Czech Youth Groups: Sokol

Figure 1.--Here we see a Sokol group, probably in the 1920s when Czechoslovakia was an independent nation. The man in uniform is a member of the famed World War I Czech Legion. Notice the boys in front. I am not sure if they were formsal members, but note they are wearing uniforms.

Probably the most important social club organization in Europe was Sokol. Miroslav Tyrš and Jindřich Fügner founded Sokol in Prague (1862). Sokil meany Falcon in Czech. It was a social organization for young men which focused on physical training and gymnastics. Sokol as organized by Tyrs included lectures, discussions, and group outings to the physical training. As Czechoslovakia at the time was part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, the organization of young Czech men developed political commotations. Sokol became a hotbed of nationalist feeling in Czechoslovakia ans other Slavic areas of the Ausro-Hungarian Empire. Sokol was susposed toi be non-political, but any organization along national lines woul be difficult to avoid politics given the growing demands for autonmu or even independence. Tyrs himself saw physical, moral, and intellectual training part of the same continum and necessary for building a nation. Sokol attracted members from accross class lines and eventually women as well as men. While Sokol was strongest in Czexhoslovakia, it developed in neigboring Slavic states and other areas of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (Croatia, Macedonia. Poland, Russia, Sebia, Slovenia, and Ukraine. We do not see many younger boys involved in Sokol, but the group apparently helped organize the Scouting mobement in some of these countries. Sokol because of its non-political status was tolerated by Austrian authorities, but in fact it played an important role in populrizing Czech maztionalist sentiment. Sokol published a journal and set up libraries aimed at deseminating Czech literature. Sokol lectures and theatrical as well as gymnastic festivals called Slets were designed to promote Czech nationalism without causing Austrian authorities to ban the organization. We don't yet have details, but believe Sokol was banned by the NAZIs when they seized Czechoslovakia (1939).