The new side entered into a union with Viktoria Styrum BV to create SpVgg 1904 Oberhausen-Styrum, but within six months a number of the club's members left to form 1.

After the re-organization of German football in the early 1930s under the Third Reich Rot Weiss played in the Gauliga Niederrhein but could never match the strength of division rival Fortuna Düsseldorf.

During World War II the club played alongside ASV Elmar as part of the combined wartime side KSG Elmar/Viktoria Oberhausen.

After three years in the upper league without doing any better than a 14th-place finish, the club returned to its existence as a tier II and III side.

They remained a lower table side for the most part, but did manage to put forward their best ever performances with sixth and fifth-place finishes in 2000 and 2004.

The team was embroiled in the Bundesliga scandal of 1971 and as a result Kobluhn was not awarded the Torjägerkanone trophy as top-scorer until October 2007, 36 years after his achievement.

In 1999, Oberhausen played a DFB-Pokal semifinal in Gelsenkirchen against Bayern Munich in front of 45,000 spectators, losing 1–3.