Sokół
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- See also: Sokol (disambiguation)
Sokół (Polish: Polskie Towarzystwo Gimnastyczne "Sokół", Polish Gymnastic Society "Falcon") is the Polish off-shoot of the Pan-Slavic Sokol, and the oldest youth movement organization Poland. Created in Lwów in 1867, by the end of World War I the movement had its units (called nests or gniazdo in Polish) in all parts of Poland, as well as among the Polish communities abroad.
[edit] History
The Sokół was formed February 7, 1867 in Lwów, then a capital of Austro-Hungarian Galicia. The basic aims of the society were promotion of gymnastics and national revival in all parts of partitioned Poland. In 1885 the first chairman, Józef Millert managed to convince the German authorities to allow for Sokół nests to be formed in German-held parts of Poland. After the Revolution of 1905 the Sokół expanded into the Russian Empire.
As opposed to the Scouting movement which emerged in Poland simultaneously (by large promoted by Józef Piłsudski's socialists), the Sokół was largely rightist, with the majority of important posts taken by supporters of Roman Dmowski's National League. It promoted gymnastics and healthy life, as well as traditional moral values. Interestingly, the movement opposed football, as a plebeian sports. Because of that, many members left the organization in early 20th century and founded their own football clubs, among them the Czarni Lwów - the first football team in Poland.
After Poland regained her independence, in 1919 the nests formed in various partitions were united in the Union of Gymnastic Societies "Sokół". After the Polish defeat in 1939 the new Soviet and Nazi authorities banned the Sokół and it was not allowed to emerge after the war. It was not until 1988 that the ban was lifted by the Communist authorities of Poland. During that time only minor nests continued their activity abroad, among the Polish diaspora in the United Kingdom, United States (Polish Falcons), France and several other countries. The following year, on January 10 the first nest since WWII was officially registered and on March 1, 1990, the society was again registered in Poland. Currently the organization has 86 nests and claims to have approx 10,000 members both in Poland and abroad.
