Lutz Eigendorf
Encyclopedia
Lutz Eigendorf was a German
football player.
in an August 1978 match against Bulgaria
, immediately scoring his first two goals in a 2–2 draw. He went on to collect six caps, scoring three goals. His final international was a February 1979 friendly match against Iraq
.
in Gießen
he fled to the west hoping to play for that team. But because of his defection he was banned from play for one year by UEFA
and instead spent that time as a youth coach with the club.
This was not the first time an East German athlete had fled to the west, but it was a particularly embarrassing defection. Eigendorf's club Dynamo was under the patronage of the Stasi
, East Germany's secretive state police, and subject to the personal attentions of the organisation's head, Erich Mielke
. He ensured that the club's roster was made up of the country's best players, as well as arranging for the manipulation of matches in Dynamos favour. After his defection Eigendorf openly criticised the DDR in the western media.
His wife Gabriele remained behind in Berlin with their daughter and was placed under constant police surveillance. Lawyers working for the Stasi quickly arranged a divorce and the former Frau Eigendorf re-married. Her new husband was eventually revealed as a Lothario
– an agent of the state police whose role it was to spy on a suspect while romancing them.
, all the while under the scrutiny of the Stasi who employed a number of West Germans as informants. On 5 March that year he was badly injured in a suspicious traffic accident and died within two days. An autopsy indicated a high blood alcohol level despite the testimony of people he had met with that evening indicating that Eigendorf had only a small amount of beer to drink.
, confirming the longtime suspicions held by many. A summary report of the events surrounding Eigendorf's death was made on German television on 22 March 2000 which detailed an investigation by Heribert Schwan in the documentary "Tod dem Verräter" ("Death to the Traitor").
On 10 February 2010, a former East German spy revealed the Stasi ordered him to kill Eigendorf, which he claimed not to have done.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
football player.
International career
He made his debut for the GDREast Germany national football team
The East Germany national football team was from 1952 to 1990 the football team of East Germany, playing as one of three post-war German teams, along with Saarland and West Germany....
in an August 1978 match against Bulgaria
Bulgaria national football team
The FIFA Bulgaria national football team is an association football team fielded by the Bulgarian Football Union, a member association of UEFA. The team's home ground is Vasil Levski in Sofia and Luboslav Penev is in charge manager after replacement of Lothar Matthäus...
, immediately scoring his first two goals in a 2–2 draw. He went on to collect six caps, scoring three goals. His final international was a February 1979 friendly match against Iraq
Iraq national football team
The Iraqi national football team represents Iraq in international football and is controlled by the Iraq Football Association. They won the 2007 Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup tournament.-The Golden Generation:...
.
Defection to the West
On 20 March 1979, after a friendship match between Dynamo and West German club 1. FC Kaiserslautern1. FC Kaiserslautern
1. Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern, also known as 1. FCK, FCK or simply Kaiserslautern, is a German association football club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. On 2 June 1900, Germania 1896 and FG Kaiserslautern merged to create FC 1900...
in Gießen
Gießen
Gießen, also spelt Giessen is a town in the German federal state of Hesse, capital of both the district of Gießen and the administrative region of Gießen...
he fled to the west hoping to play for that team. But because of his defection he was banned from play for one year by UEFA
UEFA
The Union of European Football Associations , almost always referred to by its acronym UEFA is the administrative and controlling body for European association football, futsal and beach soccer....
and instead spent that time as a youth coach with the club.
This was not the first time an East German athlete had fled to the west, but it was a particularly embarrassing defection. Eigendorf's club Dynamo was under the patronage of the Stasi
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (abbreviation , literally State Security), was the official state security service of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered...
, East Germany's secretive state police, and subject to the personal attentions of the organisation's head, Erich Mielke
Erich Mielke
Erich Fritz Emil Mielke was a German communist politician and Minister of State Security—and as such head of the Stasi —of the German Democratic Republic between 1957 and 1989. Mielke spent more than a decade as an operative of the NKVD during the rule of Joseph Stalin...
. He ensured that the club's roster was made up of the country's best players, as well as arranging for the manipulation of matches in Dynamos favour. After his defection Eigendorf openly criticised the DDR in the western media.
His wife Gabriele remained behind in Berlin with their daughter and was placed under constant police surveillance. Lawyers working for the Stasi quickly arranged a divorce and the former Frau Eigendorf re-married. Her new husband was eventually revealed as a Lothario
Lothario
Lothario is a male first name which came to connote an unscrupulous seducer of women.In The Impertinent Curiosity, a story-within-the-story in Don Quixote , by Miguel de Cervantes, a man named Anselmo coerces Lothario, his faithful friend, to test the virtue of Anselmo's wife, Camila...
– an agent of the state police whose role it was to spy on a suspect while romancing them.
Death in suspicious circumstances
In 1983 Eigendorf moved from Kaiserslautern to join Eintracht BraunschweigEintracht Braunschweig
Eintracht Braunschweig is a German association football club based in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony. The club was one of the founding members of the Bundesliga in 1963 and won the national title in 1967.-History:...
, all the while under the scrutiny of the Stasi who employed a number of West Germans as informants. On 5 March that year he was badly injured in a suspicious traffic accident and died within two days. An autopsy indicated a high blood alcohol level despite the testimony of people he had met with that evening indicating that Eigendorf had only a small amount of beer to drink.
Murder confirmed
After German re-unification and the subsequent opening of the files of the former East Germany's state security service it was revealed that the traffic accident had been an assassination attempt orchestrated by the StasiStasi
The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (abbreviation , literally State Security), was the official state security service of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered...
, confirming the longtime suspicions held by many. A summary report of the events surrounding Eigendorf's death was made on German television on 22 March 2000 which detailed an investigation by Heribert Schwan in the documentary "Tod dem Verräter" ("Death to the Traitor").
On 10 February 2010, a former East German spy revealed the Stasi ordered him to kill Eigendorf, which he claimed not to have done.
External links
- The curious case of Lutz Eigendorf – Part 1 – writer: Uli Hesse, from ESPN Soccernet
- The curious case of Lutz Eigendorf – Part 2 – writer: Uli Hesse, from ESPN Soccernet
- In memoriam Lutz Eigendorf
See also
- List of Eastern Bloc defectors