Two and half years ago, Mathias Stürmer inherited a house. At the age of 83 years old, his grandfather had passed away and had left Mathias with a house full of memories. Born in 1926 in East Germany, Kurt Stürmer was a very known ice hockey player, playing with  the Lausitzer Füchse (literally Lusatian Foxes). The team was based in Weisswasser (today’s Saxony) and  was founded already in 1932 but is most significant for its remarkable domination as SG Dynamo Weißwasser in the German Democratic Republic ice hockey league with over 25 championships.

With such a name, Kurt Stürmer was predestined to play hockey. In the german language Stürmer means striker;  the same position he occupied on the field. It’s the position in the Ice Hockey game occupied by an offensive player whose main responsibility is to score goals; and Kurt “the Striker” as they called him, did score some goals, it seems like he’s been quite the iconic and crowd-pleasing player in his time.

A picture of Kurt Stürmer in 1957, in the Osram glas blowing fabric:

Mr. Stürmer joined the team in 1948, when he was released from World War II captivity. As many other german prisoners of war, he was made captive during the war by the Western Allies in England. He had started to play ice hockey very early on and became a very successful striker. As of 1950, he was part of the German ice hockey “Mannschaft”. At its peak, from 1951 to 1962, he won 12 GDR championship titles with the SG Dynamo Weißwasser, played 62 times in the national team and participated twice at the World Championships! Quite an invicible team and quite the sportsman, we would say.

Mr. Stürmer wasn’t only an accomplished sportsman. By day, he worked as a glassblower at the Osram fabric for light bulbs in his hometown. In the evenings and free time he would train with the ice hockey team and later act as a trainer for the younger generation of ice hockey players. He received many decorations for his personal investment in the sports and travelled extensively to play games all over the world. His grandson, Mathias Stürmer, recalls the childhood stories his grandfather told him and remembers beeing impressed by the list of countries Kurt travelled to play ice hockey. As a kid, growing up in the German Democratic Republic, he listened incredulous at his grandfather enumerating many exotic destinations, where he would travel to. He also  recalls having a hard time making that list rhyme in his head with ice hockey. Imagining chinese or mongolian people playing ice hockey left him puzzled.

We don’t have the exact year, but it was around 1955 during a tournament in Switzerland that Kurt Stürmer and his team got a Marvin Watch as a present, after playing a hockey game in La Chaux de Fond. At the time, the Ditisheim family, founders and owners of Marvin Watches, were in love with hockey so they sponsored the local club and tournament for four years. This is how a little piece of the Marvin history left for Germany in the fifties, on the wrist of a great ice hockey player and found its way back to you today, via social media. The watch, is apropos in perfect condition, do we even have to mention it

If you happen to find a vintage Marvin watch in an old drawer, let us know! we are glad to tell it’s story!

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