SC Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt, incidentally based at Aue and not Karl-Marx-Stadt, won the championship, the club's first official one, having previously won the transition competition in 1955.
[3][4] On the strength of this title Wismut qualified for the 1957–58 European Cup where the club lost to Ajax Amsterdam in the first round.
[5] Ernst Lindner of BSG Lokomotive Stendal was the league's top scorer with 18 goals.
[6] The 1956 season saw two newly promoted clubs compare to the last official season, 1954–55, Fortschritt Weißenfels and BSG Lokomotive Stendal, with both already having played in the transition round in 1955.
The FDGB-Pokal was won by second division DDR-Liga club Chemie Halle.