D-Exactly. I just wanted to say that. What kmd of possibUhies does a young person have
when thefr professional trahung is done parallel to thefr sport? Which busmess is wUling
to take you on as an elhe athlete when you want to become a plumber? But if you're not
even there [at work] for haff a cfey out of the week, he'll have no such chances. And this
was regulated m the GDR thnes. That has to be assumed as a basis. It can't be though,
because it's way too expensive.
M-That's the market economy.
D-It's the market economy. There's been an endeavor made to take over the Spartakfede.
The Spartakiade was, in principle, the biggest con^ietition for the youth in the GDR. And
that was to be taken on m the FRG, but h was never realized, in keeping whh the methods
and schemes of the GDR, because h was too cost mtensive, as noted previously, in the
market economy.
B-This doping history, I have to honestly say that I've seen the documents in the area of
track and field and I know that people were doped. CertahUy m the reahn of shot put the
women were doped considerably, in swimming the women were doped and also the
runners, weight Ufters...aU of the quick, power burst athletic disciplmes. What do you say
to that? Do you thhdc that was the case?
D-If you read the newspaper, then you're led to believe that dophig was solely a problem
of the GDR. And I'd have to say that dophig is a world-wide problem That's why you
see hi the newspaper, this person was doped and that person was dopecl and they caught
that person and so forth. It's a world-wide problem and dophig did not start m the GDR.
B-No, the Americans [among others] started with the dophig.
D-That's right and the GDR...
B-...they just did h perhaps more thoroughly?
D-That's why the shot put throwers m the GDR were amazed that the Americans could
throw so far when the GDR shot put throwers trahied twice as much. As I said, dopmg is
perhaps an aid. Dear Barbara Cole is perhaps doped 20 thnes a year. That's the problem
today. Where does dophig start and where does h stop? When Barbara has a runny nose
and hUiales somethhig through a nose spray, then she's been doped and she goes to a
636
dopmg control and passes. But that's dopmg.
B-Accordhig to your knowledge, have you ever been doped?
D-I would not Uke to answer that question because evety one has to be clear whh
themselves. And this whole topic, I'd say, the GDR had that documented extensively and
conducted h scientificaUy m a manner which I would describe as bemg far heahhier than
when one would do h on thefr own, without the oversight of a physician...takes too much
or has, perhaps, long term effects. I can only say one thmg, m bobsleddmg and m
decathlon, h doesn't help.
B-I thhdc the best evidence that the system is worthy of emulation is that the (GDR)
coaches, as we discussed previously, are m high demand throughout the world. They get
jobs everywhere. And, m Barcelona, the most medals which the united German team
won, went to East Germans.
D-WeU, I'd have to say, that m the thne period smce the Wende...
B-Barcelona and Atlanta...
M-(unclear) those were the older ones from the GDR.
D-I just wanted to say that...that the problem smce the Wende, has been the total
reduction of personnel hi the GDR sports system. And many people naturally have sought
various possibiUties who didn't have work to pass thefr experiences on and there existed
a huge tumover hi various countries in bobsleddhig, and overaU actually, ski jumpmg and
so forth. That has helped the development of sports in general. And now we're seehig
how countries which have never enjoyed success before, come to the phmacle of the
world's best [by learning from] the experience of the GDR and coaches. There were
always good Italian rowers, for example. But smce the (GDR sports) association coach
has been there (with them), h's been domg well and [has been] successful And the ski
jumpers and...the bobsledders of the USA and of Italy, they're getting medals all of a
sudden again at World Championships...fest year, Uke never seen before. And that's
gotten to be more and more [the case], mtemationally.
B-Did you actuaUy also have friends in the West?
D-Many.
B-In the GDR thne period?
D-Many, many.
B-But that was actually forbidden wasn't h?
M-(Coinments unclear.)
B-Did you have them secretly?
D-Oftentimes.
B-[We] secretly met m hotels and so forth...
D-Sure, oftenthnes... You have to see that h depended on the disciplme. If you've got a
gymnast of 16, 14 years old, that can't even be compared to a decathlete or a bobsledder
who could be as old as 40. That means, we were family and everythhig and hi the
decathlon that we were with all competitors for two days nonstop, m the smallest area
possible, always together m the stadium...
B-And you weren't observed the whole thne and told, "You can't do that"?
D-Well yes, as bad as h was then, h wasn't that big a deal. Who could possibly keep me
from sayhig to someone, "You're a real pal and let's go somewhere." They couldn't
refram anyone. And that's why I still have so many friends from then stUl and whh which
I'm StUl friends after the Wende. We stUl get together. Guido (unclear) for example, or
637
Hmgston, who I really enjoy seemg, with whom I stUl (unclear) or Daley Thompson, for
example.
B-Perhaps they'll come to Germany now and agam.
D-Yes, on occasion. For example, one of our most difficuh compethors m bobsleddmg,
that was witii Woffgang Hoppe for 15 years, and he was Gustav Feder, with whom we
(unclear) and we were aU real companions. In the decathlon there were some whh whom
we were always together. And I just wanted to say that, m the decathlon there were two
days where you were always together...before the arrival and after the departure we
always met secretly, naturaUy, and drank a beer together. The officials even to this day,
don't even know that. The comradeship among the athletes was constant among the
athletes and lUce no other.
B-Which athletes demonstrated the greatest sportsmanlUce conduct which you met?
D-And m bobsledding...I'U come back to that m a mhiute...the danger was very real h's a
dangerous sport. In that respect, you have to work together. We were together practically
for half a year. It's always the same atiUetes, the same coaches, the same officials, and so
forth, you can hardly avoid each other. That's why h's a completely different atmosphere.
And there's a mutual respect for performance and mutual assistance m respect to
materials...we'd exchange a screwcfriver here and there...
B-Exchange of hrformation, reaUy? That was secret material was h not?
D-No, not necessarUy. It was the case m the GDR, we never did one smgle trammg, not
one, where there wasn't either a doctor right there at the track, or someone had a cell
phone so that they could get a doctor hnmediately. If we trahied m Oberhof or
hitemationally, for example, wherever there was compethion, we always had a GDR
doctor there at the frack. The other nations didn't even have this. That means that when
an athlete injured himself, our doctor would be requested. And there was a doctor just
running. And as soon as...the athlete's heahh took the highest poshion. And fuiances
were integrated [into the system] for this. And if someone fell or got mjured, our doctor
would be there immediately. That was what I told you, that was our system, planning
down to the smallest details of mechanics, nutrition, science, technology, the trahiing
methods, including the doctor. It was comprehensive and that's why, Dietmar
Schauerhammer and Wolfgang Hoppe fought for the medals. It was a big collective and
they were all integrated and everyone had a part. And that was, m the final analysis, the
overarching reason for the success in the GDR sport. Many, very many participated [m
this system] so that some athlete would become a success.
B-Who demonstrated the most sportsmanlUce conduct?
D-The fafrest ones? I'd have to say, that in our sport, h was relatively good aU around...
B-It prevailed everywhere, this good...
D-I'd have to say h was overall goocl but what was problematic was among the
bobsledders from many countries who had to fhiance themselves. They had to finance
themselves. (Unclear) and the Swiss were under pressure to succeed.
B-Was there any particular compethion with the Russians?
D-No.
B-No?
D-No. Because at that thne, the Russians got mto bobsleddmg later than we did. We were
also successful We got a bronze medal m 1984 for the ffrst tune and we hadn't been
ridmg that long. They had developed new sleds which were then banned as they were too
638
extreme.
B-Too extreme?
D-Too exfreme, too dangerous.
B-Oh.
D-There was, for example, m bobsleddhig, a board up front and a board m the back
which goes around h...
B-Yes, yes.
D-(Unclear) This rhig is divided. And the Russians buih the so-caUed cigar...
B-Cigar! [laughter] A Cuban cigar?
D-It was allowed actuaUy, but h was exfreme m the length and the width and went to the
absolute Umit of possibiUties of aerodynamics, but the division of h didn't work. That
means that when I have one part of the sled go mto a curve, then the back is dragging,
then h was barely manageable. Fortunately, h was banned. I have to say that that was
fortunate. But one has here frequently...there were no Junior athletes m bobsleddmg.
Active athletes for bobsleddhig were won over, I'd have to say, in thefr abilhy to perform
m the basics, from other athletic disciplines. There were quhe a few decathletes, or
throwers, or sprinters, or, there were [athletes from] other discipUnes. Bemhard
Lehmann, came over from handball for example. Memert Nehmer was a javelin thrower.
B-One can actually do a variety of sports and go from one to the next.
D-Exactly.
B-There was actually a woman who...
M-Christa Rothenburger. She went from speed skating to cycling
B-Who? Who was h?
D-That was Christa Rothenburger.
M-She went from speed skating to cycling.
B-And she was an East German?
M-She was an East German.
B-In one year she got...what did she get?
M-SUver m cyclmg and gold hi speed-skating.
B-That's amazing.
M-Christa Ludmg was her name earlier, and now manied, h's Rothenburger.
D-And that was hitemational how do you say, whh the Brhish guy who I met m
decathlon and then I met hhn agam m bobsleddmg.
B-My goodness.
D-I don't remember his name. Man, how thne flies, [laughter]
B-What I thought was fiinny was that m Atlanta, the Russians won the gold medal for the
men as a team m gymnastics. They got the gold as a team, and the women from the US
won as a team. And then m conclusion, they did a performance together. That was
somehow...
M-(comments unclear)
D-And that's how sports should be, h should demonsfrate the ideals of sports and act as a
bond between the people...that whole sports-poUtics was...
B-Yes, that used to be a real object of the Cold War.
D-That whole sports poUtics, h's gotten much better m that respect.
B-Well, I don't know what else to ask. I've pretty much asked everythmg. You did not
have any experience with the KJS because you were afready 18 years old [when you
639
started], but you knew many who had had this experience. Did they only teU you good
stories about them or were there disadvantages of these schools?
M-Many were left out who didn't make h. There were many at first, and then there were
much fewer who did not make h to the top.
B-I see.
D-As a whole, the system had many good thhigs, but a good system brmgs many
problems with h because even, and I don't know how many started out exactly, say 1,000
started and then maybe only 10 [would make h to the Olympic team].
B-Ok, so that's the disadvantage.
D-That's the disadvantage.
M-(comments unclear) Sonja, she was a high jumper, said that in her class she started out
with 20 and then she was the only one who came through. And she wasn't even hi the top
mtemationally, she was only m the top m the GDR. (Unclear). The selection is very great
and many start out at a shnUar level but then when they grow, they change...
B-When Oksana Baiul was the Olympic champ m figure skathig, she had a completely
different figure. Now, h's reaUy difficuh for her because her body has changed so much.
M-The problem was, Barbara, she couldn't take this step towards success. She was very
young, she was only 14 or 15 years old. She couldn't process the success.
B-She didn't have any parents.
M-She just couldn't mentally process this success because she was too young.
D-What was good m the GDR times was that as the body changes, you tram your organs
and you're under a physician's care. And under this care you have the possibility of
"down" trahiing...
B-Yes, yes, that was unique to the GDR, this "down trahiing."
D-Unique. And you had the opportunity to train even more with your training coUeagues
and you could get to a normal level down train, so that you can live at a normal level.
They made the mistake previously of training and trahung, and had an athlete's heart, one
said, and then they stopped and had enormous problems. For example Gustav...
B-Or Uke that Russian iceskater, Gordeeva...
D-There's many, many...
B-The husband of Ekatarina Gordeeva.
M-Yes, but he had a heart problem...
B-Perhaps if he would have had the care of a GDR sports physician, then perhaps they
would have discovered his illness. That was a disease. His heart was bad just Uke his
father's.
D-That's very possible. The system was good. We had a physician's checkup twice a
year. If you had a cold, the checkup was a given. If you had an hijury, the checkup was a
given. The physiotherapy was a given. Or preventive medichie, was a given, to prevent
injuries. Or ff you were hijured, the care was a given.
B-You also got massages, preventive medicine...
D-That is just part and parcel of elite sports. And...
B-That was done nowhere Uke h was done hi the GDR.
D-It should just be that way. And hi that respect, there really was a lot done.
D-Do you have any long term effects from this type of elhe sports, say problems whh
your jo hits or your back?
D-Well whh my back I have a few problems, but h's nothhig unendurable. In
640
 bobsleddmg hself, the burden is enonnous and that starts afready with the draggmg of the
sled, and the curve pressure is extremely high. The segments of the frack, there are hits
which have to be deah with and naturaUy, the back takes the poundmg. That's evident.
But as a whole, I feel great. Once a week I pfey tennis and once a week soccer, those two
tunes I do thhigs. I should do more with strength tramhig.
B-Evetyday you do something?
D-No, just twice a week. Just twice a week.
M-There's no thne.
D-Otiier than tiiat I don't do anythmg. But Uke I said, over the years I down-tt-amed
contmuously and that was the right thmg to do.
B-I was told by a sport historian that eUte sports is damaghig to health. That would not
stop me. Ifl would have had the chance, then I would have done h anyway. Would you
do it aU over again?
D-I would do h aU over agam. I have to say that. I might do some thhigs a Uttle
differently, but as a whole, tiiere's absolutely no problems. And lUce I said, you can do
the sport one way or anotiier. It depends upon the trahier who can make or break an
athlete.
B-And the trahimg was done witii great care and they cared and planned for the athlete on
a comprehensive basis?
D-[With] the trahier I had, I can only confirm that. There's a sayhig, "The stress is great:
either do sports or stay heahhy." [laughter] But of course, that's crassly stated.
B-That's what Churchill said when he was asked why he Uved so long. "No sports."
D-Yes, but h always depends upon how, how I do sports. I could do (unclear) sports very
intensively, and not have the technique down nor the prerequishes...
B-I knew Christme Cooper for awhUe and at the end of every season, [h seemed lflce] she
always had something in a cast, at least something: arm, foot, leg, neck...but that would
not restrict her from dohig h again the next season. The next possibilhy to ski, and there
she was.
D-[feughs]
M-(Coinments unclear.)
D-Whether one is just playmg or reaUy dohig sports, hi normal Itfe, there's always an
element of danger. But when I do one particular sport many thnes, then the (danger) is
naturaUy increased, whether h's at a sports facility or on the track and I do nmnmg, then
it surely can happen that you step m a hole and have a problem whh a tom ligament or a
spramed ankle.
B-This high level of trahiing at the elhe level is only doable at a young age and oiUy for a
limited period of thne...such a high level of trainmg and [only do h] for a limited period
of thne or else the body will just go kaput.
M-But with endurance sports, they can do h longer, lflce marathon runners.
B-Yes, marathon runners.
D-We said, for example, that to do high jump, I have to do this amount of work to
prepare for thousands of jumps, preparation so that the body, the tendons, the muscles,
the jomts are aU prepared in such a manner that there will be no problems. That means
that the older I am, the more I have to frain thne wise, that is thne wise. For a certain
degree of perfonnance, I have to fram more and can not do h as mtensively as a young
person.
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B-The GDR coaches regarded all the trahiing plans and methods as high securhy
materfel
M-Gehehne Verschlusssache (high securhy material). For your eyes only.
B-Top secret! [laughter]
D-Yes, it was top secret.
B-Only certahi people were aUowed m Kienbaum, for example.
D-Yes, but I have to say it was always scientific. Evcty training plan logged every hour I
trahied, what I did, with a perfonnance diagnosis and so forth. That was always
preplanned so that I knew and checked so that they could see how I was developmg over
the year. It was just as Udo said, "leave nothing to chance..." so that by August, I'd be at
my highest [athletic] level and could produce the best performance.
B-Which years for the GDR were the peak years? The '70s?
D-For sports as a whole? I'd say startmg m '72 until '90, the Wende.
B-Those 20 years then. Or maybe even '68 because h wasn't tUl '68 that they could
prove themselves anyway. In that respect...the GDR had more success then than the FRG,
hi '68, or no?
D-Well h's problematic because you'd reaUy have to research that, because I just got out
of a sports club, SC Motor Jena as a decathlete at that thne, and there were some really
fantastic athletes Uke Ruth Fuchs and MoUy Spur and others, Wolfgang Nordwig, Rotf
Beietschmitt. Man, they won more medals thmi most countries, just this one club hi Jena,
in the country medal count.
M-For example, the sprmt team from this club was better than the national team...
D-And now this club doesn't even exist anymore! There are hardly any athletes whh
success who can stand with the world elite.
M-Because the envfronment isn't right.
D-Because the envfronment isn't right.
M-Career wise h's not right either. There's no chance m Jena to prepare for your
profession, for your future (as an athlete).
B-Yes, h's come down to the question of merely survivmg, at this pohit. Is there
something else you'd lUce to say?
D-We'U see each other agam tf somethhig comes up.
B-Yes. Thank you.

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 APPENDIX R
INTERVIEW WITH
MARC DENNIS SCHULZ

643
 Interview with Marc Dennis Schulz
Former elite athlete in bicycHng
June 10,1997 in Leipzig
Interviewed, Transcribed and Translated by
Barbara Cole

M=Marc; B=Barbara

B-Ok, teU me your name, your athletic disciplme, the years you were active m that sport
and what kind of success you had in that sport.
M-Ok, my name is Marc Dennis. I did cycUng and I started at age 10 and stopped at age
18, so 8 years.
B-So at age 18 you stopped, was that the Wende? [Fall of the Berlm WaU.]
M-Yes, that was short before the Wende, 1989. In January 1989.1 stopped afready before
the Wende. Successes, I haven't much to prove, but once m awhile I was good. I wasn't
among the top (comments unclear) I'd have to say.
B-You were selected m school m the talent selection process?
M-Yes. There were these small sports clubs...
B-Spartakfede?
M-Spartakiade were the competitions.
B-I see.
M-The Uttle Olympics, practically speakmg. It was caUed BSG,
Betriehssportgemeinschaft, [factory or enterprise sports clubs], and that's where the talent
was lured and made confident through sports. And then whoever was talented went to the
sports clubs and one saw at the competitions of the BSG [who the best were], then the
best were divided into regions. Each region had hs own sports speciaUty. Each region had
hs own regional champions. In the region, I was therefore the champion and whhout this
top performance hi the regional championships I would not have gotten into the...
B-...hitheKJS.
M-...hi the BCJS. I went hi at 13 or 14 years of age.
B-You were then, m a KJS the whole 8 years.
M-No, I started at age 10 m this little sports club. At age 14 then I was delegated into a
KJS.
B-That was m Erfurt?
M-That was hi Erfiirt then.
B-And then you, quasi Uved at home, but went to a sports school.
M-PartiaUy, because as soon as there was room at the boardhig school then I moved m.
(Comments unclear.)
B-So then you didn't live in the boardmg school
M-Yes I did, but only for part of h.
B-What kmd of an experience was that for you? Was that a good experience? Bad
experience?
M-It was a very good experience because (comments unclear), we had fun, sometimes
we'd play pmg pong, or go to the movies evenings; and when I lived at home h wasn't as
good because, weU, when one Uved at home, one feh cut off from the froops, because
most of them lived m the boarding house.
644
B-I see. And they [the KJS personnel] were vety carmg and made aU manner of decisions
for you...?
M-What do you mean by decisions? In prmciple, all of the decisions were made for me.
The trammg plan was pre-ordamed and the school day was also estabUshed. This was all
preordamed. The schedule was from 8 am to 12 pm schooUng, then from 1:00 pm to 7:00
pm trammg and thereafter, we had free thne. Then you did homework and (comments
unclear), untU 10:00 pm of course, and then, accordhig to age, somethnes 11:00 pm, of
course [m bed]. The possibilhy existed once a month to stay up untU midnight tf you
pethioned for h. So apart from that, h was vcty free.
B-They also ascertamed what you ate, estabUshed what you did, the macro-cycles, the
mezo-cycles, what kmd of trammg goals you had, when you went on vacation, when you
were allowed to vish your parents...
M-Yes and no. There were, of course the macro-cycles, which was the premise of what
you did. The Spartakiade was the mam event and then there were the GDR
championships, that was also an established event. As to your other questions: we could
vish our parents anythne we wanted, of course we had to sign out when we did so.
Somebody had to always be hrformed as to where we were. To eat, there were always
estabUshed meal thnes. So m that respect, we were Ihnited, that's tine. But there was
always a selection and a big buffet. You could eat what you wanted.
B-And you had better food stuffs than the general populace?
M-Yes, one would have to say that's tme. We got bananas, for example, or orange juice...
B-It's unthhdcable that those thmgs weren't generally available.
M-(laughter) That's tme. But at that thne that was a privUege. But h was only a few
things. There wasn't any caviar, for example...
B-What were some of the other advantages of livmg m the KJS?
M-Well, h was socially secure. ExceUent. (Unclear.) I didn't have to commute two hours
for example.
B-Advantages of the KJS?
M-Oh as a whole of the KJS, other advantages were the educational opportunities.
(Unclear.)The teaching and work materials were more available for you.
B-And your period of studies would be lengthened tf you did sports...lengthened by one
year and if you needed more tune than that, you got h.
M-Exactly. There were other advantages. The school plan was adapted to the trahiing
plans. Every year, for example, in winter we went to Berlin and went to the Wemer
Seelenbhider Hall where there was a wooden frack built to condensate for the gaps in
winter. And we went to Berlhi for two weeks for competition. That was hi January or
February. And in those two weeks there wasn't any school.
B-I see. (Laughter.) Did you have the opportunity to travel abroad?
M-Ummm...
B-Or were you not good enough (at your sport) that you were aUowed to do this?
M-The ffrst experience abroad was at the age of 16 and this was the Youth Compethion
for Friendship, that is, dfrectly to socialist countries. The next fravel abroad would have
been the Junior World Championships.
B-And were you there?
M-I wasn't there, I wasn't good enough, that is, I wasn't at the Youth Compethion for
Friendship because I wasn't good enough and then I stopped. I could've had....weU,
645
 probably not a good chance. There was this bfrth date regufetion, I would have been m
the Jumor Championships due to my unfavorable bfrth date, others would have ridden
two years, I would have ridden three years and then I would have ridden with those who
were practically one year younger tiian myseff And h was clear that I would have
(unclear) been better as I would have ridden whh those who had spent three years m
compethion.
B-And you were never abroad?
M-I had never been abroad at that thne.
B-What kmd of disadvantages were there at this KJS?
M-The disadvantage was shnply the stress. The stress.
B-Yes, the Wessies say, "Oh the poor chUdren, they were heckled and whipped mto
shape for thefr successes and they were mcarcerated..." Is that tme or is that an
exaggeration or a tendency to bedevil the system?
M-That's another yes and no. One went hito this voluntarUy. One gladly rode bflces.
Whmmg was also great. And I wanted to be m the Friedensfahrt. I wanted to be a great
cyclist.
B-That's the Tour de France of eastem Europe, isn't h?
M-Yes, yes, I hnaghied h as my biggest goal. It was very popular. Ok, and then I got to
the sports school and then there were the thhigs that one did not have any preconceptions
of The frahung was greatly mtensffied. Before that, at this little club, BSG, h was all stUl
alot of fun, you know. It was mtensive then too, but h was just fun. Then h was
mtensified (at the KJS). And then m the summer, as of March, there were races every
week, on Sundays. And that was, I can't say (unclear.)
B-That's actually a very difficuh thmg for children, isn't h, everyday...
M-Yes.
B-How many hours a week did you trahi? On average, 30?
M-On average? I'd have to think about that. It depends.
B-On the daUy schedule?
M-On the season. In the winter we trahied less, but when the season ended we trahied
(unclear.) But in the summer 5 hours.
B-Evcty day m the summer, 5 hours? So 35 hours weekly.
M-Yes.
B-How old were you then?
M-I was 16 then.
B-That's how much the professionals train, don't they? No, they train more.
M-They trahi more.
B-That is a hard thing for a child.
M-That includes the races (compethive events), that's everything mcluded. Naturally.
B-Where did you tram in the winter, in gymnasiums on stationary bflces, or what?
M-That depended on the weather shuation, but m the winter we went cycling then too.
And ff there was snow, then h had to be say haff a meter or so. (Unclear.)
B-Did you do then different types of sports, what one caUs hi EngUsh, cross tramhig?
M-Umm, before that or in the course of the training?
B-In the course of frainmg, swimming, ninnmg, weightUfting and so forth.
M-Ok, we did weight fraining, mostly m the wmter because we couldn't ride the bflces
then as much so we did alot of strength trahimg and in that thne we also did alot of
646
swhnmmg. We went to tiie sauna. Somethnes we played ice hockey, but that was just for
fim.
B-Would you say that that was too much for a chUd?
M-I think so, yes.
B-Hmmm. Would you recommend h for anyone else*^
M-No.
B-Were the children ever aUowed to say, "This is too much for me," or "I can't do this,"
or was one not allowed to say this...?
M-WeU, one could have said h, but I don't thhdc one dared to do so. The frahung plan
was preordamed and there was no discussion as to altering h. I don't know. In refrospect,
I get mad about h because maybe when one didn't feel lflce domg h and somethnes one
notices m one's body that h would have been better ff one had not done as much, or today
I could've done more. But one never even entertained such thoughts [to say this.]
B-It never occuned to you?
M-Somehow, apparently I just never dared to do h.
B-If you had a child would you let that chUd do this?
M-No. In cycUng there is also the issue of bemg mjury prone. That is another big
disadvantage in this type of sport, in general
B-In sphe of the mjury you're supposed to keep on trahiing?
M-Well, ffrst of all the hijury hself, I meant, the falls.
B-I see. They always tried to hicrease the fraining work load.
M-Each year the work load requfrements were fulfilled, in trahiing.
B-Was that too much for a chUd of that age?
M-I thhdc so, yes, too much. When I think of my own daily schedule: I got up at 5:30 am,
then school and then trahiing and sometimes I wouldn't be home tUl 7:00 pm, ok,
sometimes I'd be home at 5:00 pm. There were also some free cfeys. But later I came
home later hi the evenings. But in retrospect, I'd have to say h was too much.
B-It could be that there were some cultural characteristics which played a role. Could it
be possible that the system was so goocl that is, tf one wants to characterize it as goocl
that it depended on cultural characteristics? That the East Germans took over the Russian
system and then they did h more thoroughly, more scientifically, whh genume Prussian,
even militaristic characteristics, and therefore, there rests the success of this whole
system?
M-I think so, yes. There is a tendency of that. We were a small country, you know? And
that we absolutely had to prove ourselves, agahist, say, the Soviet Union. So a real rivafry
developed.
B-ReaUy? One always said "We have to be friends whh them.."
M-Yeah, but at the Friendensfahrt, for example, we had a buddy who was at the
Friedensfahrt, you know, anci we then had an evening of discussion. And the theme was
always prevalent of the tough compethion whh the Russians.
B-[Laughter], Is that right? As a top priority? Not the opponents of the Americans or tiie
West Germans? Not the West Germans?
M-Yeah, ok. But hi cyclmg the issue wouldn't be that at the Friedensfahrt, the issue is
who wins.
B-I see, and the biggest "enemy" was the Russians.
M-Because the Russians were the best along whh us. The Russians and the GDR. The
647
Russians were the best and that's why they were always on the lookout for them. So my
friend said the battle oftenthnes would oftentimes lead to someone [deliberately]
throwmg another person over. I was surprised too, but one did h m the spfrh of
compethion. The pomt was wummg. Cycling is a tough sport, so they did some hard
riding.
B-What was the general atthude towards Russians among the athletes?
M-Yeah weU, I wouldn't generaUy characterize them as bemg negative. But my friend
did teU me that a Russian threw him over.
B-ReaUy? Were they regarded as behig unfafr?
M-Yes, yes, somethnes as bemg unfafr.
B-One had, most certahUy, a good deal of poUtical education.
M-Yes, we most certainly did get that.
B-One was characterized as being "diplomats in training suits." One was supposed to
represent the socmlist personaUty. One was supposed to prove that socialism was superior
to capitalism.
M-Yes, that's tme.
B-And the spfrh of the athlete was to embody the spfrh of socialism, or no? Did you
believe in that?
M-At the beghmhig I did. At the beginning, yes, I did.
B-That was a quasi reUgion, was h not?
M-Yes, one could say that.
B-Did that motivate you? Or motivate you better?
M-Ummm, no. I couldn't say that. I did h because of the sport.
B-Because of the sport?
M-Because I personaUy wanted to win, and not that the state would wm.
B-PoUtics was on the parameters of this?
M-PoUtics was just a side thmg. One did h because one wanted to hnprove or better one's
self
B-Were there other motivational factors?
M-I don't think so.
B-When one was successful as an athlete then you'd have the opportunity to fravel
abroad, you'd get a car quicker, a nicer apt., one needn't work a boring job m a factory on
an assembly Ime...
M-Ok, yes, yes...
B-One had a certahi, secure future.
M-Yes, those were some of the benefits, if you whi, an hnproved Itfe. Getthig a
car....getting out of prison...
B-Gettmg out of prison! [laughter]
M-You always had that m the back of your nund, that's tme. But one started reaUy, weU,
you saw the Friedensfahrt and you wanted to be m h. Then later those thhigs, gomg
abroad, that's tme, those (factors) came to. That's tme.
B-They used caphaUstic forces to motivate the athlete...
M-Yes.
B-...SO that they could prove that sociaUsm was superior to caphahsm?
M-[laughter] That's tme.
B-Is h not? A contradiction wasn't h?
648
M-Sounds schizophrenic, but that's the way h was.
B-And then they always complamed how the westem countiies were far too commercfel
whereby they also used commercial forces.
M-That's tme.
B-What do you thhdc of aU these dophig stories? Do you thhdc that there's any tmth to h?
Do you thhdc that much of the success of the East German system was due to dopmg?
M-I certahUy thhdc that dopmg had a role m h, which lead to hs success.
B-But only m certahi realms?
M-In certam reahns. For example swimmhig, as one always said, track....
B-And bobsled? Because the people had to
M-Bobsled?
B-They had to sprint 50-60 meters.
M-It could be, I don't know.
B-That's where they'd get thefr advantage, m that preUmhiary mn. The quicker they...
M-...the quicker they push that thmg, the more thne they save, h could be.
B-And h concems huncfredths of seconds m that sport.
M-Yes, that's possible, I can't say.
B-Did you yourseff ever get any "stuff'?
M-Consciously, I was never offered anythmg. Whether someone ever put somethhig m
my food, is another question.
B-Were you ever observed when you received any substances? Say, for example, vitamm
preparations? Or did they shnply distribute h?
M-They simply distributed h.
B-And did they say, "You have to take this regularly," or "You have to take this whh
meals," or "You can't take this abroad with you"? Well you weren't abroad anyway.
And did you also not have to submit urine samples or blood to be analyzed at Kreischa?
M-Yes, occasionally we did have to do that [the fetter], that was perhaps once a year, just
as a check-up, a regular heahh exam. And then what we did almost ever month, perhaps
in the dfrection of doping, was a perfonnance tes. We cUd the ergometer. They extracted
blood then. But the issue then was the (unclear), that is, the state of fitness of the athlete.
B-According to your knowledge you've never been doped.
M-To my knowledge, I have never been doped. One thing I do need to mention was that
m winter we did strength trainmg and we took a protein supplement before or afterwards,
I don't even know anymore. It was a protein cfrink.
B-It was a milk drink?
M-It came m a big pot dfrectly out of the khchen. And h was a nuxture of yogurt and, I
don't know what was hi h, but h tasted Uke yogurt, you know. There was yogurt m h.
And h was distributed in good quanthies and we cfrank h. We got this on an mconsistent
basis.
B-Did you ever take vhamin preparations home with you?
M-We got the vitamins there at the block...
B-In large quantities?
M-In large quanthies and they said to us, above aU, that h was hnportant to take them
regularly in the whiter because, my opinion was that, there were women and they were to
have been told dfrectly that here are some muscle buildmg preparations, m the form of
tablets..
649
B-They didn't offer h to you?
M-They didn't offer h to us and I don't know tf the men were offered such thmgs. This is
aU just thhigs that I heard.
B-That was tiie 1980's right?
M-I'm taUcmg about the 1980's.
B-Those were female cyclists?
M-Yes, female cycUsts.
B-Did they have deep voices?
M-They did not have deep voices. But I have to say that they did not start to support
women m that sport untU '85, '84. It didn't really start untU then whh women m cyclmg
and so that's why I thhdc that '84 is when h reaUy started happenmg with women m
cyclmg, and so that's perhaps why there were no dfrectly apparent long term effects. I
thhdc that maybe hi '88 that h started...
B-What was this that your mother was tellmg me, tiiat she was takmg the same
substances that you were supposed to take and then she noticed marked differences m
herself?
M-I don't know what she meant. I don't know ff she's mterpretmg these thhigs as an
afterthought or what.
B-You stopped prematurely. Why?
M-I stopped [the sport] m '89 because, first of aU because my mother was sick and
second of aU I didn't have a place at the KJS boardhig school which really aggravated
me, because even though I l^d good performance, I was at that tune hi the GDR's top
twenty and...
B-So why didn't you get to stay at the KJS boardmg school tf you were in the top
twenty?
M-Yeah, weU because they said that the KJS boarding school was booked out...
B-Why could they be booked out, ff you were so good?
M-Well, when I gave ultimatums then suddenly there was a place there for me.
B-But then you quit anyway.
M-I quit anyway.
B-Why?
M-Because....
B-Because your mother was sick?
M-My mother was sick and I had broken my middle finger and then I had to ride anyway,
what I didn't have confidence enough for and that was another reason I was angry, see I
had to ride my bUce anyway. Thfrdly, I just didn't have the desfre anymore, I have to say
because the training was always mcreashig...
B-And education took a secondary poshion...
M-Yes. Then, apart from that was that the education was lengthened by an addhional
year.
B-And you saw that as a disadvantage?
M-Well yeah, (unclear) I had to make a decision. Was I to go for the athletic career or go
for a professional career. It would have been a loss to me ifl would have lengthened the
Abitur an addhional two years. So tf I stopped [sports] then m the 11"' class then I could
do the normal 12* year and conclude my Abitur m a normal fashion.
B-And you wanted to stop sports because you wanted to do another program of studies
650
 apart from sports.
M-Exactly.
B-Did you afready plan then to study medicme?
M-Apparently then, yes actuaUy.
B-What did you thhdc of the sports medichie, the care that you received?
M-I'd have to say h was an opthnal care. You could go m at any thne one wanted to and
get a check up. We were checked annually. One did have the feelmg that...
B-And psychologically, did you also receive support, somehow?
M-Psychologically? Not from the sports physician...
B-I mean from the care givers there at the boardmg school.
M-Yes, we had, for example, at the boardmg school addhional care takers who looked
after us, guardians who made sure that the rooms were clean and such, and they never
really bothered us.
B-They took care of aU your needs and problems?
M-Yes, yes. The coach was always a type of counselor, you could tell him whatever
problems you had.
B-Whh the exception that one couldn't say, "I don't want to tram so much."
M-Exactly. Yes, h's difficuh. It had to be that way. And the coach would assert hhnseff
m that respect. In retrospect you always thhdc, thhigs could have been done differently.
B-If you were to reinvent this system, what would you re-mstitute and what would you
leave out?
M-The question is, would that be from a sports poUtical poshion or from the standpomt
ofhealth?
B-Both poshions.
M-I consider eUte sports to be bad as a whole, I have to say, simply from the standpomt
ofhealth issues.
B-In the long run...
M-From the long mn. Sport is good to maintain heahh, but not as a primary profession.
That's from the poshion of a physician. [Marc Dennis is a medical student.] That's
especially the case with cyclmg. Something always happens to you m that sport.
B-Okay what would you maintain from the system?
M-As I said before, from the standpoint of maintaining heahh, I wouldn't support the
system anymore at aU. There should be smaller sports clubs where everyone can be
athletically active...
B-But of course, there's always gomg to be the Olympics. There wiU most certainly
always be elite sports.
M-Yes, that's tme. And when you want to be good athleticaUy as a nation, then that
whole [GDR] system was vety good. That is, if you take out the doping issue. But just
from the perspective of the success [which was achieved,] the sievhig out system caused
the expulsion evety year of the worst athletes from the sports schools. But on the other
hand, h was bad for the chilcfren to always have to be stressed by provmg thefr abilhies.
B-Was the elhe sports done at the expense of broader based popular level (public) sports?
M-Yes, one would have to say so. Because the latter was practically not subsidized at aU.
I went to the BSG and up untU the 13* year chUdren could be sponsored. And after that,
the children ehher did or did not go to the KJS. And if they didn't go to the KJS, then
they weren't sponsored anymore. They'd have to pay at least for part of thefr bicycles
651
 or...they had to go to compethive events m thefr own vehicles or with thefr parents. At
that pomt you could see that the state considered only those hnportant who could
represent them.
B-Did the athletes feel themselves to be explohed?
M-Mmmm, hard to say. One could actuaUy say, one did this voluntarUy, no one forced
you mto this. That is, there is another pomt I'd lUce to mention. There were these so-
caUed sponsorship contracts which one had. One received as of age 16, 60 marks monthly
more from the Sports Federation. These contracts were made only whh the best athletes.
And umm, ff you wanted to quh, h said hi the contract that you had to conthiue on domg
sports and they sunply wouldn't let you quh. And tf you didn't, you would be told that
your path m Ufe wouldn't be that good, you wouldn't get an Abhur (high school
diploma). You'd have to leave the sports school unmediately...
B-Who was told this?
M-The people who wanted to quh.
B-They were told, "If you quh, you'U have no fiiture"?
M-Exactly. I know hi my trahiing group, for example...
B-Did they ever say that to you?
M-They tried to put me under pressure, but I never signed this contract, this sponsorship
contract they called h. And I don't know why, probably because I fuffiUed my
responsibUhies. And they never threatened to kick me out of the school. They tried a
more psychological method to keep me m. They said, "Look, the state mvested alot of
money m you, and you just want to quh. We'U see to h that you'll have good prospects m
sports. You'U get a pfece m the KJS boardmg school," and so forth. And they kept
coming back to the pohit, "Look, the state mvested alot of money m you. Now you've got
to give back to the state." So that's how they pressured me hito staymg...the head coach
and the poUtical dfrector of the club office, I'm not sure exactly what poshion he had,
they sat dfrectly opposhe from me in the office and taUced to me.
B-How old were you then?
M-Seventeen.
B-That's a scary thing for a 17 year old.
M-Yes. They were able to mstUl a very bad conscience m me. Fmally, the Head Dfrector
stopped bombardmg me because my mother caUed him and said she was really quhe sick
and that she needed me at home. Then they said, "Ok, let Schulz quh." But they reaUy
didn't want to just let me quit.
B-Amazing.
M-I know someone else who when he wanted to quh m my trahiing group, that's how
they said h to him. And he had to contmue.
B-Or you won't have a future...with career or anythmg...
M-They said to him, you won't get a place m school. You won't get an Abitur pfece. And
he had to conthiue. That's naturally nonsense because people aren't gomg to be so...
B-„,motivated.
M-...SO motivated and then those people would quh anyway. (Unclear).
B-Your mother told me a completely different story about why she was sick. You never
heard, you have to take these vhamin preparations or you'U be thrown out of here. Or did
they ever observe you. Dophig (back then) didn't help at aU whh cyclmg, did h? It didn't
help at aU?
652
M-That's right.
B-Because that's a long distance...
M-...endurance sport. Yes.
B-Dopmg [at that thne] didn't help whh that, did h?
M-That's right.
B-I thought you had to have well developed leg muscles. In that respect, h could help.
M-That's only tme for short distances. For sprinters. They have big legs. In that respect h
could help. But Uke I say, we had sprmters m our class. And I had a good relationship
with them and they would have told me tf they had to take somethhig. But for the
women, h's alleged that there were certain substances that they had to take.
B-In the presence of the coaches?
M-In the presence of the coaches? That could be. At any rate, they were put under
pressure and told they had to take this.
B-They said this to the women?
M-To the women.
B-You heard this yourself?
M-No I didn't hear h myself, but h was taUced about.
B-From the women themselves.
M-No, not from the women themselves but from an acquamtance of a woman. Ok, that's
thfrd hand, but I think there's something to h, because thhigs were written down quhe
precisely what was prescribed and what wasn't. And they had to take it.
B-Which women did you see do this?
M-I didn't see this, h was described to me. It was a big problem for this one female
athlete because she considered quitthig.
B-And she was told, "No future prospects, and so forth?"
M-Mmmm.
B-Actually, we've said everythmg, unless there's somethhig else you'd lflce to add. If you
were to do this agam, would you do h agam?
M-I wouldn't do h agahi. Because...
B-And tf you had a child you wouldn't let hhn/her do h?
M-I would not let them do h at aU. The work load, the sfress is simply too great.
B-But most athletes are athletes body and soul and they want to do sport. To them, what
is hnportant is not shnply participathig, but whmmg!
M-That's the way h was for me too, that's clear. Yes, but...
B-They shnply had...the state sunply recognized this attitude of the athletes and explohed
h, or no?
M-Mmmm. I thhdc so. One has a goal one wants to be good. One wants to win and that's
why you tram hard. Because you thhdc h's right. But m retrospect, when you are good
then eventually you earn money from h, right? If you belong to that 95% that doesn't
make it. Then h's a fiidged Ufe, when you've uivested years of your Ufe m h. You could
have done other thmgs. I miss, for example, the opporttmities to do other hobbies. There
just was never the thne, because everythhig is traming and then school and then home.
You just thought about trahung and as an afterthought, hied to do your homework, you
know?
B-Would you have been really good if you had stayed m tiiat school? [the KJS]
M-That's hard to say,
653
B-You just lost your motivation, or no?
M-I lost my motivation, yes,,.
B-Due to the iUness of your mother?
M-For one, due to the Uhiess of my mother, and also because I didn't see a purpose hi
sports anymore, to daUy (unclear). It was also whiter then, h was January when I quh.
That was another pohit, h was a particularly hard wmter and I had to ride m h and that
with a broken finger. I didn't have a place hi the boardmg school. I had to tram m the
cold and m the cycUng hall h was poorly heated. It wasn't a very conrfortable situation.
That put a damper on my motivation. That was another pohit and then, I came mto
trahiing m the whiter trahung season, which I told you about, where you tram m the
streets...
B-...but also in [an indoor] training hall...
M-Also m a tramhig hall and then I didn't want to do h because the trahiing hall poses a
big threat for accidents, because the fracks are very nanow.
B-That's true and the wheels are vety, very nanow.
M-Yes and we didn't have brakes on the frack machme, so one has to do h and one falls
on average at least twice a season, at least. Everyone.
B-Why weren't there any brakes?
M-In cyclmg that was shnply instituted. You brake if you bump up agahist someone, this
(unclear) You go slower, but you don't brake.
B-Oh man! I don't even get on a bflce unless I know that h's got brakes.
M-Ok, the reason for that is that you can't brake spontaneously, h has to glide to slow
down. It's a gradual simultaneous flow or you can fall right away. (Unclear).Tliat's the
disadvantage. There were alot of falls and also some very bad falls m that season, for
example. There was this one guy in my training group and he was on a wooden track and
he got this long splinter hi his rear end, this fat.
B-Oh no!
M-And another guy went unconscious (when he fell). So finally people were asking if
this was necessary in this sport.
B-Do you think that this experience hi cycling, that the children were over tramed, that
that was also the case in other athletic disciplmes?
M-I think so, by all means. I had a speed skater who fell also. I had another friend who
had to do a trahiing unit before school and trained twice a day, also m the whiter. So he
had to nm around with wet hafr in the winter. That can't be heahhy.
B-They didn't have hafr cfryers?
M-Of course, but the hafr would stiU be a little wet and then...
B-They were constantly sick.
M-Constantly sick. Anytime I went to the doctor, there was always a swhnmer there with
a cold.
B-But they went to great pams to make sure that the athletes received the best sports
medicme and preventive measures were taken as well along with extended care.
M-Yes, but you got sick anyway. Alot of the cyclists got knee problems. Alot had to quit
because of thefr knee problems. Because the knees were afready used up.
B-Boy that's something. I'm a former athlete, I was on the frack team m coUege m long
distance runiung. And now I have problems whh my knees. But I'm 39 years old and I've
done alot of sports m 20 years. But h's just now becommg mantfest that my knees are
654
wom out and they have been so now for 3-4 years. If they would have been wom out
afready smce childhood, that says a good deal about what kmd of athletic perfonnance
they did as children.
M-Yes, my motiier always told me that about cyclmg. And she didn't want me to do this
sport at aU, but I took a stand.
B-She was agahist h. Why was she agamst h?
M-Because she was of the ophiion that h wasn't good from the very beghmhig. She was
always sick, or frequently, and she always said to me, "You're healthy why do you
mtentionally mm your heahh?' And then she gave me the example of another athlete
who Uved m our village who had a problem whh his knee, and he had to get a handicap
job because he had so many problems at his fum. And my mother would say to me,
"Look at what happened to that young man and he had somethmg bad happen to his
heahh." But I didn't want to hear h, I just had to do h.
B-So she wasn't vety supportive of you. ActuaUy she opposed h. The whole thne.
M-Mmmm. By all means.
B-I actually have no more questions. Is there somethmg else you'd lflce to say?
M-Perhaps, somethhig about the system. From the standpomt of sports-poUtics, the
system was most certahUy successful one would have to agree with that. Even whhout
dophig, [h was].
B-If they would not have had dopmg, do you think that they would have been so
successful?
M-Not completely as successfiil but stUl successfiU, maybe just a few mecfels less, but
StUl successful.
B-Largely due to this sponsorship?
M-Due to the sponsorship.
B-And not only just the sponsorship, but also the talent selection, the Chilcfren's Sports
Schools, the sports medichie, and and and...
M-Exactly. But from a humane standpohit, I'd have to reject the system. Because the
chilcfren are shnply over-taxed.
B-Unless, of course, the chUcfren themselves want to do h.
M-In end effect, the children do do h themselves. They do h voluntarily, but...I could
have quit earUer.
B-It's a hard thing for children. Even if you lUce to do sports, for someone to frain 4-5
hours a day. Not aU athletic disciplmes requfre you to tram 4-5 hours a day, do they?
M-No.
B-That varies from sport to sport.
M-In cycling, h's considered to be one of the hardest sports because the endurance factor
lasts so long. If the race is 150 kUometers, then you don't fram 150 kUometers, you fram
250 kilometers. So that you have a better basis. So you have to fram 10 hours a day to do
250 kUometers.
B-Gees! Ufa Pippig was at one thne the best marathon runner in the world. She dropped
out of the Olympic Games in Atlanta because she had muscle problems. She probably
wouldn't have won anyway, the Ethiopian woman would have won because she won the
Boston marathon. But Ufa trams on average of 180 miles a week. Her opponents tram on
average of 150 miles a week. So she frams 30 miles more a week than her opponent.
That's the equivalent of more than a marathon more than her opponents. Do you thhdc
655
that the people m the GDR, or the children or the elhe athletes framed substantially more
than thefr opponents?
M-Yes, by aU means.
B-And how do you know that?
M-Because, you mean my opponents m the caphaUst countries, right?
B-Yes.
M-Because these people had to go to school shnply. They shnply had no thne. When we
had three hours a day thne to fram, the others had to go to school and had to do other
things. We'd get out of school ride bflces, and then had our dhmer and go to bed. The
others didn't have the time to fram like we did. I thhdc maybe if someone m the capitaUst
countries who was ambhious, they might get close [to our level of trahiing] but they'd
have to do everythhig real quick and very organized in his private life.
B-The Federal Republic [of Gennany] is using a good deal of concepts from this system.
What do you think of this? They've started with the sports schools. They have the
sponsorship idea: the least possible idea for the most possible money. They invest money
where the success chances are the greatest. They do a certain degree of talent selection.
M-But I think that the education of the children is stUl considered to be the predominant
issue, I don't think that they lengthen the education for them.
B-What do you think of the fact that many of the former East Gennan coaches are getting
offers to work m other countries, not from the West Germans? Doesn't that say alot for
the coaches that they are so m-demand?
M-Yes, certainly. What should I say to this? Or am I supposed to comment on the
coaches?
B-Yes, the East Germans say they were successful because they were scientifically
trahied and so forth.
M-CertahUy, the coaches were very...
B-And the West Germans reject that.
M-That's a mistake, I thhdc, to reject h (the coachmg system). I thhdc they could leam
from thefr experience and thefr valuable knowledge. For example, if you've framed a
good athlete and have gathered some experience, then you shnply have more experience
than the others. It's the same m medichie. If I've conducted a certam type of surgery 10
thnes, then I can only be better than someone who's only done h once.
B-Yes, yes. Would you Uke to say anythhig else?
M-Yes. (Unclear-has to do with his fether.)
B-Where is your father?
M-My father is PoUsh and they have another system.
B-Yes, they had the Solidarhy Union.
M-Yes, and I thhdc they could also travel mto the West, some of them.
B-The Poles could do that?
M-Yes.
B-Are your parents divorced?
M-Yes.
B-And your father lives m Poland agam?
M-My father Uves m Poland. But I don't have any more contact with hhn. But at that
thne, there was a demonstrative fear that perhaps I would defect through, or by means of,
my father to the West. You understand?
656
 B-I see. And that's why h was dtfficuh for you to get a sponsorship confract.
M-My mother traveled to the West at that thne and they thought that my mother _„
was
preparmg the way for me. You understand. Clearty, [they hnaghied] my mother was
domg everythmg [to prepare the way.]
B-She's preparhig the way for you to defect.
M-Exactty. And she came back from the West and I never got a sponsorship confract. But
I was good, [at the sport] and I never got a place at the boardmg school But on the other
hand, I never understood why I was not supposed to quh.
B-Did you have letter contact with your father'?
M-No.
B-Do you have contact with him now?
M-I have no contact with hhn. (Unclear).
B-They were divorced quite young.
M-Yes.
B-So you were a "dangerous" potential Republic defector?
M-Yes, but on the other hand, that contradicts the feet on the other hand that they didn't
want to let me quh.
B-Hmmm.
M-So then I thhdc, maybe there wasn't anythhig to this, because they really did pressure
me to carry on.
B-Hmmm. That's strange, isn't h?
M-On the other hand, h was very good that I didn't have this sponsorship contract, as I
told you before, because then they couldn't reaUy force me to conthiue on as the other
one did who did sign such a sponsorship contract.
B-Yes, yes. They didn't say to you, "If you stop now you won't get a place m the
Gymnasium." [High School].
M-They never said that to me. In that respect, they never threatened me. I could carry on
and finish my studies as usual m the normal fashion, enjoy the good food.
B-(laughter) Smuggle a few bananas home...
M-Exactly. Just Uke that. And others weren't aUowed to do that. Another athlete
(feughter) appUed for a travel visa abroad (to the West), and for that reason alone he was
expelled unmediately, because he couldn't get out of the sports program. They weren't
going to let him out. And so he said to himself, "I'U just apply for a visa abroad."
B-Was a person actuaUy considered to be an enemy of the state tf one applied for such a
visa?
M-As state enemy number one, yes.
B-[Laughter] As state enemy number one!
M-One is automatically and unmediately rendered unemployed. You have to figure out
where to get money to Uve on to feed yourseff.
B-And an athlete would be dfrectly thrown out of the program?
M-Yes, an athlete would be thrown out hnmedfetely. That was another thing, they always
put a great deal of value on character. When you made your bed, it was checked over.
They inspected the cleanliness of your room. The poUtical education occuned monthly,
lUce I told you. There were always these Party Meethigs where Erich Honecker would
give important speeches.
B-What did the chilcfren think of aU this poUtical education?
657
M-What did they thfrUc? WeU yeah they thought, "Do we have to Usten to this?"
NaturaUy, they weren't interested m h, but they obviously didn't dare show h.
[Laughter]. Behind the teacher's back, h would be, "PoUtical Education again!"
B-Would you lUce to say anything else? (Unclear).
M-In sport they saw they possibilhy to attain the peak hi the worlcl whereby materially
they fell short. Something occuned just now to me, foreign (westem) cunency was
important to us for mdustry and so forth, you know? For sports h was always available.
In races, they didn't use GDR bicycles, but westem ones, for the good athletes, that is.
B-I see. The westem products were available for the athletes.
M-That's a point I didn't understand then as a nearly committed communist, I must say.
That we, were supposed to show, on westem bicycles, the superiorhy of socialism by
whining. [Laughter.]
B-The training methods were considered to be state secrets.
M-Yes. That was told us.
B-You weren't aUowed to teU these secrets to anyone.
M-Exactly.
B-Did you have to sign anything hidicatmg that you wouldn't teU anyone?
M-I don't know of anythhig.
B-Somehow this system is a mix of good and bad, just lflce the character of the human
bemg. It's not a purely good system, nor a purely bad system as the Wessies lflce to
portray h. It reflects the character of the human.
M-The fundamental thhdchig was good, from Marx and Engels and the others. But the
execution of h was completely the opposhe of that. It was practically more fascist than
fascism.
B-The prmciples of Marx and Engels are actuaUy quhe noble, but m reaUty, they are not
appUcable because the human bemg doesn't respond Uke that. That's not how human
bemgs are. Nobody goes swhnmhig to hnprove the condhion of society. You go
swhnming because h's fun.
M-Exactly.
B-You don't work harder at work because you want to hnprove society, but because you
profit from h. Maybe you'll get a higher poshion, more money and, and, and...
M-Exactly. That was the whole sense of the thhig [sports] for us.
B-That conesponds to the personality of humans actually. Thank you.

658
 APPENDIX S
INTERVIEW WITH
RONNY WELLER

659
 Interview with Ronny Weller (and father Gunther)
Otynipic gold ('92), silver ('96) and bronze ('88) medalist in WeightUfting
Ten time World Champ, Four times second place in World Championships
Three times Third Place in World Championships; Four times European Champ
Seven World Records
Most Successful German WeightUfter of all Times
in Ronny's home Juty 5,1997
Interviewed, Transcribed and Translated by
Barbara Cole

R=Ronny; B=Barbara; RF=Ronny Weller's Father and coach, Gunther Weller

B-Ok, tell me please your name and success and...

R-My name is Ronny WeUer. I'm a weight Ufter and was bom the 22"*^ of July 1969. My
biggest success was (unclear) pioneers hi '83. I've taken part m 3 Olympic Games: '88,
'92 and '96. (Unclear). I've been World Champ ten thnes, seven thne world record
holder.(unclear)
B-And as of 14 years you were trained by your father and then...?
R-I was m the sports school lflce Udo Beyer. And then the best were released for theh
performance for the (unclear.)
B-And then you were the only one left and contmued to frahi whh your father? You quit
the sports schcxjl at what age?
R-UntU'91.
B-The sports schools were not dissolved sooner after the Wende than that?
R-No, I carried on and then I went into the miUtary.
B-And you did some vocational training also?
R-Yes, as a metal worker, a mechanic.
B-And you told me previously that you trained 5 hours a day?
R-That's right, at the sports school. It was a short ways away from home, [and I did that]
Moncfey through Saturday.
B-And what kind of experience was that for you? A good experience, a bad experience?
R-The elite sports was good...
B-But you told me earUer that h was stressfiil.
R-It was stressful. We were on the go from mommg tUl evening.
B-And would you do h all agahi?
R-I don't know. I don't think so.
B-Oh that's right, you wanted to be a soccer pfeyer.
R-Yes, a soccer pfeyer.
B-The rewards for weightlifthig are not so great as, let us say, for those of soccer players.
R-No. The soccer players, they get millions now. In the GDR h wasn't lUce that.
Everything was the same: soccer and weightUftmg...
B-Yes, h's (weightUftmg) not marketed as weU, because h's not a team sport, is h?
R-No, h's because they'd get one medal for one [person,] mstead of one medal for many.
RF-In the GDR, h was so that Olympic athletic disciplmes were supported. And
everythhig else which did not produce a medal, (would not be sponsored) or team sports
because h was too (cost) hitensive for one medal such as ice hockey, so ice hockey
660
 wasn't supported anymore. And the ice hockey players could no longer prepare for the
Olympic Games because h cost too much.
B-Ok so tiiat was m keephig whh the principle of'the most possible medals for the most
possible money.'
RF-For the least possible money.
B-Yes, exactly. The less money and the better the resuhs, aU the better.
RF-Because one smgle athlete can wm many medals, but a soccer team can only wm one,
you understand?
B-Aha, I see.
RF-That's why h wasn't supported, well h was supported but h wasn't given the same
amount of value as say, other athletic disciplmes.
B-What is the secret for you for your success, hard ttammg? Scientific analyses?
R-No, not with me.
B-Lots of motivation?
R-Talent.
B-Talent?
R-Talent and hard work.
B-..,and hard work. And how much of this concept stems from the origmal GDR?
R-All of h. I got h aU from them
RF-The Federal Republic of Germany had not one smgle scientffic trahung concept.
They had no scientifically based research resuhs.
B-No clearly defined biomechanics?
RF-Yes, and the whole sports science (m the FRG) for weightUfthig was equivalent to
zero. It was, m prhiciple, completely appropriated from the GDR. The temunology was
taken out and the pure disciplhie matters were completely adopted, apart from some of
the terminology. We didn't have any of the EngUsh terms m certahi reahns such as power
puU and such. They didn't exist. That was mtroduced in order to westernize h a bh, but in
the West they took on 100% of the GDR sports concepts which had been put mto practice
there for 30 years. They took that experience. And we had enormous success in the GDR
hi weightUfthig.
B-You had enormous success m weightUfthig hi the GDR?
RF-We did, naturaUy not so much m Russia and Bulgaria because in Russia weightUfthig
is a national athletic discipline. There's a lot more weight-Ufters in Russia than m the
GDR, which is a small countty. And that's why they had more success, because they had
a wider range (of active weight-lifters) m these countries. But we stUl constantly had our
gold medal successes right along with them in weightUfting.
R-It was usuaUy the Russians who always had gold mecfels or world championships.
That's just the way it was.
B-You said previously, in respect to the doping problem, that the East Germans did h
medically controUed under a physician's care and the West Germans did h without a
physician's care.
R-That's right.
B-Is that sport clean today?
R-In Gemiany it is. EspeciaUy the caches. They are tested regularly and they were just
recently all tested as bemg clean.
B-Did one ever find out in the chilcfren's sports schools whether one was being doped or
661
not?
R-The chilcfren weren't dopecl
B-Or at least that's something you never saw or experienced yourself
R-No. Maybe some experienced h as seniors, but the children weren't ever doped. That's
nonsense.
RF-It could be that some experienced aduhs did h maybe and h wasn't counted and they
took some medications, (unclear) but that h happened m the children and youth division
is unknown to me. What I do know is that h was forbidden and you could be penalized
and tf some coaches instituted it then they were out of thefr profession. I know that. We,
the Junior coaches, were told vcty clearly that whoever takes that stuff can go fmd work.
B-You mean they didn't consider what you were doing to be work? [feughter]
RF-That means that you work Uke a mechanic or farmer or...
R-You could have gotten a ban from the profession. (Unclear.)
B-Aha, professional banning.
RF-If he (the coach) would have done that.
B-But this sport is cunently clean, at least in Germany.
RF-Yes, you can assume, at least 99%, that the spot check controls keeps h from pfeyhig
any kind of a role. (Unclear). We know that we can reckon with this. (Unclear)
R-I'm checked three thnes a cfey.
B-You've been checked three times?
R-A day.
B-A day.
RF-He's checked three tunes a cfey by three different teams.
B-Durmg compethion, or what?
R-No before the compethion...
B-...before the compethion.
R-...during training, after training.
RF-On a regular basis.
B-Is there a good deal of technique hi this sport or is h purely a matter of strength?
R-Technique and strength are requfred.
B-Were you fihned frequently and then (the fihn was) analyzed?
R-Yes. There's a black box.
B-A black box?
R-Yes, this is a scientific discovery done by the lAT (Institut fifr Angewandte
Trammgswissenscbaft, i.e. Institute for AppUed Trammg Science).
B-The black box? .
R-Yes, h's done on computer and (unclear) is attached to the hand. After the frammg the
movements are foUowed and they observe how good the curve is and then also the speed.
WeightUftmg is a fast speed athletic disciplme.
B-Yes, yes. , , , , , , T.
RF-This equipment is poshioned by the hand of the athlete and shows how he behaves. It
[the measurmg mstmment] goes on the handle and then when the athlete picks up the
handle he picks it up. It goes around and stands before the object. Then the tramer shows
the athlete, on video, the exercise agam m thne lapses, and then at vanous poshions he
hahs the respective frame of the video, then shows the various speeds for each
movement. Then the framer has, practicaUy speakmg, nearty 100 various measurmg
662
standards, scienttfically measured standards, from which they can draw conclusions for
further trahung endeavors. And that's how highly complex the scientific technique is here
in Germany.
B-Was that more advanced m the GDR than what was done m the FRG?
RF-That is nothhig other than the conthiuation of GDR technique from that tune period,
the technology has smce advanced smce the 7 years after the Wende. And now we're m
Gennany and the development is precisely as far advanced as tf we had remamed m the
GDR.
R-Sport proceeds precisely in the FRG m weightUfthig. West Gennan sports are Uvmg
off of the East German strength. You could see that quhe clearly m '92 at the Olympic
Games and also hi '96.
B-You mean that the majorhy of the Olympic Champs and [other] medalists were East
Germans?
R-Yes. In '96 there were fewer of them because many of them quh.
B-Why did so many of them quh?
R-Because they were too old.
B-I see. [laughter]
RF-That's a logical development. Look at the frack and field events hi the World
Championships, the fest ones...
R-Two of the World Champions are from the GDR.
RF-All of the mecfels came from the GDR, aU of them. All the medals came from the new
Federal States except for one: Saarland, and that medal was from someone from the new
Federal States. (Unclear)
B-What did you say prior to this, that if you were to do this again you would have gone
mto soccer, right? And if you had a chUd would you allow that child to go hito a KJS?
R-If h was a boy I'd have him do soccer and tf a gfrl tennis.
B-The gfrl m tennis? And not ice skathig or gymnastics?
R-You don't eam anything m that.
B-In ice-skathig you do eam something.
R-Maybe m America you do. Katarhia Witt earns her money m America.
B-Yes, she has an apartment in New York. You and I also taUced about motivation. What
were your [most compellhig] motivational bases?
R-At that thne?
B-Yes. What motivated you the most?
R-So I wouldn't have to wah for a car or so I could travel outside of the country...
B-Was traveUng abroad a remarkable experience for you?
R-Well I went to Bulgaria and the Soviet Union and...
B-I mean what kind of an experience was that for you?
R-Pn the West] everythmg was a Uttle colorful.
B-A little colorfiil?
R-It wasn't anythhig special. It's hard for me to say as h's been so long.
RF-But the whole development, his world view, his poUtical views were hnpressed by
this [the GDR system.] Even if h was just for a few hours m tiie week and when you see
h, shortly before compethion, they'd be flown right m to the airport then dfrectly to the
hotel They'd sleep, go to compethion, go back to the afrport and fly out.
B-And they wouldn't see much of that countiy at aU.
663
RF-They wouldn't see anythhig except for the hotel and the sports faciUties. Maybe
[they'd see things] both ways en route to the compethion from the hotel or so. That's aU.
B-They didn't want you to see much at the compethion maybe, because...?
R-..,because it was too expensive.
B-Oh, because it was too expensive.
RF-That's what was said. "Because we're tiymg to save money, we can't let you stay any
longer." But they didn't want the athletes to see anything. It was a completely different
world from what they knew.
B-Did the poUtical education hrfluence you much? Did h motivate you greatly or
hifluence you in anyway or did h aher your performance any?
R-I'm not poUtical.
B-I'm not poUtical...
R-(Unclear) We weren't aUowed to hear Westem radio or see Westem shows...
B-Your experience in the KJS was a fafrly caring one was h not? They took care of all
maimer of problems for the chUdren, didn't they? They gave you psychological support.
They told you when you could go on vacation, how often you could go home, when you
could take breaks...what did you think of aU that?
R-It was aU part of my routme. You couldn't do any differently.
B-And the fraining plans you had: there were weekly plans, there were monthly plans...
R-A week...Only for a week.
B-You just had weekly plans.
R-Yes.
RF-The coach only cfrafted for a week. (Unclear)
R-That's not tme. The master had 50 pupUs hi the school and they all got the same plan
at the sports school.
B-Was there a possibility of deviatmg from the sports plans to make them stricter or...
R-You could leave thhigs out, illegally.
B-I see, UlegaUy. Was there the possibilhy to make them harder?
R-They were afready hard enough.
B-They were afready hard enough. Was that too hard or was h just right?
R-(unclear) I would say h was just right to too hard.
B-[feughs] Just right to too hard. If you (Mr. Gunther Weller) had been there, would you
have allowed that?
RF-There are criterfe for success. And tf you don't do them or don't want to do them,
then you won't have the success. The disciplme of behig hard on one's self, with one's
own motivation as one's owoi wUl power [is necessary] to produce somethhig...and tf this
crheria to fiilfiU this isn't accomplished, and at that thne one didfiilfiUh, then you won't
come out on top. No poUtics or education can help m this respect or anythhig else. The
athlete must be motivated m and of himself And Marxism motivated no athlete.
B-I never really understood why tiiey tried to use poUtics as a basis for motivation. But
tiie state had granted such strong sponsorship because h was for them a reason or a means
to show that sociaUsm was superior to caphaUsm
RF-Yes, yes.
B-And most of the athletes didn't believe m h. Some would say, "Yes, ok, socialism is
good, fine, but socfelism has neither advanced us nor motivated us or..."
R-The poUticians used the athletes.
664
RF-But the athlete who was used couldn't do anythmg about h or else he wouldn't be
aUowed to participate any longer.
B-And the Games were always evaluated m a poUtical light as well.
R-The poUticians evaluated h poUtically, but the athletes didn't.
RR-Yes, what are you gomg to do? With the successes you're supposed to prove to the
popufece, we'll get them exched. That was supposed to be athletes who won for the
system and not the West.
B-Were you the best hi your sport school?
R-There was 5, 3 cfesses of weightUfthig, 15 people, out of 8 athletic disciplmes...
B-But were you the best m your realm?
R-There's different categories of weightliftmg...that's hard to say. There were many
athletes, aU in different sports.
RF-He was the first of them who won an Olympic medal.
B-Is that right? Yes? What would you say is the secret recipe for the success of this
system?
R-The whole sport system...you'd need more than a few words. The state supported
sports. The state sponsored sports heavily because h was its only promotional. Everything
else was garbage.
B-Everythmg else was garbage. What was garbage?
R-The economy.
B-I see and that was the only way of provmg hssetf. And did you think the trahiing was
particularly good or at least better than hi the Federal Republic?
R-In the GDR you had to go to school 5 years at the sports school (DHfK of Leipzig). In
a sports school in West Gemiany, h was one and one half years and that's aU.
B-And also that they started very early whh the children (hi the GDR) and the children
trained many hours a day. And then perhaps aU these sports science methods you
mentioned, such as the black box developed at the lAT.
R-Yes.
B-Was the black box developed before the Wende?
R-No, they developed h further afterwards...they continued research and development.
B-But the people who developed h are all former scientists from the FKS?
R-Yes.
FR-They were all employed at the Deutsche Hochschule fur KOrperkultur...
R-The DHfK at Leipzig.
FR-The DHfK became a branch of the University of Leipzig. They changed the name
because that was the cadre school for elhe sports, and that's why they attached h, that is
they made h a branch of the Univershy of Leipzig. There was a type of ..some thhigs
were eUminated shnply because h belonged to the GDR, you know.
B-What can the West Gennans leam from the East Germans?
R-Everythhig, except for what we did m soccer. In AustraUa they've started with sports
schools as have other countries.
B-...with the talent selection method?
R-Whh the system. Soccer was hi the FRG what h is now.
B-But ff you could do h, would you take on the entfre system?
R-It's a matter of finances.
FR-In the Federal Republic more money is spent for youth sports than was spent m the
665
 GDR. Because the money m the Federal RepubUc operates also on the watering can
prmciple and the money disappears. But m the GDR h was more goal oriented. And then
we had one sports leadership. For example, there's one state sport federation and one
youth confract. And here m little RhehUand-PfaLz there's three alone and each sports
federation has hs own adnunistration. The water pot m which the water cooks is big for
sports officials and the end effect is that there's not much money left over for the
children. Then you're not aUowed, as sports officials, to go mto the schools and evaluate
the children. Because by domg so, you're excludmg the parents out of the process, you
understand. That's why the dfrector doesn't allow h. In the GDR h was unthhdcable, that
when the chUdren came to the school not to gather the children off of the streets and do
sports witii them. Sports is a type of step-mother, school sport, that is. When budget cuts
are made, sports is the first to go. And the children are gettmg fatter and lazier and sittmg
m front of the TV and thefr spmal columns are degenerating.
B-Do you (Ronny) take anythmg m particular to protect your jomts whh this sport? I
heard that you need vhamin E m particular.
R-Yes, there's some minerals you need to take.
B-And you take them?
R-Yes.
B-I thought that was mteresthig when you told me that the viUage where you come from
has many weight Ufters and millers...
FR-I come from a long Ime of nuUers. We'd been millers for 400 years. And you always
had to weigh, cany and stack sacks. (Unclear). The work and Uftmg was part of Ufe.
We'd had 100 years of weight-Ufters hi our fanuly. It's only comcidence that we had all
of the most favorable aspects that there are, and they came out m him (Ronny).
B-Maybe these are in-bom fraits.
FR-Yes.
B-You know what I noticed whh many of the athletes is that they are teaching thefr sport
to thefr chUdren. The son of Waldemar Cierpmski for example, his son is now the
triathlon champ hi Germany. And the daughter of Anett POtzsch, you know the ice
skater?...is also active in ice skatmg and she is the best among the children there at
Chemnitz. And the son of Eberhard ROsch is fourth in Germany for biathlon. And so
these athletes are teaching thefr own chilcfren. Perhaps they also have a certain physical
constitution, or maybe these people have a certain gift for this. Maybe h is an in-bom
talent or tendency.
FR-Talent, but fradhion also pfeys a big role. If you just look at the money that's been
spent, you know, he (Ronny) is the most successful German weightUfter of aU times.
There is no other athlete (weightUfter) who's had more success since the modem
Olympic Games began and also as a whole. But he earns as much here as a thfrd or fourth
ranking soccer pfeyer in the Federal Republic.
B-It's hard to market this, huh? Maybe because h's not exchmg enough or a team sport.
FR-If you'd been to the Olympics in Atfenta, you'd reaUze that there's nothing more
exchmg. One huncfred million m the world were watching this. All of Gemiany was
taUcing about h, about this particular compethion. And then h was broadcast at midnight.
B-In the US the successful athletes are mvhed to the White House. Were you mvhed to
vish with Chancellor Kohl?
R-Yes, they gave us a sUver plate. (Unclear).
666
B-What do you do that other weight-Ufters do not do? Do you tram more or longer or "^
R-More. (Unclear). e ••••
B-Do you know Ufe Pippig?
R-No.
B-She's the East German, BerUner, who's won the Boston marathon
R-Oh yes.
B-She had to quh during the Olympic Games marathon m Atlanta because of muscle
crampmg and an Ethiopian woman won m her place. And the Ethiopian woman also won
m Boston. But Ufe, who Uves m Boulder, Colorado, frams 30 miles more per week on
average than her competitors. So I thought that might be one aspect of her success and of
the East Germans, that they simply trahied more. Can that be?
FR-That's not tme. I wouldn't see that as a cause because the quanthy m this case does
not necessarily make qualhy. There were quhe a few free thne runners m the GDR. And
then h was determmed that the top 20 of these spare thne runners were trammg
significantly more than Waldemar Cierpmski.
R-Quanthy does not make for quality. (Unclear.) The quality is the issue.
B-Not quantity, but qualhy. And that is ascertamed by the coach?
R-It was done more scientificaUy. Without dohig so, you can also easily and frequently
hijure yourseff and wear yourseff out and that just doesn't worL Everythhig is weighed
out
B-Did you actuaUy specialize in weightUfthig as a coach?
FR-Yes. I studied for four years at the DHfK. There was no specific diploma or program
of studies, but instead we had to study to become a sports teacher, diploma in hand, and
then you had to specfelize m a certain sport in order to evaluate a sport. And then every
four years you'd have to do some advanced courses in your specialized field in sports.
B-Yes, they don't do that in the Federal Republic, that was purely a facet of the GDR,
this specialization of the trainer.
FR-I would say it's East European, because the Russians, Poles and Hungarians all had a
similar system. The training in sports since the Wende hasn't found resonance in
Gennany. The Federal coaches have tenure.
B-They have tenure? No matter what they do, they retain thefr poshion?
FR-Yes, they're like bureaucrats, the Federal trahiers.
B-Then why should they try? They retain thefr poshion no matter what.
FR-That's h,
B-And hi the GDR could they be dismissed from thefr poshion?
FR-It was lflce this, tf they did not produce some kmd of practical resuhs, then they would
be sent to the schools to be school sports teachers. So everyone tried hard to retam thefr
poshion.
B-That sounds more capitaUstic than socfelistic.
FR-That was this hard core fight for one's existence.
B-Udo Beyer refened to h as an island of capitalism m sociaUsm to prove the superiority
of socfelism!
R-Sport there was not sociaUstic.
FR-And m the Federal Republic, sport is socialistic.
B-It's socfelistic?
FR-Yes, because the framer caimot be dismissed and the good ones do not get the
667
poshions.
B-They say that participating is everything whereby participating is not everything.
Winnhig is everythhig. ActuaUy, I've asked everything. Thank you very much.

668
 APPENDIX T
INTERVIEW WITH
ANDRfi ZOSCHKE

669
 Interview with Andre Zoschke
Elite athlete in wrestUng
Schifferstadt, Juty 4,1997
Interviewed, Transcribed and Translated by
Barbara Cole

A-Andre; B=Barbara

B-TeU me ffrst your name, athletic disciplme, your age and...ok, that's how we'll start.
A-My name is Ancfre Zoschke.
B-Toschke?
A-Zoschke, with a Z. I'm 22 and I'm a wrestler m Greco-Roman style, m the weight
category of 48 kUos, which is the paperweight category.
B-Explain the Greco-Roman style.
A-Greco-Roman means that in wrestlmg there's a division. There are two styles: Greco-
Roman and free style. In free style the grasp is over the whole body (unclear), and hi
Greco-Roman you can only grasp from the beh upwards whhout legs, you can't grasp the
legs.
B-You can't grasp the legs.
A-That's right, m Greco-Roman.
B-Only the upper body.
A-Yes, exactly.
B-And why is that so hnportant to you that you selected this type of wrestUng?
A-That's contingent upon the type of sport, and how I grew hito h and to be sure, I
started wrestling at age 7 in Thurhigia, that is, m the former GDR. And when one started
to wrestle there, there were these training centers. They were situated so that the athletes
for the KJS could be accessed there, a type of talent screening, and I was the entry for a
sport school for Greco-Roman and they only had Greco-Roman wrestlers, and so I
leamed Greco-Roman from the thne when I was quite smaU, that's why.
B-And which city (Stadt) did you say you came from?
A-Thuringia.
B-I thought that was a state (Staat).
A-It is, m the former GDR.
B-Ok, then what was the chy (Stadt) caUed?
A-Oh, I see, ok the chy Ihnenau. That's where I Uved.
B-Then you were selected as a child?
A-Yes, in the school..
B-...through the talent selection.
A-Yes, in the course of sport mstmction there were different sporthig events and there
were frack events and wrestlhig and then the trainers were always there from the trahung
centers. They were lookmg to see who had a Uttle talent and then they'd ask them if they
wanted to do that kmd of athletic disciplme. And with me, h was wrestlhig, so I did
wrestlmg.
B-And then you went hito a KJS?
A-Yes, at the age of 14 we went mto a KJS for wrestUng. Whh wrestUng you go m at 14
years.
670
 B-And so you were also age 14 then?
A-Yes, exactly.
B-And then you stayed there for one year and then the Wende occuned.
A-Yes, the Wende, exactly.
B-So you were there approxhnately one year.
A-Yes, I experienced the whole sports system for one year.
B-What kmd of an experience was that for you? Was that a good experience?
A-Yes, I Iflced h at the sports school. I also had met other students when I tramed witii
older kids who were at the trahung center...and at tiie frahung center there were others
who had also managed to get mto the sports schools. And then I thought, 'I've got to get
m too.' And that was my goal and I Uked h at the sports school. It was good. It was one
class, all wrestlers, we were aU m one class. There were 15 or so, I don't know anymore
exactly. We were all the same age, that is, the same school age. And there was frahung
twice a day, at least. In between there would be school. And so the whole schedule was
planned, more or less.
B-How many hours a day did you tram on average?
A-Ummm, four. Twice for two hours.
B-Once before class and once after class.
A-Yes, exactly. Somethnes h would be mterjected m between because at the sports
school everythhig was adapted to each other. Ffrst there would be two hours school then
tramhig, then school agam, then tramhig. It'd be Uke that for awhUe somethnes too. The
hours of school and trahung were adapted to each other.
B-Then you had the possibilhy to get more thne to do your schooUng tf you needed too,
you'd get it because the mam thmg was sports, and education was secondary.
A-Yes, the main thing was sports but attention was also paid that one didn't neglect too
much school because tf the people weren't domg weU m school then the students weren't
aUowed to stay at the sports school either.
B-Was that quhe sfressflil?
A-Yes, h was, somewhat...to mahitahi both athletic and educational achievement levels.
It was sfressful
B-Did you train 6 days a week?
A-Yes.
B-And then Suncfeys, one day, you had off ?
A-Yes, Suncfeys were free.
B-And then you could visit your parents or do whatever you want?
A-Yes, every 4 weeks there was a completely free weekend, that is, as of Friday at noon,
and everyone would go home to see thefr parents. That was every four weeks.
B-Was it a very caring atmosphere [at the KJS]? Did they make a lot of decisions for
you?
A-Yes. What kind of decisions?
B-Say, when you're allowed to go on vacation or tf you're having problems, you'd
always have some mentor to discuss h with; or tf you needed any medical care; if you
had problems whh leammg your school work, you'd get help whenever you needed h for
any area.
A-Yes, tf I needed help, I'd always get h. We had guardians...
B-Lflce an ersatz mother...
671
A-Yes, exactly. Now and agam they'd organize thhigs and we'd also go to the movies.
Some such shnilar thmgs were organized. A doctor was always there. Physiotherapy was
naturaUy also available, that just goes with the territoty. And if there were school
problems, then the teacher would discuss h with the tramer: this student is havmg this and
that problem and h would be worked out so that you could leam the materfel.
B-I see. Were the boys and gfrls separated m trainmg or did they train together?
A-At that thne there weren't any women m wrestUng...only men, that is, just boys.
B-[feughs] Oh that's right! And these hours you framed a day, was that too much or was
thatjust right or...?
A-No, I thought it was good. Ok, at ffrst h was an adjustment because in my hometown,
Ihnenau, we only tramed once a day for two hours and then, as of the 8* grade at the
sports school we trained twice a day and that was hard because I'd get muscle cramps
and such so the body would have to adjust. But after awhUe, I adjusted and h was just
normal.
B-Did you do what we caU m English, cross-training? That is, different kinds of sports?
A-Yes, at the beghming we did...
B-WeightUfting, not just wrestling, but strength training...
A-Yes, exactly.
B-Swimming, hoUstic trahiing...
A-That was all done according to plan. The trainer we had, had designed the training plan
for one week. We didn't just wrestle. We weren't just on the mats trahiing certain
techniques. But rather we did general trahiing, frack sports, baU games, everything
possible.
B-Was there a possibiUty of deviating from these plans?
A-No, there wasn't.
B-Did the possibilhy exist of makmg them more difficuh?
A-That depended on the trahier. But the trainer conceived the pfens so weU, that no one
wanted them to be more difficult.
B-Then you also had weekly plans, monthly plans, very concrete goals that you had to
achieve...?
A-...yes...
B-...there the macro-cycles, the micro-cycles, aU with vety concrete goals that you had to
achieve.
A-Yes, yes...
B-What did you thhdc of the goals? Were they too dtfficuh or were they excellent goals
that challenged you?
A-Ok, the ffrst year was done that when you ffrst came to the class at the sports school
and you were mtroduced to the whole class then you had to ascertam your own goals m
written form: what h meant for you to be at the sports school and why one is even there
and what one wants to accomplish athletically. And then you just oriented yourseff
around that. I set the goal for myseff that at the end of the year I would be m the GDR
championships by the end of the year and wm a medal at least. And then I accomplished
that. And later, you got certam tasks from your trahier: you're supposed to accomplish
this and that.
B-But the goals were never so dtfficuh that they were beyond your reach, they were
always moderate goals?
672
 A-No, they were always moderate.
B-And you never tiiought these goals were too difficuh for a child? You were actually a
child.
A-No. ActuaUy they weren't too difficuh.
B-If you had a child would you also aUow your chUd to go to such a school?
A-Yes, I would, absolutely. I mean, h's not that the chUdren were forced to go there. I
went there voluntarily. And tf I go somewhere voluntarily, then h's because I want to do
h. If that's the way h is then I eitiier participate because I want to, because I want to
achieve somethhig with tius, or I let h be right away. Because I can't just go m there and
say then, "Hey what's gomg on here, this is lunacy!"
B-Some people have said to me that when the goals weren't met or that when they didn't
stick whh h, or ff they didn't want to contmue on that they were told that tf they didn't
contmue on that they'd have no fiiturc.that they wouldn't be aUowed to go to the
Gymnasium (academic high school), or whatever...Did you ever hear such thmgs?
A-No, I never heard anythhig lUce that. In our class there was no such thmg.
B-They were pretty enthusiastic for sports?
A-Oh, weU, there were some who after awhile who complamed afterwards because they
had hnagmed that h would be dtfferent than what h reaUy was. "Oh, man! That's way too
hard!" But no one put a boiUder m thefr path. If they wanted to go then...
B-...they could.
A-Yes.
B-No coach wants an athlete who isn't 100% hivolved.
A-Exactly.
B-And then h's difficuh to accept that this is hard...
A-Exactly. That's h. From nothing, comes nothing.
B-Yes, yes. The Wessies actually smear this system in the press contmuaUy. They say
that the chilcfren were doped, the minors were doped...and all that. Would h have
improved your athletic abilhies m this sport tf you would have been doped?
A-I don't think so. At that age level h wouldn't have done anything. At the age of 14, the
body isn't even fully developed...the muscles and everything.
B-And accordhig to your knowledge, you weren't doped?
A-No, to my knowledge, no.
B-Did you get vitamin solutions?
A-Yes. Yes, that was normal We got that after the fraining...m little bags. It was caUed
Dunn-Vital (vhal thin).
B-Yes? And that was sweet on the outside, but then sour on the mside?
A-Yes, something like that. It was a little strange.
B-But they didn't observe you as you took h?
A-No. It was just distributed.
B-How well did the East Germans do in wrestling?
A-Let us just say that the GDR wasn't that successful The sport was only sponsored as
much as, well...because in principle, in contrast to soccer, wrestling received much more
support. That was because h had the potential to win far more medals. There are ten
different weight categories, so h's possible to whi ten medals.
B-That's in keephig with the principle, the least possible money for the most possible
medals.
673
A-Yes, that was h. Whatever had the greatest potential for the most medals would receive
sponsorship.
B-Yes, and that's not even the kmd of sport that draws a big crowd lflce tennis or soccer
does, or figure skatmg. It's poorly marketed.
A-Exactly. At least not m this region. For example tf I consider Turkey or Korea, or
Russia, wrestlhig there is reaUy big.
B-In Turkey, man h's reaUy somethmg there.
A-It's a sport of the masses. Every boy wants to be a wrestler.
B-Like hockey in Canacfe.
A-That's right.
B-Were the Germans ever good hi wrestUng? I mean in general.
A-So dominatmg, never. There has been a good athlete now and agam from Germany
whose won a mecfel now and again, but nothing on a consistent basis, actuaUy. One or
two, here and there. Not, for example, Uke m Russia or Turkey, where they always get a
medal actually.
B-Is that due to the fradhion of h? One actuaUy has to have a tradhion of this.
A-Yes. I thhdc h's due to the fradhion of h. I thhdc that h reaUy depends on that.
B-And the Germans have thefr certam sports that they lUce to support, for example
swimming. In swimming, Germans are reaUy good, aren't they?
A-Yes, yes.
B-And of course, soccer...
A-Yes, soccer, exactly they're good at soccer...
B-In bobsledding the East Germans were particularly good, figure skating...
A-...frack too...
B-...track too...And it could be also that the East Gennans trained more. You know, of
course, of Ufe Pippig you know. She won the Boston Marathon three thnes. This year she
was thfrd, only thfrd [laughs]...the poor thing!
A-Yes, yes.
B-And she dropped out of the Olympic Games because of muscle cramps. But if she
would have stayed in, she could have won, but I doubt h because the woman who won m
Boston was also the Olympic Champ. But Ute Pippig Uves m Boulder, Colorado, [she
said recently m a radio mterview] that she was commg back to Berlhi to fmish up her
medical studies, but for now she Uves m Boulder, and the average female marathon
runner trains, on average, 150 nUles a week...that's about...
A-Almost three hundred kUometers.
B-Yes, that's right. That's the average for a female marathon runner. She trams on
average 30 miles more. That's perhaps, 50 kilometers more.
A-That's possible.
B-Did you tram on average more than your opponents, or did you even know how much
your opponents were frahung?
A-Yes, there were possibUhies...withhi our class where we aU together, there were, say
two or three people who would be m the same weight categories...
B-Yes...
A-...so that they'd each have a trahung partner. And among these groups, there would be,
logically, compethion. And among them then, there would be possibihties then to be
defeated and then after trahimg, one would tram more with weights so the others
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wouldn't have the advantage. So we'd tty to always do more than the others.
B-Four hours a day isn't aU that much actuaUy, is h? There are athletic disciplmes where
much more is done than that. In the reahn of figure skatmg, they'd tram five hours a
day...
A-...or in gymnastics...
B-They do a shnUar amount of trahung. Why then, only four hours?
A-That would have hicreased. At the age of 14 they couldn't tram the children, the boys
aU that much, what with the physical development of the body and such, h would go
kaput otherwise. They didn't even do that much weight trahung at that pomt, h was aU
done m stages...certahi thmgs were done at certam thnes, and so forth.
B-I see. Do you know of any older wrestlers who suffer from any long term physical
hijuries from this type of sport?
A-No, not really. Apart from that, not much occurs m wrestlhig m the way of hijuries,
which occurs far more readUy whh other sports...no specific mjuries. Okay, maybe knee
hijuries, but that's fafrly normal, I thhdc.
B-Maybe now and agam a sprahi...
A-Yes, a spram occurs on occasion.
B-What kmd of success have you had up tUl now?
A-Well durhig the GDR, I won second place once, thfrd place once in the GDR
championships...
B-For your age categoty...
A-Yes, age and weight category, exactly.
B-Once you were thfrd...
A-And once I was second, m my weight category, m the GDR. And then m Germany,
entfre Gennany, I've been ffrst two times and thfrd once.
B-And when?
A-That was '91 [that I was] ffrst, then '93 [that I was] ffrst and then '95 thfrd [pfece] and
this year among the Seniors, that is, the aduh men, I was fifth.
B-Fifth. And there's not that big a difference between fust, second, thfrd, fourth and fifth
is there?
A-Actually not.
B-That's why h's so exciting because the difference between fifth and first is not
enormous...
A-That's right...h could also be that in the former system that one wrestler who had won
first would lose to another who was in fifth place.
B-How many hours a day do you train now?
A-Now I frain two hours a day, five thnes a week, so only half as much [of what I did
previously hi the GDR.]
B-Only half as much!
A-Yes.
B-And why so little?
A-Yes, because everythhig isn't coordmated Uke h was [m the GDR] anymore: education
and sport. I have to cany on to school and keep up my grades. No consideration is
granted here for me [as an athlete] whether I have to go to compethion for a week or
whether I have to fram, h's all the same here. I have to keep up my grades and my
athletic performance...and that's pretty difficuh. It's a double burden and that's why 1
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can't train as much.
B-The westem countries think that the main reason for the eastem bloc's success was
because the Eastem bloc countries counted with thefr professionals against westem
amateurs...apart from the money, they were the creme de fe creme which played our
amateurs. Our professionals were our best. The amateurs didn't remam amateurs, they
becaAie professionals. And there was no professional system hi the Eastem bloc
countries. Could that be a big reason why the Eastem bloc had such an advantage?
A-Yes, I think so.
B-Those were our second rate athletes...
A-Yes, the amateurs. As a professional I'd eam my living that way and h would also be
my employment...fraining would be my job. I wouldn't ha.\e to do anything else. And m
the GDR, h was lflce that, except I cUdn't get money, but I had a place to live m the
dorms, food, and everything, so I didn't need a lot of money.
B-Yes, but by many sports, as we said, previously, h's poorly marketed, so in some
athletic disciplines, there are no professionals. Say, for example, bobsleddmg. Are there
professional bobsledders?
A-No.
B-So you see.
A-No, h's just exchhig for the crowd.
B-What, for you, lies behind the big mystery as to why the East Germans were so
successfiil? Was h the scientific methods, the fact that they tramed more...you were
certahUy fihned, or no? And biomechanicaUy analyzed, or no?
A-Yes, yes...
B-...and then medically examined...
A-...yes, and then regularly medically examined to see what the hifluence of aU this was
on the athlete?
B-And there was practically a whole team of experts that served as your support
team...many people were responsible for you.
A-Exactly, there was the framer, the educator, the sports physician, and so forth...they
weren't all just there for me, they were there for all the athletes, but they were there for
me when I needed them, physiotherapy and whatever.
B-Exactly. Is this Olympic Trahung Center supported as weU as those durhig the GDR
period?
A-No, no, h's not supported as weU...I mean, I stUl have the possibilhy to fram from 6:00
pm to'8:00 pm, on a daily basis and a physiotiierapist is also there, but only once a week
and such other things.
B-And at every athletic trahung and also at every compethion there was always a sports
physician present.
A-Yes.
B-So you thhdc you were supported better there than here?
A-Yes
B-Even though West Germany has a lot more money and more money that h could mvest
m the Olympic Trahung Centers?
A-Yes, the support there was just better.
B-In what respect? , , , r •. i-r
A-Because when I did sports...h's dtfficuh to say, I can't say they made Itfe itsetf easier
676
but they made everythhig so easy for you. When I do sports here, there is assistance. For
example, there's Sports Aid, that is, money each month [for athletes who show promise],
maybe just a little, but when I see for example m contrast to the Uttle amount of materfel
that is made available, see in the GDR, that was just given to us. And ifl needed anything
new or tf somethhig was broken, then we'd get h new. And here, I have to see to h that I
buy my thhigs myself, that is, tf I'm not m the national team.
B-I see. What actually motivated you the most? Was h the fact that you could be together
with your buddies, or that you were exched about your sport, or that you could go to the
Olympic Games, or that you could fravel m the West, or that you could provide better for
your family whh a bigger apartment or get a car quicker...What motivated you the most?
A-Many of those thmgs...first of aU to be with my friends. I couldn't just tram alone, that
wouldn't Work, [laughs] That's clear.
B-[laughs] That's not a solo sport.
A-And I always had my friends which is great, just Uke when you're m school. And so
you've always got your friends to taUc to and with sports, h was the same thmg. And
there the friendships were perhaps closer knit than other people had.
B-Because you had a common stmggle maybe...
A-Exactly. That was one of the [motivathig] reasons, and then I wanted to reaUy...
B-...have the esteem of society?
A-We 11, not reaUy that, the esteem of society, weU okay, maybe yeah, but the success in
wrestling first and then the esteem of society, that's something. But these other things, for
example, the car or fraveling in the West, that was much less [important] for me to get
involved in it. Mostly because that was aU so far in the future that a 14 year old doesn't
really think of those things.
B-Yes, yes...
A-Maybe ifl had been 25 and a good athlete, then the travel m the West, that would have
been the case. I just wanted to do h for myself
B-It was mostly for the sports. You were an athlete body and soul.
A-Exactly, and h was the system then which enabled me to put this mto action m the best
way. Whereas here, h's much harder.
B-You were always preached to and got an earflil that you were supposed to represent the
sociaUst personaUty...and that you were supposed to embody the socialist personaUty and
that you were supposed to demonstrate, as an example, the virtues and character trahs of
Socfelism to the others. What did you thhdc of this? Did you believe m this socfelist
preaching?
A-Well what is socialist preachmg? I actuaUy did believe the whole system, more or
less. I never really had a problem whh h. Because I was bom there and raised there and I
never reaUy had a problem whh h, with the whole system...
B-And because you'd never had anythhig to compare h to anyway.
A-Exactly. And we didn't have any relatives hi the West anyway.
B-But were you a committed Socfelist?
A-Well what do you caU a committed Socfelist? How committed can a 14 year old be?
B-I would have been bored whh aU the polhical speeches.
A-Well at the age of 14 I didn't have to hear that many poUtical speeches and such, I
didn't have that much hiterest m poUtical speeches. I was mostty just hiterested m sports.
B-But you weren't supposed to do sports for sports sake. You were supposed to do h for
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poUtical reasons.
A-In principle, yes.
B-That was the whole pomt of sports there. But, I don't go swimmmg for the sake of
Socfelism. I go swhnming because I lflce domg h.
A-Exactly. Maybe just the idealists beUeved m h.
B-And they even used caphaUst forces to motivate you. If you do better, maybe you'll get
a car. Or if you're better, maybe you'll get 5,000 marks.
A-Well if h got that far then you reaUy were m the hitemational Ihnelight and could thus
present the GDR...
B-That's how the sports historians describe h m Potsdam. They call h an island of
CaphaUsm m SociaUsm. That wasn't a typical system for Socialism.
A-Yes.
B-It was necessaty for them to use CapitaUsm to prove that Socialism is superior to
CaphaUsm. It was a confradiction of sorts, or no?
A-Yes, well what should I say. It was somehow, a contradiction of sorts. But I didn't do
wrestlhig, or a swhnmer doesn't swhn, because I wanted to brhig someone m CaphaUsm
closer to Socfelism, therefore, I'U wm the World Championships.
B-[feughter]
A-In principle, I repucUate that.
B-Yes, I think people lUce sports everywhere, frrespective of where they are, regardless of
the reUgion, the poUtics...people just like sports.
A-Yes.
B-And the Olympic Games, or so I read in the documents there m the archive m Berlin,
were always poUtically assessed. And they indicated m the documents whether the
athletes were Party members or not. And whether they had relatives in the West, what
kind of relatives and whether or not they had contact whh the relatives or not, and what
kind of contact they had.
A-Yes, that's...
B-That means they observed the people quhe closely. They went through thefr mail.
They'd make note of the fact, for example, yes, he gets [from his westem relatives] letters
three thnes a year. Whereas, he gets maybe just Christmas greetings, or greetings at other
holidays, and so forth.
A-Yes, the athletes...the state mvested a lot of money m the athlete m prmciple, from the
age of 14 on the state, quasi put a lot of money mto an athlete with sponsorship.
B-That's why they were so important. There was a lot of caphal mvested in them.
A-Yes, exactly. And tf there was an athlete who was good and was nominated for the
National Olympic team and so forth, well then, they wanted to make sure that they
wouldn't just take off m the West after aU that mvestment had been made, such as many
did.
B-Or at least that they wouldn't make any public statements which were anti-SocfeUst.
A-So that's why they checked them out and that's why a lot of them weren't even
allowed to travel to the Olympic Games.
B-Because they might be "Republic Defectors."
A-Yes, exactly.
B-ReaUy?
A-Yes.
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B-Were you, to your knowledge, ever monitored like that by the Stasis?
A-No, to my knowledge no.
B-Did you know of anyone else who was monitored?
A-No, we were m school and we didn't perceive h.
B-You were just too young to know about h.
A-Yes, I think so. We were just too young to realize h.
B-I don't know what the Stasis were interested in children for anyway.
A-Yes.
B-You said that wrestUng is not reaUy a sport for the Germans because h's not really a
tradhion here but that there are other sports here that they lflce more.
A-Yes, exactly.
B-And there are other sports here they lflce more, for example, tennis. Especially now.
They've got three Germans now m the fourth fmal in Whnbledon! That's the ffrst thne m
history that they've had three Germans hi the fourth fmal m Whnbledon!
A-It's just absolutely amazing...
B-Can you hnaghie that the people here would be just as exched about wrestling?
A-Huh uh.
B-Why not?
A-Maybe h's because of the sport type hseff. It's not always so easy to understand. See
with soccer, the people see a score made when the baU is kicked mto the goal, but with
wrestUng, the referees make certam calls and the audience doesn't understand why. They
don't know why, at this point, there's two points or why there's now three points. Why is
he domg this? And h's just not so easy to understand. And I think that's one reason. Also
the mentaUty and the tradition and such...in comparison to Turkey, one sees that the
people there are more temperamental and hot blooded. So maybe h has to do with that.
B-But the Gennans have, of course, these good Pmssfen, miUtaristic tradhions. They are
fighters! So why can't they take these Germanic virtues of hard work...these cultural
aspects. Do you think the GDR captured these cultural aspects, such as Ute Pippig, to
train more and work harder, for example, or trained more thoroughly, or harder, or more
scienttfically?
A-Hmmmm, I can't really say, that that was used. It's hard to say.
B-One says that certain sports are very appropriate for certain cultures, or no? Say, for
example, the Chinese are better with table tennis, they've always been.
A-Maybe it is so.
B-It's appropriate for that culture. But the East Gennans were particularly good at frack
and swimming. But dophig, h's been determined, in particular, advances one m these
sports. And the documents have been found on this. There have been numerous
dissertations found, for example, at the FKS done by sports doctors who conducted such
tests on athletes and they discovered that they were doped lflce nothhig else.
A-Yes, well. You can't just say that everythhig is attributable to dopmg. Because one had
success that h was just due to dophig. I thhdc dophig was everywhere. Look how h was m
'88 with Ben Johnson, he was also doped. Dopmg is everywhere, unfortunately. Such
thmgs are done everywhere. And hi the GDR h was applied more systematically, because
h was hi the system. That's why h appears so bad or so crass m comparison to other [free
lance westem] athletes elsewhere. Among the others they say, "[In the West] h was only
mdividual cases. But evetyone m the GDR was doped."
679
B-Whereby they were very good m gymnastics, ice skating...one asks one's self then,
why? You can't hnprove your abUhies much hi these sports with doping.
A-Because, I think h aU depended on the whole system of trahiing. We saw this after the
Wende, the trahiers and all the trahung scientists are...
B-In high demand everywhere! They get offers for jobs everywhere.
A-Yes.
B-Just not in West Gennany.
A-Yes, at the beghining they did. Many of the trainers came here. I came to Schifferstadt
because my trahier who I had at the sports school at that thne also came to Schifferstadt.
He became a trainer here also. And he encouraged me to come here because he said that
they were creathig a sports school here lflce m the GDR. But of course h's not...
B-Is there a huge difference?
A-Yes, and how.
B-And what is the difference, you're not so closely monitorecl for example?
A-Well yes, for example, we're not so closely monitored. But nothing is coordinated at
aU, the schooling isn't coordinated with the training for example. I have to...The
schoolhig exists just for hseff. The sports exists just for hself
B-I see. It's not organized as weU...
A-Yes, exactly.
B-Ok, what could the Wessies leam from the Ossies? That h should be more organized,
better coordhiated?
A-Yes. They could leam that, I think.
B-Maybe the talent selection...do they even do that here? The talent selection?
A-No. I don't even know how people get hito wrestlhig here. The talent selection they
could leam too. They would go into the schools and have these organized athletic
compethive events and then look and see which people are suhable for what sports. Then
they should ask them if they want to do that. Here, h's typically tiie case that the people
usuaUy just wah for someone to voluntarily get mvolved in wrestUng. Then they observe
them and say, "Yeah, they look good, or they have talent and such."
B-But the East Germans had a very precise recipe, certahi tests, to detemune if a chUd
was limber, or fast or had sfrength or...
A-Yes, yes, exactly.
B...and so forth. These strict [quantifiable] measures are not existent with the West
Germans.
A-Yes, that's tme. Here h's just the case that they quickly look at a person and say, "Oh
he's got talent" and such.
B-And then h's just comcidence.
A-Yes, exactly. But there's no real selection, that's true.
B-Udo Beyer commented...you know Udo Beyer?
A-Yes, yes...
B-Udo Beyer said, they wanted to leave nothhig to chance. They wanted everythmg very
closely monitored.
A-And they wanted to see tf out often athletes that tiiey'd send somewhere to somethmg
that they'd get ten medals, [laughs] ^ „, • , ^ .u
B-What otiier thhigs can we leam from this system? What can the Wessies leam from the
Ossies?
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A-What can one leam...there wasn't as much jealousy among us as there is here. That is,
m the society in general because there wasn't much that others could have more of than
the others.
B-So a stronger sense of togethemess. That's what Dietmar Schauerhammer said to me
also.
A-Because we said here, as the Wall fell that this was described as an elbow
society...evetyone was out for themselves. And among us, that wasn't the case, because h
wasn't the goal...h was the goal for evetyone to have a good Ufe, and such, but the
possibility didn't exist to be much better than the others. Livhig standards were more
equal and such. But h was destroyed then through that whole spy histoty.
B-Dietmar Schauerhammer, do you know hhn? He got two golds m bobsleddhig
A-Yes, yes.
B-He said a good deal had declmed in respect to this societal sense of togethemess and
also with this sense of spfritual togethemess among the athletes.
A-Yes, yes.
B-....and that they had a vcty strong sense of team spfrh.
A-Exactly, team spfrit.
B-And that that has decUned somewhat. Do you notice that also?
A-Yes, exactly. In the sports school the team spfrit we had was super. That happens
when you're together aU cfey, that causes you to bond. And at compethion h was
automatic, to support each other so. And here, that's not the case. I have, say, maybe one
or two good pals that I know pretty well from earUer times that I cheer on and such at
competition and they do Iflcewise with me, but not the whole team.
B-Do you think you'd be better motivated if you'd have the whole team behind you?
A-Hmmm, partfelly yes. Certainly, weU, that's difficuh to say. It's not the case that I
don't have a team.
B-Well, tf you had the whole team behmd you...
A-Yes, well I'd probably be better motivated, by all means.
B-And do you think then that you...I don't know how you rank right now, but tf you were
to have this same type of support system [as m the GDR] with more thne to fram, and
you had this same coUective team spfrh support [as m the GDR], then you'd have opthnal
conditions?
A-In principle, yes. For an athlete, that would be opthnal.
B-I thhdc the psyche of an athlete is very hnportant. How they are motivated, how they
feel..
A-Yes, I know for example, that when I go to compethion. I don't Uke to go by myself,
but on occasion h happens that I go by myself to a compethion with my coach. Because
somethnes you don't feel very good and if you're whh others, they can taUc you out of the
bad feelmgs...that's very nice when someone's there with you.
B-Do you have anythhig else to say? Was that [whole experience] for you a good
experience?
A-Yes, as far as h went. I got, m effect, 7 years of h. Some of h from when I was m
(elementary) school as much as I remember. And then by 14, h was afready over.
B-One year m the sports school.
A-Yes.
B-The [sports] schools were closed?
681
A-Yes, after the Wende there wasn't any fundmg for them and so no one paid for h.
B-Dfrectly after the Wende?
A-Well h took a few years. But everythhig was stUl there. The sports fecilhies were aU
StUl there, there were stiU dormitories there, so they were converted over to become
Gymnasiums (academic senior high schools) only whh boarding schools.
B-Then you were there for two years, ff h took two years to close them.
A-Yeah, ok, but after the Wende, then I was m Ihnenau where I was bom and raised and I
went to ZeUa Mellis to the sports school and then I experienced one year of the system
proper, up until the thne that the Wall feU. And then after one year, the Wall fell and then
I went back to Ihnenau.
B-Dfrectly?
A-Yes, dfrectly.
B-Why was that the case?
A-Yes, why was that the case...because everythmg just sort of collapsed. At the sports
school maybe five or sbc from my class stayed behind there stUl Everyone left. There just
wasn't any fiiture prospects there. That was clear that h wasn't gomg to last very long,
maybe one year. It was finhless, so I just went home. And I would rather have been home
and contmued to fram, not so hitensively though, for one year actually I only trahied
twice a week. No one knew anymore what was gohig on or how things would proceed.
So this went on for a year.
B-Are some of your pals [from the sports school] also at Olympic Training Centers?
A-Yes, yes. There are one or two in Jena, there is also an Olympic Training Center there
for wrestling. And from that period, there's one other who trams intensively.
B-Is he any good?
A-[laughs] No, honestly speaking, he's not. No medals or such.
B-What khid of goals do you have? To be at the Olympic Games?
A-Yes, ffrst of aU that, but now I have other concems besides sports, first of aU that I get
an education, or at least that I start an education. Now I can't just concem myself with
sports. I have to find a place to do my education and so I'm considermg that. And this is
aU gomg on paraUel and so I can't just say, "Oh I'd just love to be m the Olympic
Games" and then everythhig I do is just for that...then maybe I won't get mto some
educational program.
B-Were the trahung methods which you operated on secret or to be kept secret?
A-No, not really. We didn't reaUy taUc about h...on Monday I did this, that and the other.
B-Were you ever m Kreischa?
A-In Kreischa? No.
B-Did you ever have to give blood or urine samples?
A-I thhdc by the entrance [medical] exam we did to see tf our body could endure the
trahung or whatever, there were some samples given, I think, yes.
B-But not before a compethion?
A-No. It was only done to test our fectate levels, blood was taken from the earlobe and
such, but real blood and urme samples, I don't thhdc so. It was just done to see how one
had trahied, the lactate hidicates this...to see how mtensively one had trahied.
B-Good, is there anythhig else you'd Uke to say?
A-No, I don't thhdc so.
B-Thank you vety much.
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