Czech Sokol Youth Group: World War II NAZI Occupation of Czecoslovakia

Figure 1.--Here we see a group of Czech Sokol boys in Brno during 1939, just before the German invasion and NAZI supression of Sokol. Many Sokol mnembers were arrested and the property of the Sokol organiztion seized.

NAZI Germany as a result of the Munich Conference, seized the Czech Sudetenland (October 1938). NAZI authoriries invaded abd partitioned the rest of Czecholovakia just before World War II (March 1939) just before launching Word War I. Knowing that Sokol was a Slavic/Czech nationalist group, they brutally supressed it. Many Sokol members were arrested and committed to concentration camps for their fiercely pro-Czech and anti-German views. NAZI uthorities seozed the Sokolovnys (Sokol buildings). The Sokolovny at Vinohrady, for example, was turned into a SS sports center. Some facilities likes movie theaters and inns were allowed to continue operating for the revenue to be earned and turned over to NAZI authorities. A war-time report describes the NAZI use of Sokol property, " Last year [1941] the Nazis seized all the property belonging to the Czech Sokol organization, which forms the basis of that famous physical culture movement long operating in Czechoslovakia. This property, including not only excellently equipped gymnasiums but also many cinemas and inns, is now controlled by a central German office established in Prague. The managers of local Sokol branches have to report monthly, n German, concerning revenues received from cinemas and inns kept running for the benefit of the Reich. All Sokol insignia, however, have been removed from the buildings. From the former Sokol gymnastic halls, all movable equipment, especially that of leather and linen, has been taken to Germany; as a rule, only empty buildings remain." [Sokol property".]

Sources

"SOKOL property exploited for the benefit of the Reich," News Flashes from Czechoslovakia under Nazi Domination Release No. 151 (September 21, 1942).