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Wikipedia / Gauliga Mitte

The Gauliga Mitte was the highest football league in the Prussian province of Saxony and the German states of Thuringia and Anhalt 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 by the Nazi Sports Office in 1933, after the Nazi takeover of power in Germany. It replaced the Bezirksligas 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, 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. The bottom two teams were relegated. The league operated on the same modus until the outbreak of World War II 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 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, 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 zone. The DDR-Oberliga 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.

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 in 1990.

Founding members of the league

The ten founding members and their league positions in the 1932–33 season were:

Winners and runners-up of the Gauliga Mitte

The winners and runners-up of the league:

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

The complete list of all clubs participating in the league:

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

2

3

9

3

VfL Bitterfeld

3

9

SpVgg Erfurt

4

8

5

7

6

9

2

3

SV Victoria 96 Magdeburg

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

9

10

Preußen Magdeburg

10

Cricket Viktoria Magdeburg

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

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

4

7

8

9

SpVgg Zeitz

5

6

10

SC Apolda

8

SV 98 Dessau

7

6

6

Reichsbahn/VfL Merseburg

2

Preußen Burg

10

References

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 Magazine