Founding and Stasi Patronage
A predecessor side to the current-day club was established in 1949 as Sportgemeinde Deutsche Volkspolizei Berlin. In March 1953 this team assumed the place of SC Volkspolizei Potsdam in the DDR-Liga, East Germany's tier two competition. The Potsdam and Berlin sides were later formally merged and after 27 March 1953 played as part of the larger Sportvereinigung Dynamo sports club under the name SG Dynamo Berlin. After a 14th place result in the 1953–54 season the team was sent down to the Bezirksliga Berlin (III). The club was again renamed, being christened Sport Club Dynamo Berlin on 1 October 1954.
In late 1954 the team members of Dynamo Dresden, one of the better teams in East Germany at the time, were ordered to leave for the capital to establish a competitive side in Berlin while the Dresden club was left to carry on using its second team players. Initially a local side, the team was promoted to the DDR-Liga (II) in 1957 and captured the division championship that year to immediately advance to the DDR Oberliga. Dynamo enjoyed some success in the late 50s and early 60s with a number of top-three finishes and an East German Cup win in 1959. However, by 1963 their play had fallen off and they had become a lower table side leading to their relegation in 1967.
The club was re-established on 15 January 1966 as Berliner Fußballclub Dynamo (BFC Dynamo) when the football department was disassociated as a football club in a general re-organisation of football in the country. Dynamo Berlin quickly returned to first division play after a single season's absence and would soon become infamous under the patronage of Erich Mielke, head of East Germany's Stasi (the secret police), for the various means used to manipulate the outcome of the team's games and ensure its dominance.
Playing in the DDR-Oberliga BFC won ten consecutive titles from 1979 to 1988 assisted by crooked referees, unfair player transfers from other teams and assorted other unsportmanlike practices. Dynamo was reviled by many of the citizens of Berlin and the cheating was so blatant that it incurred the unofficially expressed displeasure of the country's ruling Politburo. Alleged manipulation of the 1986 championship match between Dynamo and Lokomotive Leipzig which ended in a 1:1 draw led to nationwide protests, but resulted only in sanctions against referee Bernd Stumpf.
Read more about this topic: Berliner FC Dynamo, History
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