Sokol (gymnastics movement)

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Logo of the Czech Sokol

The Sokol ( Slavic for "falcon") is a gymnastics movement launched in Prague in 1862 . The nationally and patriotic Czech Sokol movement also spread to other Slavic countries. In the past, Sokol focused not only on physical exercise but also on the national community experience. The various Sokol associations of the Slavic nations were also involved in maintaining Slavic folklore and the joint sports festivals were not least an expression of Pan-Slavism .

Sokol associations still exist in most Slavic countries today, although the political national idea currently only plays a minor role. Popular sport is at the center of the association's activities .

history

Sokol movement of the Czechs

Prague Sokol Unit Slovan (1899)
Sokol Festival in the Prague Stadium (July 1932)

The first gymnastics federation under the name Sokol was formed on February 12, 1862 in Prague . The foundation was initiated by Miroslav Tyrš , who took the German gymnastics movement as a model. Soon the Sokol became an integral part of the Czech national movement. Czech emigrants introduced the Slavic gymnastics movement to the USA as early as 1865 . In the 1930s, the Czechoslovak Sokol numbered around 750,000 members.

The Czech Sokol cherished the memory of Jan Hus , who was seen as a role model in the struggle for Czech independence. This understanding of tradition was also supported by the Czechoslovak government after the First World War. In contrast, the Catholic Church rejected the Sokol because of its liberal and anti-clerical attitudes. One was bothered not only by the worship of Hus, but also by the liberal image of women in the Czech gymnastics movement. The Polish Sokol, who never achieved the political importance of his Czech Brethren Association, had hardly any conflicts with the Church.

After the so-called smashing of the rest of Czech Republic and the occupation of the country by Nazi Germany , the Czechoslovak Sokol was banned in the Sudeten regions in 1939 . In the Reich Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia , the individual units initially continued to exist. On April 12, 1941, the Sokol was banned from any activity in the Protectorate. Its members were persecuted and almost the entire leadership was murdered. At some of the murdered members remember stumbling blocks , such as in Brno to František Skorkovský and January Jebavý . After 1945, the Gymnastics Association was able to become active again, but it was dissolved after the Communist takeover in 1948 and no longer permitted until 1989.

Sokol Congress in Prague 2018

Today, popular sport is at the center of the association activities of the Czech Sokol, which has around 190,000 members.

Well-known initiators of the Czech Sokol movement

Other Sokol associations

The Slovenian Južni Sokol , the first Sokol association founded outside of Bohemia and Moravia in 1863
Members of the Polish Sokół in Wroclaw in 1910

Sokol associations existed or still exist with most of the Slavic peoples, for example with the

Members of the Czech minority or Czech emigrants also founded Sokol associations in other countries, for example in

literature

Overall presentation

  • Diethelm Blecking , Research Center East Central Europe (Ed.): The Slavic Sokol Movement: Contributions to the history of sport and nationalism in Eastern Europe . Dortmund 1991, ISBN 978-3-923293-32-2 .

Czech Sokol Association

  • Claire E. Nolte: The Sokol in the Czech lands to 1914. Training for the nation . Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke et al. a. 2002, ISBN 0-333-68298-X .
  • Jan Boris Uhlíř, Marek Waic: Sokol proti totalitě. 1938-1952 . Univerzita Karlova - Tělesné Výchovy a Sportu Faculty, Prague 2001, ISBN 80-86317-11-0 .
  • Jan Novotný: Sokol v životě národa . In: Slovo k historii . No. 25 . Melantrich, 1990, ZDB ID 1048294-5 .

Polish Sokol Association

  • Jan Snopko: Polskie Towarzystwo Gimnastyczne "Sokół" w Galicji. 1867-1914 . Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu w Białymstoku, Białystok 1997, ISBN 83-8642369-2 .
  • Diethelm Blecking: The history of the national Polish gymnastics organization "Sokół" in the German Empire 1884–1939 (=  Munster writings on physical culture . Volume 4 ). Lit Verlag, Münster 1987, ISBN 3-88660-366-0 (also dissertation at the Free University of Berlin 1986).

Croatian Sokol Association

  • Adolf Paar: Hrvatski Sokol . Društvo za športsku rekreaciju "Šport za sve", Samobor 2011, ISBN 978-953-56641-0-9 .

Web links

Commons : Sokol  - album with pictures, videos and audio files