SED-Unrecht und Repression im DDR-Sport: Der Fall Thomas Popiesch

In the organizer's words:

In 1982, two young people attempt to escape at the Czech-German border. However, the two young GDR citizens carry more than their dreams of the free world in their rucksacks. Both are ice hockey talents from SC Dynamo Berlin and on their way to the GDR national team. The escape attempt fails and ends in the remand center of the Ministry of State Security in Berlin-Hohenschönhausen. The ice hockey club of Stasi chief Erich Mielke does not tolerate any ideological misconduct, so that the "fugitives from the republic" feel the full force of the SED regime.

Thomas Popiesch, one of the two young people, was sentenced to four years in prison and had to serve the full sentence in the Stasi prison in Bautzen. All attempts by the Federal Republic of Germany to buy his release failed for the former Dynamo talent. The Stasi set an example. After serving his prison sentence, he was denied reinstatement into the GDR competitive sports system, so in 1989 he attempted another escape across the Hungarian border - this time successfully. Only then did his dreams of a professional career in the German Ice Hockey League take shape and lead him to a successful coaching career, which culminated in the Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven finishing runners-up in 2024.

The event aims to use Thomas Popiesch's biography as a reminder of the previously little-noticed cases of SED injustice and repression in top-level GDR sport. After an introductory lecture by Dr. René Wiese (Zentrum deutsche Sportgeschichte), Andreas Käckell (NDR) will talk to Thomas Popiesch.

- Responsible: Dr. Sabine Bamberger-Stemmann