The two- or three-day event was held in summer months, varying from late June to early August, and the venue changed annually.

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.

Women's triple jump, pole vault, hammer throw and steeplechase were not held, as they were not yet standard international events.