State security forces were deployed en masse during ‘high-security matches’. They targeted railway stations and trains, set up extensive control and observation points around the stadiums and put entire city centres under surveillance. In addition to the routes to the stadiums, popular tourist meeting spots were also monitored. Football fans and stadium visitors were followed at every turn. According to the GDR Football Association, spectator behaviour had to be consistent with Socialist social norms. Blowing horns, wearing Western fan paraphernalia, displaying critical banners or singing fan songs that ‘belittled’ the state, party and security forces were not part of these norms. All of Western fan culture, which East German football fans were familiar with from watching the Bundesliga on TV, was considered undesirable and therefore fiercely suppressed. Many terms were used to describe fans who ‘glorified’ Western fan culture, including ‘rabble rousers’, ‘fanatics’ or ‘disruptive elements’. Fans risked being branded as ‘negative-decadent’, removed from the crowd and identified, photographed and prosecuted. |
A long-distance railway station checkpoint: 1. FC Lok Leipzig fans arriving at Lichtenberg station in East Berlin on the eve of the 1976 FDGB Cup final. Suspicious fans were singled out for further scrutiny. (1)
City centre checkpoint before kick-off: Fans of 1. FC Union Berlin gathered at the World Time Clock on Alexanderplatz a few hours before the Berlin derby against BFC Dynamo in 1978. (2)
A local train station checkpoint: Opposing fan groups alighting at Friedrichstraße station in East Berlin. The People’s Police numbered their photo documentation in 1978. Photos 6-8 show fans of 1. FC Union Berlin arriving at the station and setting off on a joint march to World Youth Stadium. (3)
A checkpoint on the way to the stadium: 1. FC Union Berlin fans walking the approximately 2 kilometre route from Friedrichstraße S-Bahn station to World Youth Stadium in 1978. (4)
A checkpoint near the stadium: Young BFC Dynamo fans gathering near Friedrich Ludwig Jahn Sport Park in East Berlin before the start of the 1982 European Cup clash between BFC and Hamburger SV. The MfS photograph shows that the Stasi were particularly interested in their banner. (5)
A checkpoint on the way from the stadium: The MfS photographed the way back from World Youth Stadium in East Berlin’s Chausseestraße from a window of a residential building. The surveillance of this section of the route was considered especially critical because the spectators and fans were passing by the Federal Republic of Germany’s ‘Permanent Representation’. Symbolic acts and behaviour critical of the state on the part of the football fans were to be prevented to the greatest extent possible. (6)
People’s Police photos at the FDGB Cup final match between Dynamo Dresden and 1. FC Lok Leipzig on 28 May 1977. Aerial view of Alexanderplatz, East Berlin: 10:20/10:30 a.m. (7)
People’s Police photo at the FDGB Cup final between Dynamo Dresden and 1. FC Lok Leipzig on 28 May 1977. Aerial view of Alexanderplatz, East Berlin: 11.00 a.m. (8)
People’s Police photo at the FDGB Cup final match between Dynamo Dresden and 1. FC Lok Leipzig on 28 May 1977. Aerial view of Alexanderplatz and railway station, East Berlin: 11:30 a.m. /12:30 p.m. (9)
People’s Police photo of the FDGB Cup final between Dynamo Dresden and 1. FC Lok Leipzig on 28 May 1977. Aerial view of the television tower, East Berlin: 1.00 p.m. (10)
People’s Police photo of the FDGB Cup final between Dynamo Dresden and 1. FC Lok Leipzig on 28 May 1977. Aerial view of the television tower, East Berlin: 1:00/1:15 p.m. (11)
People’s Police photo of the FDGB Cup final between Dynamo Dresden and 1. FC Lok Leipzig on 28 May 1977. Aerial view of Alexanderplatz and television tower, East Berlin: 1:30/5:30 p.m. (12)
A city centre checkpoint after the match: 1. FC Lok Leipzig fans celebrating their victory on 1 May 1976 at Alexanderplatz in East Berlin. After analysis, the photographic documentation was passed on internally and used to monitor Leipzig fans at future matches. Clearly, the surveillance machinery was running at full speed.(13)
A rare find: In these close-ups, the fans are showing that they do not want to be photographed by making gestures to protect their faces. Since the mid-1980s, word had gotten around among football fans that photos of fellow fans were being used to ‘solve’ crimes. East Berlin, Friedrich Ludwig Jahn Sport Park: BFC Dynamo – 1. FC Magdeburg 1983 and unknown match in the mid-1980s. (14, 15)
This photo is what the People’s Police called an overview shot of the spectator stands. It shows spectators in the various fan sections, as well as a hefty police presence. East Berlin, World Youth Stadium: 1. FC Union Berlin – BFC Dynamo, around the mid-1980s. (16)
Unwanted banners: Jena fans displayed a homemade banner with the inscription ‘John 3:16’ at a guest match between FC Carl Zeiss Jena and BFC Dynamo at Friedrich Ludwig Jahn Sport Park in East Berlin in the mid-1980s. The MfS took action against this reference to a central message of the Gospel of John and attempted to apprehend the creators. (17)
The police camera focussed on a single 1. FC Union Berlin fan who remained behind in World Youth Stadium in East Berlin after Union was defeated by BFC in March 1978. His distinctive fan attire made him seem suspicious. (18)
A People’s Police photographer’s attention was piqued by a 1. FC Union Berlin fan‘s enthusiastic cheering. East Berlin, World Youth Stadium: 1. FC Union Berlin – BFC Dynamo 1978. (19)
‘Negative behaviour’ by fans: Three supporters of Chemie Leipzig attempting to raise the spirits of Chemie fans who had travelled to Eisleben in 1975. The People’s Police interpreted this as an attempt to ‘incite’ the fan masses. Three numbers are handwritten on the photo. These three numbers were used to launch an identity check, i.e. to register people as if they had committed a criminal offence. (20)
Two passionate Chemie Leipzig fans making noise with bells were photographed by the police in 1975. Their chants, directed towards the Dynamo team from Eisleben, were deemed to be ‘disparagement’ of the ‘protection and security organs’. One of the two defended himself against the photographs, as documented by the original caption from the People’s Police: ‘Wanted to remove the photographer’s film from the camera and send it to West Germany’. (21)
The People’s Police photographed suspiciously dressed groups of fans in the run-up to the FDGB Cup final between 1. FC Lok Leipzig and FC Vorwärts Frankfurt an der Oder in East Berlin’s World Youth Stadium in May 1976. (22)
Collective joy: 1. FC Union Berlin fans celebrating a goal scored by their club in a GDR Oberliga match against Energie Cottbus at Friendship Stadium in April 1987. (23)
Two 1. FC Union Berlin fans wearing face paint (centre) caught the eye of the MfS photographer at a GDR Oberliga match between Energie Cottbus and 1. FC Union in April 1987. The People’s Police made their presence felt in the Union fan section. (24)
1. FC Magdeburg fans playing brass instruments in support of their club during halftime. East Berlin, An der Alten Försterei Stadium: 1. FC Union Berlin – 1. FC Magdeburg, 1977.(25)
A fan holding up a scarf with the colours of the Austrian top team Rapid Vienna in the Hallescher FC Chemie (HFC) fan section, mid-1980s. (26)
After the match, supporters of 1. FC Union Berlin walked a ‘lap of honour’. The People’s Police documented this ‘negative’ fan behaviour. East Berlin, An der Alten Försterei Stadium: 1. FC Union – 1. FC Magdeburg 1977. (27)
Fans of 1. FC Union Berlin expressed their dislike of BFC Dynamo with harsh words in their chants and banners: ‘Death and hatred to BFC’. The MfS described the banner as a ‘fanatical statement by Union supporters’. East Berlin, Friedrich Ludwig Jahn Sport Park, end of the 1970s. (28)
Fans of Chemie Leipzig supporting their team in a derby against 1. FC Lok Leipzig were photographed by the MfS in Leipzig’s Central Stadium in 1979. (29)
A 1. FC Union fan cheering loudly and aggressively drew the attention of MfS cameras during a GDR Oberliga match. East Berlin, An der Alten Försterei Stadium, mid-1980s. (30)
BFC Dynamo supporters climbed the perimeter fence at Friedrich Ludwig Jahn Sport Park during a GDR Oberliga match. East Berlin, end of the 1980s. (31)
1: Landesarchiv Berlin, DVP BV Berlin, C Rep. 303 Nr. 3082
2: Landesarchiv Berlin, DVP BV Berlin, C Rep. 303 Nr. 1640
3: Landesarchiv Berlin, DVP BV Berlin, C Rep. 303 Nr. 1580
4: Landesarchiv Berlin, DVP BV Berlin, C Rep. 303 Nr. 1640
5: Bundesarchiv, MfS HA XX Nr. 1577
6: Bundesarchiv, MfS HA II Fo 129 Bild 3
7: Landesarchiv Berlin, DVP BV Berlin, C Rep. 303 Nr. 3080
8: Landesarchiv Berlin, DVP BV Berlin, C Rep. 303 Nr. 3080
9: Landesarchiv Berlin, DVP BV Berlin, C Rep. 303 Nr. 3080
10: Landesarchiv Berlin, DVP BV Berlin, C Rep. 303 Nr. 3080
11: Landesarchiv Berlin, DVP BV Berlin, C Rep. 303 Nr. 3080
12: Landesarchiv Berlin, DVP BV Berlin, C Rep. 303 Nr. 3080
13: Landesarchiv Berlin, DVP BV Berlin, C Rep. 303 Nr. 3082
14/15: Bundesarchiv, MfS BV Bln Fo 356 Bild 2, Bundesarchiv, MfS BV Bln Fo 352 Bild 2
16: Bundesarchiv, MfS HA XX Fo 1034 Bild 74
17: Bundesarchiv, MfS HA XXII Fo 222 Bild 17
18 Landesarchiv Berlin, DVP BV Berlin, C Rep. 303 Nr. 1640
19: Landesarchiv Berlin, DVP BV Berlin, C Rep. 303 Nr. 1640
20: Sächsisches Staatsarchiv Leipzig, 20250 Bezirksbehörde der Deutschen Volkspolizei, Nr. 2515
21: Sächsisches Staatsarchiv Leipzig, 20250 Bezirksbehörde der Deutschen Volkspolizei, Nr. 2515
22: Landesarchiv Berlin, DVP BV Berlin, C Rep. 303 Nr. 3080
23: Bundesarchiv, MfS BV Bln Fo 907 Bild 24
24: Bundesarchiv, MfS BV Bln Fo 907 Bild 23
25: Landesarchiv Berlin, DVP BV Berlin, C Rep. 303 Nr. 3080
26: Bundesarchiv, MfS BV Hle Abt. XX Fo 38 Bild 39
27: Landesarchiv Berlin, DVP BV Berlin, C Rep. 303 Nr. 3080
28: Bundesarchiv, MfS BV Bln Fo 63 Bild 8
29: Bundesarchiv, MfS BV Lpz KD Lpz-Stadt, Fo 5711 Bild 66
30: Bundesarchiv, MfS HA XX Fo 705 Bild 2
31: Bundesarchiv, MfS HA XX Fo 1034 Bild 197