What it Took to be a Bundesliga Fan in East Germany

20 years ago the Berlin Wall fell. Depending on who you ask it was either because of David Hasselhof, an accident or a peaceful revolution of the East German people.

One football fan was particularly looking forward to this event, after cheering on the “wrong” football teams for over two decades. Helmut Klopfleisch from then-East Berlin became an enthusiastic Hertha and Bayern fan in the 1960s and came to their games whenever they played teams from the Eastern Bloc. His fandom landed him and his family in hot water with the East German regime. The above video gives you a short portrait of one of the bravest Bundesliga fans out there.

The video has English subtitles. If they don’t show, click on the button in the bottom right corner and activate them.

And in case you aren’t quite up to speed with the East German regime acronyms mentioned in the video, here is a quick rundown:
FDJ. The not so Freie Deutsche Jugend – Free German Youth. Every regime needs a youth movement, to raise fresh Nazis, Communists or whatever. The FDJ incidentally shared Hertha’s club colors, allowing Helmut Klopfleisch to create some unique Hertha fan gear.
Stasi. STAatsSIcherheit – State Security. Because a good youth system alone is not enough in a totalitarian regime, it’s also mandatory to have an effective and repressive intelligence and secret police agency to put citizens under surveillance.
GDR. What is commonly referred to as East Germany in the anglophone world, was officially called the German Democratic Republic. West Germany is the Federal Republic of Germany. Is, as in: today’s Germany is still the Federal Republic of Germany, just with a bunch of extra federal states added. And just like Germans don’t use the nickname “Mannschaft” for the German national team, they also didn’t refer to each other’s country as West or East Germany either.

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Category: Bundesliga