Gauliga Mitte
Encyclopedia
| Gauliga Mitte |
|---|
| Founded |
| 1933 |
| Disbanded |
| 1945 |
| Nation |
 Nazi Germany Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by... |
 |
| States States of Germany Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries... & Provinces Provinces of Prussia The Provinces of Prussia constituted the main administrative divisions of Prussia. Following the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and the Congress of Vienna in 1815 the various princely states in Germany gained their nominal sovereignty, but the reunification process that culminated in... |
 Thuringia The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states.... |
 Free State of Anhalt The Free State of Anhalt was formed after Joachim Ernst, Duke of Anhalt abdicated on 12 November 1918, ending the Duchy of Anhalt. It was a state of Germany during the time of the Weimar Republic... |
| Province of Saxony Province of Saxony The Province of Saxony was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the Free State of Prussia from 1816 until 1945. Its capital was Magdeburg.-History:The province was created in 1816 out of the following territories:... |
| Gau (from 1934) |
| Thuringia |
| Halle-Merseburg |
| Magdeburg-Anhalt |
| Number of Seasons |
| 12 |
| Replaced by |
| DDR-Oberliga DDR-Oberliga The DDR-Oberliga was, prior to German reunification in 1990, the elite level of football competition in the DDR , being roughly equivalent to the Oberliga or Bundesliga in West Germany.-Overview:Following World... |
| Level on Pyramid |
| Level 1 German football league system The German football league system, or league pyramid, refers to a series of hierarchically interconnected leagues for association football clubs in Germany that consists of over 2,300 men's divisions, in which all leagues are bound together by the principle of promotion and relegation... |
| Domestic Cup |
| Tschammerpokal DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal or DFB Cup is a German knockout football cup competition held annually. 64 teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2nd Bundesliga. It is considered the second most important national title in German football after the Bundesliga... |
| Last Champions 1943-44 |
| SV Dessau 05 SV Dessau 05 SV Dessau 05 is a German association football club based in Dessau, Saxony-Anhalt. They distinguished themselves in 1949 as winners of the inaugural FDGB-Pokal .-History:... |
The Gauliga Mitte was the highest football league in the Prussian
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
province
Provinces of Prussia
The Provinces of Prussia constituted the main administrative divisions of Prussia. Following the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and the Congress of Vienna in 1815 the various princely states in Germany gained their nominal sovereignty, but the reunification process that culminated in...
of Saxony
Province of Saxony
The Province of Saxony was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the Free State of Prussia from 1816 until 1945. Its capital was Magdeburg.-History:The province was created in 1816 out of the following territories:...
and the German states of Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
and Anhalt
Free State of Anhalt
The Free State of Anhalt was formed after Joachim Ernst, Duke of Anhalt abdicated on 12 November 1918, ending the Duchy of Anhalt. It was a state of Germany during the time of the Weimar Republic...
from 1933 to 1945, all located in the center (German:Mitte) of Germany. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and the Gaue Thuringia, Magdeburg-Anhalt and Halle-Merseburg replaced the states and Prussian province.
Overview
The league was introduced in 1933, after the Nazi takeover of powerMachtergreifung
Machtergreifung is a German word meaning "seizure of power". It is normally used specifically to refer to the Nazi takeover of power in the democratic Weimar Republic on 30 January 1933, the day Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany, turning it into the Nazi German dictatorship.-Term:The...
in Germany. It replaced the Bezirksligas
Bezirksklasse
The Bezirksliga, Bezirksklasse or Landesklasse is the 8th tier of football in Germany. The Bezirksliga exists in all regions of German football. Below the Bezirksliga usually ranks the Kreisliga...
and Oberligas as the highest level of play in German football competitions.
Until the formation of the Gauliga, the region was covered by a number of local leagues and, together with clubs from state of Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
, they played out a Central German championship (German: Mittel-Deutsche Meisterschaft).
In its first season, the league had ten clubs, playing each other once at home and once away. The league champion then qualified for the German championship
German football champions
The German football champions are the annual winners of the highest association football competition in Germany. The history of the German football championship is complex and reflects the turbulent history of the country through the course of the 20th century.Brought to the country by English...
. The bottom two teams were relegated. The league operated on the same modus until the outbreak of the 2nd World War in 1939.
Due to the effects of the war, the 1939-40 and 1940-41 seasons were played with only eight clubs. In 1941, the league returned to a ten-club strength, which it retained until 1944.
The imminent collapse of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in 1945 gravely affected all Gauligas and football in the region was split into six regional groups. However, none of them played more than a few games before the arrival of the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
, and the end of the war ended all competitions.
Aftermath
With the end of the Nazi era, the Gauligas ceased to exist and the region found itself in the Soviet occupation zoneAllied Occupation Zones in Germany
The Allied powers who defeated Nazi Germany in World War II divided the country west of the Oder-Neisse line into four occupation zones for administrative purposes during 1945–49. In the closing weeks of fighting in Europe, US forces had pushed beyond the previously agreed boundaries for the...
. The DDR-Oberliga
DDR-Oberliga
The DDR-Oberliga was, prior to German reunification in 1990, the elite level of football competition in the DDR , being roughly equivalent to the Oberliga or Bundesliga in West Germany.-Overview:Following World...
was formed in the following years as the highest level of play in the new country of East Germany and the region became part of the East German football league system
East German football league system
The football league system of the German Democratic Republic existed from the creation of the DDR-Oberliga in 1949 until shortly after German reunification in 1990....
.
Virtually all football clubs in the region were dissolved and replaced with clubs controlled by the new communist government. Of those, some readopted the pre-1945 names after the German reunification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
in 1990.
Founding members of the league
The ten founding members and their league positions in the 1932-33 season were:- FC Wacker Halle, champion SaaleSaaleThe Saale, also known as the Saxon Saale and Thuringian Saale , is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Franconian Saale, a right-bank tributary of the Main, or the Saale in Lower Saxony, a tributary of the Leine.-Course:The Saale...
division - SV 08 SteinachSV 08 SteinachSV Steinach is a German association football club that plays in Steinach, a town 75 km south of Erfurt in Thuringia.-History:This small local club was founded on 4 November 1908 as FC Steinach. Play was suspended through World War I and after the war, in 1919, they merged with another football...
, champion Südthüringen division - VfL Bitterfeld, champion MuldeMuldeThe Mulde is a river in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Elbe and 124 km in length.The river is formed by the confluence, near Colditz, of the Zwickauer Mulde and the Freiberger Mulde , both rising from the Ore Mountains...
division - SpVgg Erfurt
- SV Victoria 96 MagdeburgSV Victoria 96 MagdeburgViktoria 96 Magdeburg was a German football club playing in the Cracau district of Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt.-History:The club was founded under the name Victoria on 26 June 1896 by twelve ninth-graders of Magdeburg's Guericke-Realschule. Soon renamed Magdeburger Fußball-Club Viktoria von 1896, the...
- SC 95 Erfurt, champion Nordthüringen division
- 1. SV Jena 03, champion Ostthüringen division
- SV Merseburg 1899
- Fortuna MagdeburgFortuna MagdeburgSV Fortuna Magdeburg is a German association football club from the city of Magdeburg in Saxony-Anhalt. The club was founded 1 August 1911 as Magdeburger Fußball-Verein Fortuna 1911...
, champion ElbeElbeThe Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
division - SC Preußen Magdeburg
Winners and runners-up of the Gauliga Mitte
| Season | Winner | Runner-Up |
| 1933-34 | FC Wacker Halle | SV 08 Steinach |
| 1934-35 | 1. SV Jena 03 | FC Wacker Halle |
| 1935-36 | 1. SV Jena 03 | Cricket Viktoria Magdeburg |
| 1936-37 | SV Dessau 05 | FC Thüringen Weida |
| 1937-38 | SV Dessau 05 | Cricket Viktoria Magdeburg |
| 1938-39 | SV Dessau 05 | 1. SV Jena 03 |
| 1939-40 | 1. SV Jena 03 | SV Dessau 05 |
| 1940-41 | 1. SV Jena 03 | SV Dessau 05 |
| 1941-42 | SV Dessau 05 | 1. SV Jena 03 |
| 1942-43 | SV Dessau 05 | SpVgg Erfurt |
| 1943-44 | SV Dessau 05 | SpVgg Erfurt |
Placings in the Gauliga Mitte 1933-44
| Club | 1934 | 1935 | 1936 | 1937 | 1938 | 1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FC Wacker Halle | 1 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 8 | ||||
| SV 08 Steinach SV 08 Steinach SV Steinach is a German association football club that plays in Steinach, a town 75 km south of Erfurt in Thuringia.-History:This small local club was founded on 4 November 1908 as FC Steinach. Play was suspended through World War I and after the war, in 1919, they merged with another football... |
2 | 3 | 9 | 3 | |||||||
| VfL Bitterfeld | 3 | 9 | |||||||||
| SpVgg Erfurt | 4 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 2 | 3 | |||
| SV Victoria 96 Magdeburg SV Victoria 96 Magdeburg Viktoria 96 Magdeburg was a German football club playing in the Cracau district of Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt.-History:The club was founded under the name Victoria on 26 June 1896 by twelve ninth-graders of Magdeburg's Guericke-Realschule. Soon renamed Magdeburger Fußball-Club Viktoria von 1896, the... |
5 | 6 | 8 | 10 | |||||||
| SC 95 Erfurt | 6 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 4 | ||||
| 1. SV Jena | 7 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 5 |
| SV 99 Merseburg | 8 | 10 | 8 | 3 | 7 | 7 | |||||
| Fortuna Magdeburg Fortuna Magdeburg SV Fortuna Magdeburg is a German association football club from the city of Magdeburg in Saxony-Anhalt. The club was founded 1 August 1911 as Magdeburger Fußball-Verein Fortuna 1911... |
9 | 10 | |||||||||
| Preußen Magdeburg | 10 | ||||||||||
| Cricket Viktoria Magdeburg Cricket Viktoria Magdeburg Cricket Viktoria Magdeburg was a German association football club playing in the Cracau district of Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt.-History:The club was established in 1897 out of the merger of FuCC Regatta Magdeburg und FC Gut Stoss Magdeburg and was originally a cricket team, one of the English sports... |
4 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 10 | |||
| Sportfreunde Halle | 5 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 8 | 4 | 7 | ||||
| 1. FC Lauscha | 4 | 6 | 8 | 8 | |||||||
| SV Dessau 05 SV Dessau 05 SV Dessau 05 is a German association football club based in Dessau, Saxony-Anhalt. They distinguished themselves in 1949 as winners of the inaugural FDGB-Pokal .-History:... |
6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| FC Thüringen Weida | 2 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 9 | |||||
| VfL 96 Halle | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 9 | ||||
| 1. SV Gera 1. SV Gera BSG Wismut Gera is a German association football club playing in Gera, Thuringia. The club is the successor to 1. SV Gera whose football department joined Blau-Weiß Gera and Geraer KFC Dynamos in 2007 to form FV Gera Süd, which, in turn, changed its name to BSG Wismut Gera in 2009... |
4 | 7 | 8 | 9 | |||||||
| SpVgg Zeitz | 5 | 6 | 10 | ||||||||
| SC Apolda SC Apolda SC Apolda is a German football club from the town of Apolda, Thuringia. It was established in 1910 as Ballspiel-Club Apolda and later adopted the name Sport-Club Apolda... |
8 | ||||||||||
| SV 98 Dessau | 7 | 6 | 6 | ||||||||
| Reichsbahn/VfL Merseburg | 2 | ||||||||||
| Preußen Burg | 10 | ||||||||||
Source:
Sources
- Die deutschen Gauligen 1933-45 - Heft 1-3 Tables of the Gauligas 1933-45, publisher: DSFS
- Kicker Almanach, The yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937, published by the Kicker Sports MagazineKicker (sports magazine)kicker Sportmagazin is Germany's leading sports magazine and is focused primarily on football. The magazine was founded in 1920 by German football pioneer Walther Bensemann and is published twice a week, usually Monday and Thursday, in Nuremberg...
External links
The Gauligas Das Deutsche Fussball Archiv- Germany - Championships 1902-1945 at RSSSF.com