Preussen Hindenburg
Encyclopedia
Preußen Hindenburg was a German association football club
from the city of Zaborze
, Upper Silesia
in Germany (today Zabrze
, Poland
).
Paul von Hindenburg
, and in 1918 were joined by the membership of Sportfreunde Hindenburg.
The name of the club reverted in 1920 to SC Preußen Zaborze and then again to SC Preußen Hindenburg in 1934, reflecting the struggle between Germany and Poland over the territory of Upper Silesia. When the region was partitioned in 1921, Zaborze remained part of Germany and Preußen played in German football competition in the Südostdeutscher Fußball Verband (Southeast German Football Association). By 1923, the club had over 500 members with departments for athletics and handball
. The footballers were a successful regional side capturing the title of German Upper Silesia in 1928, 1929, 1930, and 1931. They emerged as Südostdeutscher champions in 1929 and qualified for the national playoffs by defeating SpVgg Komet Breslau (7:3) before being soundly beaten 1:8 in an eighthfinal matchup versus eventual vice-champions Hertha Berlin.
German football competition was reorganized under the Third Reich in 1933 into sixteen top-flight divisions with Preußen becoming part of the Gauliga Schlesien
. The following year the club's name was Germanized to Hindenburg and they remained in first division play until being relegated in 1942. During this period the club earned three second place finishes (1936 and 1939 in the Gauliga Schlesien, 1940 in the Gauliga Oberschlesien), but was unable to make its way back to the national stage. Hindenburg played a final season in the Gauliga Oberschlesien (I) in 1943–44 before competition in the region was disrupted by World War II.
The club played its final match in January 1945 and disappeared following the war when the area became part of Poland. The modern-day Polish club MKS Zaborze acknowledges links to predecessor Preußen through ethnically-Polish pre-war club members who organized Robotniczy Klub Sportowy Pogoñ Zabrze later in 1945.
Football in Germany
Association football is the most popular sport in Germany. The German Football Association is the sport's national governing body, with 6.6 million members organized in over 26,000 football clubs. There is a league system, with the 1. and 2. Bundesliga on top, and the winner of the first...
from the city of Zaborze
Zabrze
Zabrze is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. The west district of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union is a metropolis with a population of around 2 million...
, Upper Silesia
Upper Silesia
Upper Silesia is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia. Since the 9th century, Upper Silesia has been part of Greater Moravia, the Duchy of Bohemia, the Piast Kingdom of Poland, again of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown and the Holy Roman Empire, as well as of...
in Germany (today Zabrze
Zabrze
Zabrze is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. The west district of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union is a metropolis with a population of around 2 million...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
).
History
The club was established in 1909 as Fußball-Club Borussia 1909 Zaborze out of the membership of the fencing club Fechtklub Edelweiß Hindenburg. On 23 August 1910, the team merged with other local clubs including Fußball-Club Viktoria Zaborze, Sport-Club Silesia Zaborze, and Sport-Club Zaborze to form Sport-Club Preußen Zaborze whose membership was largely made up of post office workers. They took on the name SC Preußen Hindenburg in 1915 when the city was renamed in honour of German military leader and statesman GeneralfeldmarschallGeneralfeldmarschall
Field Marshal or Generalfeldmarschall in German, was a rank in the armies of several German states and the Holy Roman Empire; in the Austrian Empire, the rank Feldmarschall was used...
Paul von Hindenburg
Paul von Hindenburg
Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg , known universally as Paul von Hindenburg was a Prussian-German field marshal, statesman, and politician, and served as the second President of Germany from 1925 to 1934....
, and in 1918 were joined by the membership of Sportfreunde Hindenburg.
The name of the club reverted in 1920 to SC Preußen Zaborze and then again to SC Preußen Hindenburg in 1934, reflecting the struggle between Germany and Poland over the territory of Upper Silesia. When the region was partitioned in 1921, Zaborze remained part of Germany and Preußen played in German football competition in the Südostdeutscher Fußball Verband (Southeast German Football Association). By 1923, the club had over 500 members with departments for athletics and handball
Team handball
Handball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass a ball to throw it into the goal of the other team...
. The footballers were a successful regional side capturing the title of German Upper Silesia in 1928, 1929, 1930, and 1931. They emerged as Südostdeutscher champions in 1929 and qualified for the national playoffs by defeating SpVgg Komet Breslau (7:3) before being soundly beaten 1:8 in an eighthfinal matchup versus eventual vice-champions Hertha Berlin.
German football competition was reorganized under the Third Reich in 1933 into sixteen top-flight divisions with Preußen becoming part of the Gauliga Schlesien
Gauliga Schlesien
The Gauliga Schlesien was the highest football league in the region of Silesia , which consisted of the Prussian provinces of Lower Silesia and Upper Silesia from 1933 to 1945...
. The following year the club's name was Germanized to Hindenburg and they remained in first division play until being relegated in 1942. During this period the club earned three second place finishes (1936 and 1939 in the Gauliga Schlesien, 1940 in the Gauliga Oberschlesien), but was unable to make its way back to the national stage. Hindenburg played a final season in the Gauliga Oberschlesien (I) in 1943–44 before competition in the region was disrupted by World War II.
The club played its final match in January 1945 and disappeared following the war when the area became part of Poland. The modern-day Polish club MKS Zaborze acknowledges links to predecessor Preußen through ethnically-Polish pre-war club members who organized Robotniczy Klub Sportowy Pogoñ Zabrze later in 1945.
Honours
- South Eastern German championsSouth Eastern German football championshipThe South Eastern German football championship was the highest association football competition in the Prussian provinces of Silesia, which was divided into the Province of Lower Silesia and the Province of Upper Silesia after 1919, and Posen, which mostly became part of Poland in 1919...
: 1929 - Upper Silesia (Germany) champions: 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931