BFC Dynamo began as a football department of SC Dynamo Berlin. SC Dynamo Berlin was founded as a sports club in East Berlin on 1 October 1954. As all clubs bearing the name Dynamo, it was part of SV Dynamo. SV Dynamo was the sports asociation for the security agencies. The president of SV Dynamo was Erich Mielke, at the time Deputy State Secretary of the State Secretariat for State Security, commonly known as the "Stasi". Erich Mielke was a huge football enthusiast, who saw football as a way of aggrandizing East Germany and socialism.