TuRa Leipzig

History

TuRa Leipzig began in 1932 as Sportverein für Turnen und Rasenspiel Leipzig. By 1936, the club had climbed from local competition into the Gauliga Sachsen, one of sixteen top regional leagues operating under the Third Reich. In November 1938, TuRa 32 merged with Leipziger Sportverein 1899. That club itself had been formed in 1919 from the union of FC Britannia 1899 Leipzig, founded on 30 August 1899, and FC Hertha 1905 Leipzig, originally founded as FC Hohenzollern Leipzig on 13 March 1905.

The newly combined TuRa 1899 Leipzig stayed in the Gauliga Sachsen until relegation at the end of the 1941–42 season. Their only appearance in the Tschammerpokal, the forerunner of today’s DFB-Pokal, came in 1940. After just one season away, they returned to top-flight football, then paired with SpVgg Leipzig to form the wartime side Kriegspielgemeinschaft Leipzig. The 1944–45 season was cut short as World War II overwhelmed Germany, and the club did not survive the war.

Following the conflict, denazification led to the disbanding of all sports clubs. Former TuRa members founded SG Leutzsch in 1945, named after the club’s home district. In early 1949, SG Leutzsch merged with SG Lindenau-Hafen, which drew from the old SpVgg Leipzig membership, along with SG Lindenau-Aue, SG Leipzig-Mitte, and SG Böhlitz-Ehrenberg. This created Zentral Sportgemeinschaft Industrie Leipzig, later renamed ZSG Industrie Leutsch that same year, before it vanished in yet another merger of several city teams.