Dynamo; the Stasi Sports Organisation

[Greg Collins]

The Dynamo was the sports organization of the Ministry for State Security and the Police. It was divided into three sizes- the SC (sport club), the SG (Sportgemeinschaft- Sports community), and the SV (Sportvereinigung- Sports association). The SG Dynamo could have several SC Dynamos attached to it while the SV Dynamo could have several SG's and associated SC's attached to it. The SC Dynamo would concentrate on a single sport; the SG's would have a couple to a few sports under the same roof; the SV would have several sports under the same roof. The main Dynamo was SV Dynamo Berlin, and was headed by Erich Mielke- head of the Stasi- from it's inception in 1953 until 1989.

I have a reasonable collection of Dynamo items I thought I'd share. First off, an early bronze honour badge (full size and miniature) and document from 1961.