1948 Large Sokol Organisation 11th All State Gymnastics Display Pin Badge
1948 Large Sokol Organisation 11th All State Gymnastics Display Pin Badge
- A 1948, metal Sokol Slet pin from former Czechoslovakia, it is 4.6cm high and has a sefety clasp style fastener to the rear.
Featuring the logo for the 1948 event the familiar Sokol falcon with the numerals XI to the side (this is the 11th slet) and the text ALL-SOKOLS SLET PRAGUE 1948.
- This was the first event after WW2 and as Czechoslovakia increasingly fell under the Soviet sphere, the perceived nationalist Sokol events would be phased out in favour of the Russian Spartakiad. 1948 being the last Sokol Slet.
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The Sokol movement is a youth sport movement and gymnastics organization first founded in Czech region of Austria-Hungary, Prague, in 1862 by Miroslav Tyrs and Jindrich Fugner.
Primarily a fitness training center, the Sokol, also through lectures, discussions, and group outings provided what Tyrs viewed as physical, moral, and intellectual training for the nation. This training extended to members of all classes, and eventually to women. The movement also spread across all the regions populated by the Slavic culture.
In many nations, the organization also served as an early precursor to the Scouting movements. Though officially an institution "above politics", the Sokol played an important part in the development of Czech nationalism, providing a forum for the spread of mass-based nationalist ideologies. The articles published in the Sokol journal, lectures held in the Sokol libraries, and theatrical performances at the massive gymnastic festivals called Slets (meaning "meetings of birds") helped to craft and disseminate the Czech nationalist mythology and version of history.