In the aftermath of World War II, East German authorities tagged sports teams with the names of socialist heroes: Ernst Abbe was a local son and physicist associated with the Zeiss optical factory. Jena was reconstituted in June 1946 as SG Ernst Abbe Jena and, like many other clubs in East Germany, underwent a number of name changes: SG Stadion Jena (October 1948), SG Carl Zeiss Jena (March 1949), BSG Mechanik Jena (January 1951), BSG Motor Jena (May 1951) and SC Motor Jena (November 1954). In the immediate aftermath of the war, associations of all types (including sports and football clubs) were banned in Germany by the occupying Allied authorities. Historical chart of Carl Zeiss Jena league performance after WWII After the 1943–44 season, the Gauliga Mitte broke up into a collection of city-based leagues as World War II overtook the area. This earned Jena entry to the national finals, but they performed poorly and were never able to advance out of preliminary-round group play. The team captured division titles in 1935, 1936, 1940, and 1941. SV Jena joined the Gauliga Mitte, one of 16 top-flight divisions formed in the reorganization of German football under the Third Reich. The club underwent name changes in 1911 to Fussball Club Carl Zeiss Jena e.V. The club was founded in May 1903 by workers at the Carl Zeiss AG optics factory as the company-sponsored Fussball-Club der Firma Carl Zeiss.