Extreme Football Tourism: EAST GERMANY: SC Dynamo Berlin (1961-1966) / BFC Dynamo (1966-1972, 1986-1987, 1999-2014, 2021-) / BFC Dynamo (B) (1972-1986, 1987-1990, 2014-2020) / FC Berlin (B) (1990-1992) / FC Berlin (1992-1999)

Dynamo-Stadion im Sportforum, East Berlin = Oost-Berlijn = Ost-Berlin Alt-Hohenschönhausen (BFC Dynamo, formerly SC Dynamo Berlin / FC Berlin / B ground of BFC Dynamo / B ground of FC Berlin)

East Germany (former GDR / DDR), state: Berlin = Berlijn

16 IX 2022 / BFC Dynamo - Hertha BSC II 0-0 / Regionalliga Nordost (= BRD level 4)

Timeline

1949 / Foundation of football club SG Volkspolizei Berlin, the first precursor of SC Dynamo Berlin and BFC Dynamo.
1950 / Foundation of Sportvereinigung Deutsche Volkspolizei (SV DVP), a recreational multi-sports club into which SG Volkspolizei Berlin is absorbed. President of SV DVP is Erich Mielke, at that time Secretary of State charged with State Security Service (in German: Staatssicherheit, or, abbreviatedly, Stasi) affairs.
1953 / Refoundation of SV DVP as Sportvereinigung (SV) Dynamo, from now on recreational sports club for all employees of East Germany's police forces as well as all civil servants at the Ministry for Home Affairs and the Ministry of State Security. That same year, football club SG Volkspolizei Potsdam, including all of its players, is transferred to Berlin to become Dynamo's first squad - being renamed SG Dynamo Berlin in the process.
1954 / Foundation of SC Dynamo Berlin as SV Dynamo's performance sports branch. The football club, also renamed SC Dynamo Berlin, takes part in the top flight of East German football, the DDR-Oberliga, for the first time, finishing seventh; the club's home matches are played at Sportplatz Steffenstrasse, close to the future Dynamo-Stadion im Sportforum. Also in 1954, works get underway to level an area of some 45 to 50 hectares in Berlin's eastern suburb of Alt-Hohenschönhausen to allow the construction of the so-called Sportforum Hohenschönhausen. The project, commissioned by the combined Ministries of Home Affairs and State Security, and designed by a collective of architects under the leadership of Walter Schmidt, comprises facilities for dozens of sports, including a swimming hall, an ice rink, a turn hall, an athletics stadium, and a football stadium.
1956 / On the Sportforum, the first stone is laid on the Dynamo-Sporthalle, projected as the sports park central venue. Works are carried out by VEB Industriebau Berlin. That same year, SC Dynamo Berlin suffers relegation from the DDR-Oberliga.
1957 / Winning the title in the so-called DDR-Liga, the second tier of East Germany's football pyramid, SC Dynamo Berlin's football team returns to the Oberliga. That same year, Erich Mielke, the club's patron, becomes Minister for State Security issues - after having served on the same department as Secretary of State for three years, and as deputy-minister for four years.
1959 / Marking the start of a first period of relative success for the football club, SC Dynamo Berlin finishes third in the Oberliga, while it wins the national cup. The final against SC Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt, played at Dresden's Heinz-Steyer-Stadion, finishes 0-0, upon which the replay in Leipzig's Bruno-Plache-Stadion ends in 3-2 for the Berlin side. Also in 1959, works are started on the Dynamo-Stadion im Sportforum, due to replace the adjacent Sportpark Steffenstrasse as Dynamo's home ground.
1961 / After having finished second in the Oberliga behind city rivals ASK Vorwärts Berlin in 1960, SC Dynamo Berlin moves into the new Dynamo-Stadion im Sportforum. Total capacity is 12,400, including 2,000 open seats and 400 covered seats. That same year, the club has its first taste of European football, taking part in the International Football Cup - precursor of the Intertoto Cup -, but bowing out in the group stage
1962 / In a last of three relatively successful seasons in a row, SC Dynamo Berlin finished third in the Oberliga. The club also reaches the final of the nationwide cup, but loses against SC Chemie Halle.
1966 / On the orders of East German authorities, all football branches in the country's numerous multi-sports clubs are detached from their mother clubs. To mark the new start, SC Dynamo Berlin's football club is renamed Berliner Football Club (BFC) Dynamo. The official foundation ceremony, attended by Erich Mielke, takes place on January 15th, 1966, at the Dynamo-Sporthalle. Simultaneously, lower league club SG Dynamo Hohenschönhausen is turned into BFC Dynamo's B team, allowing talents from Dynamo's youth academy to gain experience at senior level.
1967 / After ten consecutive years at Oberliga level, BFC Dynamo drops to the DDR-Liga, but the stay in the second tier does not last longer than one year - as Dynamo wins the title and returns, as it turns out durably, to the top flight.
1971 / BFC Dynamo loses the cup final to SG Dynamo Dresden, but qualifies for the Cup Winners Cup as Dynamo Dresden also lays its hands on the national title. In a successful European run the following season, BFC Dynamo sees off Cardiff City FC and K Beerschot VAV to reach the semi-final, in which it suffers defeat at the hands of FC Dynamo Moscow. Home games in the European campaign are not played at Sportforum, however, but at ASK Vorwärts Berlin home ground, the larger Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark (capacity: 30,000).
1972 / With attendances soaring in the 1971-72 season which sees the club finishing second in the Oberliga, BFC Dynamo moves its first team football to the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark. As Dynamo's home base, the Sportforum remains in use for lower team football and training purposes. Oddly, BFC Dynamo's home games in the UEFA Cup of the 1972-73 season are played at the Sportforum; the club manages to defeat Angers SCO and DFS Levski-Spartak Sofia before being eliminated by Liverpool FC. The home game against the English side, which finishes 0-0, sees an all-time record of 20,000 spectators flocking to the Sportforum - 7,600 more than the official maximum capacity!
1979 / Having come close to winning the national title several times in the course of the 1970s, BFC Dynamo finally realises Erich Mielke's ambition of turning the club into East Germany's best team. Heralding a period of durable - and well-nigh incredible - success, BFC Dynamo would go on to win ten national titles in a row (1979-88) as well as two cup finals (1988-89). Under the aegis of the influential Mielke, top players from other clubs in the country are transferred to BFC Dynamo - augmenting the hatred felt towards this 'Stasi club' in large parts of the country. Admittedly, though, some of Dynamo's best players in those 'Golden 1980s' - Rainer Ernst and Andreas Thom, to name just two - are products of the club's own youth academy.
1986 / BFC Dynamo's first team returns to Sportforum Hohenschönhausen for the 1986-87 season, as the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark is undergoing a thorough renovation. At its spiritual home, the club wins its eighth national title as well as hosting Örgryte IS and Brøndby IF in the European Cup.
1989 / BFC Dynamo misses out on the title for the first time in eleven years. It marks the end of the club's heyday, as the communist regime slowly falls apart in the latter stages of 1989 and Erich Mielke forcibly relinquishes his post at the Ministry of State Security - as well as the presidency of SC Dynamo Berlin. In the following months and years, all of the club's best players leave to sign lucrative contracts with clubs in West Germany and other countries in Western Europe.
1990 / In early 1990, BFC Dynamo, finishing fourth in the Oberliga in the 1989-90 season, decides to shed off the name linking it to its Stasi past, becoming FC Berlin. That same year, mother club SC Dynamo Berlin is also renamed, first to 1. Polizei-Sportclub (PSC) Berlin; and later to 1. SC Berlin - and in 1991 undergoing a third name change to become SC Berlin.
1991 / SC Berlin, the former SC Dynamo Berlin, is dissolved, ceasing all activities. Meanwhile, FC Berlin continues its existence, saving its skin in the last season of DDR-Oberliga. Finishing eleventh, the club misses out on qualification for the 1. and 2. Bundesliga, the two top tiers of the West German - and from now on united German - football pyramid. Instead, the club is placed at the third level in the Oberliga Nordost.
1992 / In its first season after integration into the united German football pyramid, FC Berlin wins the title in Oberliga Nordost, but misses out on promotion to the 2. Bundesliga due to lack of success in the play-offs against 'Oberligisten' from other parts of Germany. That summer, FC Berlin abandons the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark, returning its first team football to Sportforum Hohenschönhausen.
1994 / As the Regionalliga is introduced as a new third tier between 2. Bundesliga and the various Oberligas, BFC Dynamo qualifies for this new division.
1999 / At the insistence of supporters, the old club name is reintroduced, with FC Berlin becoming BFC Dynamo.
2000 / After six seasons of Regionalliga, BFC Dynamo is forced to take a step back, returning to Oberliga Nordost.
2001 / BFC Dynamo wins the northern league group of Oberliga Nordost, but misses out on promotion due to a defeat at the hands of the winner of the southern branch, 1. FC Magdeburg.
2002 / Unable to finish the 2001-02 season, BFC Dynamo is forced to go into insolvency, starting the new season in Verbandsliga, the fifth tier of German football.
2004 / Winning the title in Verbandsliga, BFC Dynamo returns to the Oberliga Nordost.
2014 / After ten consecutive seasons at Oberliga level, BFC Dynamo finds its way back to Regionalliga - by now the fourth level of the German league pyramid. As the Sportforum is deemed unfit for this division, the club moves its first team football to the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark yet again. In previous seasons, the club had already played its home matches in the German Cup against 1. FC Kaiserslautern (2011) and VfB Stuttgart (2013) at the Jahn-Sportpark. The Sportforum remains in use for the occasional cup encounter, friendly match, lower team football, and training sessions.
2021 / As Berlin's senate revoked BFC Dynamo's license for the use of the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Stadion in December 2020, the club moves its first team football back to Sportforum Hohenschönhausen from the new year onward.
2022 / Although winning the title in Regionalliga Nordost, BFC Dynamo misses out on promotion to the 3. Bundesliga after a double play-off defeat at the hands of VfB Oldenburg, winners of Regionalliga Nord.

Note 1: Highlights of the match I attended can be watched by clicking this YouTube link.

Note 2: Below, a compilation of photos of two different visits: pictures 1 & 14-31 = match visit, September 16th, 2022 / pictures 2-13 = non-matchday visit, September 17th, 2022.