Sport under Communism: Behind the East German ‘Miracle’

274 Pages·2012·1.149 MB·English

by  Mike Dennis, Jonathan Grix (auth.)

Sport under Communism
Global Culture and Sport
Series Editors: Stephen Wagg and David Andrews
Titles include:
Mahfoud Amara
SPORT, POLITICS AND SOCIETY IN THE ARAB WORLD
Mike Dennis and Jonathan Grix
SPORT UNDER COMMUNISM
Behind the East German ‘Miracle’
John Harris
RUGBY UNION AND GLOBALIZATION
An Odd-Shaped World
Graeme Hayes and John Karamichas (editors)
THE OLYMPICS, MEGA-EVENTS AND CIVIL SOCIETIES
Globalization, Environment, Resistance
Jonathan Long and Karl Spracklen (editors)
SPORT AND CHALLENGES TO RACISM
Roger Levermore and Aaron Beacom (editors)
SPORT AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Pirkko Markula (editor)
OLYMPIC WOMEN AND THE MEDIA
International Perspectives
Peter Millward
THE GLOBAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Transnational Networks, Social Movements and Sport in the New Media Age
Global Culture and Sport
Series Standing Order ISBN 978–0–230–57818–0 hardback
978–0–230–57819–7 paperback
(outside North America only)
You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a
standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of diffi culty, write to us
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Also by Mike Dennis
The Rise and Fall of the German Democratic Republic 1945–1990
The Stasi: Myth and Reality
Deutschland, 1945–1990 (with J. D. Steinert)
State and Minorities in Communist East Germany (with N. Laporte)
Also by Jonathan Grix
The Role of the Masses in the Collapse of the GDR
Foundations of Research
Information Skills. Finding and Using the Right Resources (with G. Watkins)
Demystifying Postgraduate Research. From MA to PhD
Sport under Communism
Behind the East German ‘Miracle’
Mike Dennis
University of Wolverhampton, UK
and
Jonathan Grix
University of Birmingham, UK
Palgrave
macmillan
© Mike Dennis and Jonathan Grix 2012
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2012 978-0-230-22784-2
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First published 2012 by
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12
For Isabella, Harri and Edward (MD)
To an inspirational big brother, Steve (JG)
Contents
Figures and Tables x
Preface xi
List of Abbreviations xii
Introduction: C ontestation in the East German Sports System 1
1 The Political Use of Sport 14
2 The Development of East German Elite Sport 28
3 Finding and Promoting Young Sporting Talent 56
4 Drugs in Elite Sport in the German ‘Doping’ Republic 83
5 Steroids and Justice 109
6 Football – East German Sport’s ‘Problem Child’ 128
7 The ‘Flipside’ of the Sports ‘Miracle’: Declining Mass Sport
Provision 157
8 The East German Model in Comparative Context 171
9 Key Themes and Findings 187
Notes 200
Bibliography 236
Index 250
ix
Figures and Tables
Figures
3.1 T he elite pyramid and the performance stages of
East German Sport 58
8.1 The ‘virtuous cycle’ of sport 174
Tables
8.1 K ey characteristics of selected countries’ sports models
(East Germany, Australia, UK and China) 178
x
Preface
The original idea for this volume came to us in 2006 over coffee and
bacon sandwiches in Tony and Chris’s café in Wolverhampton. Both
of us had studied the history and politics of East Germany for many
years and both of us were active participants in, and observers of, sport.
It seemed natural then that we combine our interests to plug a gap in
the English-language treatment of the GDR sports ‘miracle’ through
the interpretation of original German archival sources. This we set out
to achieve by researching available files of the ruling communist party
(the Socialist Unity Party; SED) and the files of the infamous Ministry
for State Security (or ‘Stasi’), including those of its legion of informers
in top-level sport.
Our intention has been two-fold: first, to contribute to a re-ev aluation
of part of East German history and post-war German sports history
more broadly. We offer not just a story of East German sport, its insti-
tutions, actors, successes, processes and methods. We also seek to get
behind the ‘miracle’ by considering the areas of contestation within the
system itself that necessitates a re-thinking of the notion of a smooth,
well-functioning sports system.
Second, we have attempted to show the relevance of historical prec-
edents for an understanding of elite sport development today. To this
end, we discuss our findings and the key characteristics of the GDR
‘model’ in relation to modern advanced capitalist models of sport in
a later chapter of this volume. The volume also seeks to place the his-
tory of GDR sport, not excluding the recourse to a comprehensive state
doping programme, within the wider framework of illicit performance
enhancement in the two German Republics.
Finally, we would like to thank and acknowledge the contributions
of the following: the British Academy for providing us with the funds
to undertake the archival fieldwork; Frau Jaensch at the BStU archive
and Frau Fengler at the Federal Archive in Berlin for their invaluable
assistance in providing us with the relevant documentation; Bill Niven
for his support with our project; and Mike Adkins for help with editing
sections of the text. Thanks are also owed to John Buckley, John Benson,
Martin Dangerfield, Dieter Steinert and Malcolm Wanklyn for discus-
sions and to Andrea, Louis and Hannah for your continuing support.
xi