518 JUTTA BRAUN
coming from the United States and the “Trimm-Dich” movement in West
Germany, many East Germans suddenly became more interested in run-
ning. The GDR channeled this trend into an offi cial Eile mit Meile (Rush
to the Mile) movement. At the same time, it also tolerated independently
organized running events, such as the Rennsteiglauf, which were attract-
ing more and more followers.^92 At the same time, however, these trends
created new problems for the GDR. For example, as part of the “insti-
tutionalized culture of complaint” in the GDR, East Germans submitted
all kinds of queries to the government about the lack of sporting goods.
Most of these complaints were related to the supply of sports equipment
and sports attire, especially running shoes. The state planned economy,
however, was never able to keep up with the demand for these items in
light of the boom in running that took place in the 1970s and 1980s.^93
A further impediment against the development of popular sports in the
GDR was the concentrated investment in competitive sports and the cor-
responding neglect of the sports facilities that were open to the broader
public of the GDR. Existing sports centers fell victim to the residential
housing program that was pushed through under Honecker, and then
they were never replaced by new ones. For example, in Leipzig alone,
this apparently aff ected twelve facilities over the years.^94 Not surprisingly,
the press in the GDR was not permitted to report on any shortcomings. In
1986, however, an article appeared in an academic journal—presumably
only for internal use—that criticized the state of sports facilities in the
GDR.^95 The article was based on the assessment of the sports facilities
in East Germany that had been carried out by the State Secretariat for
Physical Culture and Sport and the Wissenschaftlich-Technische Zen-
trum Sportbauten (Scientifi c-Technical Center for Sport Buildings). The
author of the article, who was also the head of this study, described the
horrendous state of the indoor and outdoor public pools in very clear
terms. According to his report, more than half of them could not be used
without restrictions and limitations; he also provided a long list of the
hygienic and structural problems in these pools.^96 The defi cient state of
people’s sports in the GDR had become so blatantly apparent by the end
of the 1980s that politicians at least paid lip service to attempts to turn
the situation around. After becoming DTSB president in November 1988,
Klaus Eichler propagated a series of reforms that clearly deviated from
the previous course of sports policy that had focused almost entirely on
competitive sports.^97 The offi cial DTSB agenda also included a passage
stating that “the growing need for gymnastics, strength training, cycling,
mountain biking, bowling, swimming, water sports, hiking, tennis, ta-
ble tennis, badminton, fi gure skating, and running... needs to be given
more attention.”^98 Yet this reform-minded sports agenda, as Hans Joa-