The club was established in 1932 as
Sportverein für Turnen und Rasenspiel Leipzig and advanced out of local play in 1936 to join the
Gauliga Sachsen, one of 16 top-flight regional leagues established under the
Third Reich. In November 1938,
TuRa 32 was joined by
Leipziger Sportverein 1899 which was the product of the 1919 union of
FC Britannia 1899 Leipzig, established on 30 August 1899, and
FC Hertha 1905 Leipzig, established 13 March 1905 as
FC Hohenzollern Leipzig.
TuRa 1899 Leipzig continued to play in the Gauliga Sachsen through to the end of the 1941–42 campaign when they were relegated. The team made a single appearance in 1940 in play for the Tschammerpokal, predecessor to the modern-day
DFB-Pokal (German Cup). They returned to first division play after a single season absence before being paired with
SpVgg Leipzig to form the wartime side
Kriegspielgemeinschaft Leipzig. The 1944–45 season ended prematurely as
World War II overtook the country and the team was lost at war's end. Organizations throughout the country, including sports and football clubs, were disbanded after the conflict as part of the process of
denazification. New clubs soon emerged from the remnants of the pre-war associations and former
TuRa members established
SG Leutzsch, named for the club's home district, in 1945. In early 1949,
SG and a number of other clubs including
SG Lindenau-Hafen (out of the former membership of
SpVgg Leipzig ),
SG Lindenau-Aue,
SG Leipzig-Mitte, and
SG Böhlitz-Ehrenberg were merged to create
Zentral Sportgemeinschaft Industrie Leipzig which later in the year became
ZSG Industrie Leutsch before disappearing in another merger of several city sides. ==References==