the competition was founded in 1935, then called the "tschammer-pokal". the first titleholder were 1. fc nürnberg. in 1937, schalke 04 were the first team to win the double. the tschammer-pokal was suspended in 1944 due to world war ii and disbanded following the demise of nazi germany. in 1952–53, the cup was reinstated in west germany as the "dfb-pokal", named after the dfb, and was won by rot-weiss essen. (fdgb-pokal, the east german equivalent, started in 1949 and operated through the 1991 season, when it merged with the dfb-pokal.)