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. Sokol played a role in the Czech independence movement during and after World War I. NAZI authoriries brutlly supressed Sokol after invading and seizing the country just before launching Word War I (1939). .

Austrian Era (1862-1918)

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 movement in some of these countries. Sokolovny were opened in the Czech lands and other areas of the autro-Hungarin Empire. 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. The first "All-Slavic Slet" (Všeslovanský slet) with over 30,000 Sokols was held in a largely military atmosphere. Sokol member Augustin Očenášek said at the time, "When the thunder comes and the nations rise up to defend their existence, let it be the Sokol clubs from which the cry to battle will sound ...". [Nolte, "Our brothrs", p. 78.] This would begin 2 years later when Serbian terrotists assasinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1914). Man Czech Sokols were attending a regional slet in Brno.

World War I (1914-18)

Sokol played a role in the Czech independence movement during and after World War I. After the outbreak of World War I, Austrian authorities seeing Sokol as a Slaviv nationlist grooup, banned the group (1915). As with the Poles, Czechs were unsure which side to support.. Most Czecls saw their interesysaying with the allies. Sokol members tended to support the Allies, which incentral Europe meant the Russians. All they could do until the last year of the war was to encourage the Czechs who had been conscripted to defect to the Russians. And there were some mass desertions to the Russian side. Sokol was active in the Russiab POW canps. [Nolte, The Sokol p. 180.] Sokol members were instrumntl in creating the the Czechoslovak Legions. Local Sokol units helped keep order after the disintegration of Habsburg contril.

Independent Czechoslovakia (1918-39)

Sokol units provided an organized group of young men that Czech nationalists found useful after declaring independence (October 1918). They also hlped create a "Czech national army" when Béla Kun lead the Hungarian Communists invaded Slovakia. The Hungarians saw Slovakia s rightfully a Hungarian possession. Sokol flourished in independent Czechoslovakia. The group boed of 630,000 members (1930). The Sokols held one last slet (350,000 participants on the eve of the Munich Agreement (September 1938).

World War II (1939-45)

NAZI Germany as aresult of the Munich Conference, seized the 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. A 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".]

Cold War

The Communists did not immediately seize total control of Czechoslovakia aftr World War II. After the War, Sokol reorganized. They held one last slet (1948). That was the year the Communists staged a coup seizing control of the country. Once in control they like the NAZIs before them supressed Sokol. Amd just as they replced the Boy Scouts with the Pioneers, they attempted to replace Sokil and the tradition of slets with mass exercise demonstrations staged for propaganda purposes. Ironically the mass gymnastic displays that we associate with the Communists were essentially rebranded versions of displays organized by Sokol. The Communist events were the: Spartakiad (spartakiády) organized by the Czechoslovak Union of Physical Education. The Sokols reappeared briefly during the Prague Spring before Soviet tanks again imposed Communist control (1968).

Independence

Communist regimes fell all over eastern europe when it became clear that the Soviet Union would no longer use mikitary force to imposed Communist rulke (1989). The Czechs once again revived the Sokol Movement within months of the fall of Communism (1990). A slet was held with 23,000 Sokols participating (1994).

Sources

Nolte, Claire E. "Our Brothers across the Ocean: The Czech Sokol in America to 1914", International Journal of the History of Sport Vol. 26, No. 13 (2009), pp. 1963–82.

Nolte, Claire E. The Sokol in the Czech Lands to 1914: Training for the Nation (Sringer: 2002), 258p.

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