Gauliga Ostpreußen


The Gauliga Ostpreußen was the highest football league in the Prussian province of East Prussia and the Free City of Danzig from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and the Gau East Prussia the Prussian province. Danzig however did not became part of this Gau, being integrated in the Gau Danzig-West Prussia in 1939 instead.

Overview

The league was introduced by the Nazi Sports Office in 1933, after the Nazi take over of power in Germany. It replaced the Bezirksliga as the highest level of play in German football competitions.
The Gauliga Ostpreußen was established with fourteen clubs in two divisions of seven each. As such, the league consisted of clubs from Germany and the city-state of Danzig, which was under the protection of the League of Nations and not part of Germany.
The Gauliga replaced as such the Bezirksliga Ostpreußen and the Bezirksliga Grenzmark, the highest leagues in the region until then. Both were part of the Baltenverband, the German Baltic Football Association, which determined its own Baltic champion.
In its first season, the league had fourteen clubs in two groups. Teams in the same division played each other once at home and once away. The Gauliga champion was determined by a home-and-away final of the two division winners. This club then qualified for the German championship while the bottom team in each group was relegated. This system remained in place for the 1934-35 season.
From 1935, the Gauliga was expanded to four divisions of seven clubs. The two top teams of each division then entered a finals round which consisted of two four-team groups. The two group winners then played out the Gauliga champion.
In 1938, the league system was simplified by introducing a single-division ten-team league. The bottom two teams were supposed to be relegated but the increasingly restrictive politics of the Nazis meant, that the club of the Polish minority, KS Gedania Danzig, had to resign from the league and was disbanded.
In 1939-40, the league was supposed to play with only eight clubs. In January 1940, the competition was cancelled altogether and four selected teams played a Gauliga championship tournament instead. At the end of this season, the clubs from the Danzig region, Preußen Danzig, SV 19 Neufahrwasser and SG Elbing, left the Gauliga Ostpreußen and joined the new Gauliga Danzig-Westpreußen instead. The Gau Ostpreußen was in itself enlarged when parts of occupied Poland were added to it from the end of 1939.
The 1940-41 season was played as a single division again, now with seven clubs. This system remained in place until the disbanding of the league in 1944.
The imminent collapse of Nazi Germany in 1945 gravely affected all Gauligas and football in East Prussia ceased in 1944 due to the arrival of the Red Army in the region. The 1944-45 season was most likely not started anymore. With the beginning of the East Prussian Offensive in January 1945, the region was completely engulfed by war.

Aftermath

With the end of the Nazi era, the Gauligas ceased to exist. East Prussia came under Soviet control. The region was split into a northern half, now part of Russia and a southern half, part of Poland. The German population was almost completely expelled from the region, especially in the Soviet half. Football clubs in the two halves now either play in the Russian or Polish leagues. All German football clubs were dissolved.

Founding members of the league

The fourteen founding members and their positions in the 1932-33 Bezirksliga Ostpreußen and Bezirksliga Grenzmark season were:
The winners and runners-up of the league:
SeasonWinnerRunner-Up
1933-34Preußen DanzigMSV Hindenburg Allenstein
1934-35MSV Yorck-Boyen InsterburgSV Prussia-Samland Königsberg
1935-36MSV Hindenburg AllensteinSV Prussia-Samland Königsberg
1936-37MSV Hindenburg AllensteinMSV Yorck-Boyen Insterburg
1937-38MSV Yorck-Boyen InsterburgBuEV Danzig
1938-39MSV Hindenburg AllensteinSV Masovia Lyck
1939-40VfB KönigsbergPreußen Danzig
1940-41VfB KönigsbergSV Preußen Mielau
1941-42VfB KönigsbergSV Preußen Mielau
1942-43VfB KönigsbergSV Prussia-Samland Königsberg
1943-44VfB KönigsbergSV Insterburg

Placings in the league 1933-44

The complete list of all clubs participating in the league:
Club19341935193619371938193919401941194219431944
Preußen Danzig151152
VfB Königsberg26222611111
Prussia Samland Königsberg31131844326
Rasensport-Preußen Königsberg47313108
BuEV Danzig5423133
Gedania Danzig633225
Viktoria Elbing7444
SV Hindenburg Allenstein121121
MSV York Insterburg211119
Masovia Lyck332212
Viktoria Allenstein47354
SC Tilsit56456
Preußen Gumbinnen6344
SV Rastenburg74536
Polizei Danzig26634
SV Insterburg5736772
SV Allenstein 104653
VfB Osterode6438
RSV Ortelsburg777
SV Neufahrwasser 1919557
SC Lauenthal6
SpVgg ASCO Königsberg457
RSV Heiligenbeil57
Königsberger TSV66547
RSV Braunsberg7
Polizei Tilsit2327
VfB Tilsit565
Preußen Insterburg67
Hansa Elbing76
Concordia Königsberg44
SV Goldap27
VfB Labiau6
Preußen Mielau228
Luftwaffen-SV Richthofen Neukuhren35
Reichsbahn Königsberg5535
Freya Memel7
Luftwaffen-SV Heiligenbeil4
MTV Ponarth64