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Weber was a Stasiinformer from 1975 onward, delivering more that seventy reports about his teammates.[4][5][nb 1]
Defection to the West
In January 1981, he along with two teammates (Peter Kotte and Matthias Müller), were arrested by the Stasi, just as they were to travel to Argentina for an international match.[7]
Weber had allegedly had contacts to West German side 1. FC Köln, and had solicited escape plans, intending to defect to West Germany. Weber was sentenced to two years and three months in prison by the Dresden District Court (German: Bezirksgericht Dresden).[6][8] After eleven months he was released. However, he was banned from returning to professional football.[7]
During an away match with SG Dynamo Dresden against FC Twente in the 1980-81 UEFA Cup in October 1980, Weber received a slip of paper with a supposed offer from 1. FC Köln. The offer was then renewed in connection with the match against Standard Liège in the next round of the cup. However, the offer did not come from representatives the club, but from impostors.[8] The offer was said to be the solo effort of a busybody.[9][nb 2]
The Stasi got wind of Weber's plan.[8] Weber, Kotte and Müller had been reported by an unofficial collaborator (IM).[10][11] The Stasi did not know that the supposed offer did not come from 1. FC Köln.[9] Weber had solicited plans to defect, but the other two had not.[10] Weber had even informed his girlfriend of his decision to accept the supposed offer and leave East Germany, with the intention that she would be smuggled out to the West Germany via another socialist country at the same time.[12][13] Extensive activities in preparation for the escape were what put the Stasi on Weber's trail.[6] With Lutz Eigendorf's defection to West Germany only half a year away, the Stasi took very tough action.[9]
Kotte and Müller received lifetime bans from playing in the top two tiers for alleged complicity.[14][5][15] They knew about the intentions of Weber; their failure to inform authorities was critical.[5][16][nb 3] Weber was sentenced to two years and three months in prison for planned "planned illegal border crossing", of which he served eleven months in Frankfurt an der Oder.[8] He was excluced from the German Gymnastics and Sports Federation (DTBS), which meant that he would not be allowed to play club sports, not even for small locals clubs.[9][8] He was not allowed to continue his sports teacher studies either. He was allowed to accomplish an apprentice as a car mechanic, but was denied the opportunity to obtain a master craftsman grade.[9]
Neither Weber, Kotte nor Müller would thus return to play for SG Dynamo Dresden in the DDR-Oberliga.[5] Supporters of SG Dynamo Dresden saw the bans on Weber, Kotte and Müller as "an order from Erich Mielke" designed to weaken SG Dynamo Dresden.[5] However, such claims are doubtful.[11] The three players had been reported by an unofficial collaborator (IM) and Mielke was convinced that all three were originally prepared to defect.[10][11] The great fear of footballers, fans and officials who had fled East Germany was omnipresent at the Stasi.[17] Former SED First Secretary in Bezirk Dresden Hans Modrow believes that the measures against the three were "probably cautious overall", given the completely different consequences for other East German citizens in similar contexts. After all, the three were also members of the armed organs (German: Bewaffnete Organe der DDR) with ranks.[18][nb 4] Weber's escape helpers from Dresden - a technologist, a civil engineer and a waitress - received even harsher punishments.[6]
Weber would make several applications to leave East Germay, but was rejected.[9] In the summer of 1989, he eventually managed to flee East Germany to West Germany with his family, before the fall of the Berlin Wall. In West Germany, he settled in Friesenheim in the Black Forest.[8]
Later life
Weber, Kotte and Müller was rehabilitated by SG Dynamo Dresden after Die Wende in 1989.[8] As of 2021, Weber still lived in Friesenheim, where he works as a claims adjuster for a car insurance company.[8] Weber is today an honorary member of SG Dynamo Dresden and a celebrated former player at the club.[19]
↑ However, Weber was far from alone. Between 1978 and 1989, 18 of 72 Dynamo players were registered as unofficial collaborators (IM) of the Stasi, at least temporarily, icluding Eduard Geyer and Ulf Kirsten.[6]
↑ In reality, the purported representatives of 1. FC Köln were SG Dynamo Dresden supporters, who had themselves left East Germany six months earlier.[5]
↑ The Stasi could not prove that Kotte and Müller had plans to defect. In an interview with Tag24 in 2019, Müller said that this was probably because Weber had told the Stasi during interrogation that the two did not want to escape. But they were still considered accomplices as they had not fulfilled their reporting obligation.[16]
↑ As players of SG Dynamo Dresden, the three were formally employees of the Volkspolizei.[8]
↑ Ingolf Pleil: Mielke, Macht und Meisterschaft: Die „Bearbeitung“ der Sportgemeinschaft Dynamo Dresden durch das MfS 1978 - 1989. Ch.Links Verlag, Berlin 2001, ISBN3-86153-235-2, page 67
1 2 3 4 5 6 McDougall, Alan (2014). The People's Game: Football, State and Society in East Germany (1sted.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp.135–139. ISBN978-1-107-05203-1.
1 2 3 Schwarz, Jürgen (8 December 2014). "Der Ausgestoßene". Sächsische Zeitung (in German). Dresden: Sächsische Zeitung GmbH. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
1 2 3 Mike, Dennis; Grix, Jonathan (2012). Sport under Communism – Behind the East German 'Miracle' (1sted.). Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan (Macmillan Publishers Limited). p.148. ISBN978-0-230-22784-2.
↑ Boeger, Peter; Catrain, Elise, eds. (2016). Stasi in Dresden- Die Geheimpolizei im DDR-Bezirk(PDF) (in German). Berlin: Stasi Records Agency. p.44. ISBN978-3-946572-02-2. Retrieved 11 April 2021. Ist der Fall Kotte ein Einzelfall in der DDR oder doch ein Beispiel für eine systematische Einflussnahme des MfS auf den Fußball? Die große Furcht des MfS vor republikflüchtigen Fußballern, Fans und Funktionären war allgegenwärtig. Solche »Sportverräter«durfte es nicht geben. Die Angst der SED vor politischen Schäden und erheblichen negativen Auswirkungen auf den Leistungssport bestimmte das Handeln des MfS. Deshalb waren Spieler und Anhänger der Fußballclubs ständig im Fadenkreuz der Stasi. Der Fall Kotte ist kein Einzelfall.
↑ Pleil, Ingolf (31 July 2007). "Mielke, Macht und Meisterschaft". Hamburger Abendblatt (in German). Hamburg: FUNKE Medien Hamburg GmbH. Retrieved 28 October 2024. Der damalige SED-Bezirkschef in Dresden, Hans Modrow, ist heute noch der Ansicht, dass "die Maßnahmen angesichts ganz anderer Konsequenzen in ähnlichen Zusammenhängen der Abwerbung von DDR-Bürgern insgesamt wohl zurückhaltend geprägt" gewesen sind. Es habe sich schließlich um Angehörige eines bewaffneten Organs mit Dienstgraden gehandelt, so erklärt Modrow, inzwischen Ehrenvorsitzender der PDS und Mitglied des Europäischen Parlaments.
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