The two- or three-day event was held in summer months, varying from late June to early August, and the venue changed annually.
The winners were almost exclusively West German nationals, though a small number of foreign athletes were invited to compete, and won.
The German Athletics Championships had a long history, dating back to 1898.
[1] After the division of Germany at the end of World War II, the organising body of the all-Germany championships, the German Athletics Association, remained in West Germany.
As a result, when the national championships resumed in 1946, only West German athletes could compete in them.