Sokół movement
Sokół, or in full the Polskie Towarzystwo Gimnastyczne "Sokół", is the Polish offshoot of the Czech Sokol movement, and the oldest youth movement organization of Poland. Created in Lwów in 1867, by the end of World War I the movement had its units - gniazda - in all parts of Poland, as well as among the Polish communities abroad. The group's goal was to develop fitness, both physically and mentally, with a motto mens sana in corpore sano.
History
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, the Sokół tended to be right wing, 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. The movement opposed football, as a plebeian sport. 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.
In Kuyavia and Greater Poland
The first branches in the Prussian Partition of Poland were founded in the regions of Kuyavia and Greater Poland, i.e. in the cities of Inowrocław, Poznań, Bydgoszcz, Szamotuły, Gniezno, Pleszew, Ostrów Wielkopolski, Śrem, Kruszwica. In 1893, a union of the "Sokół" Gymnastic Societies of Greater Poland was established, later transformed into a union of Polish "Sokół" Gymnastic Societies in Germany, as branches were founded also in other regions, e.g. Kuyavia, Pomerania and Silesia, and by the Polish diaspora in present-day Germany, including in Berlin and Charlottenburg.In Kuyavia and Greater Poland, Sokół became an important group dedicated to Polish independence. In the German partition of Poland, from the beginning, the Sokół movement met with police persecutions, controls, harassment and provocations. This stopped only after the Sokół accepted constant police supervision. Another change was that only adults could become members. Because of this, Sokół president Bernard Chrzanowski, and vice-president Ksawery Zakrzewski, suggested setting up independent youth organizations, which would have rented, for a nominal pay, the gymnastic chambers by hours or days.
Alfred Filip Zawadyński was the first founder of Sokół, in Sokołów Podlaski, Poland.
German police began to harass and persecute all the new organizations again, and for a time forbade any further activity. Attorney Chrzanowski argued that the police had no proof and could present no link, neither personal nor financial, between these organizations and Sokół. He took the case all the way to the Supreme Court of Justice in Berlin. It was shown that the president of "Iskra", Kazimierz Syller, "Brzask" Stanisław Szulc, and of "Ogniwo" Edmund Maćkowiak, nor any other adult member had ever been members of Sokół. The jury canceled the laws, but this caused even more harassment from the police and attempts to penetrate the organizations by informers began.
In Silesia
In Silesia, the first branches were founded in Cieszyn, Dąbrowa, Wrocław, Bytom, Katowice, Rybnik, Roździeń, Chorzów, Lipiny, Michałkowice, Mysłowice, Frysztat, Bielsko, Karwina, Gliwice, Koźle, Strzelce, Zabrze, Dziedzice, Kosztowy,, Lutynia Dolna, Wędrynia, Orłowa. The German police thwarted the establishment of Sokół in Mikołów in 1903. Several branches were dissolved after court trials and police harassment, but some were eventually reestablished. Sokół's activities in Silesia went beyond gymnastics, also including singing, recitations, amateur theater, and education.The local German authorities refused to allow the use of public gymnasiums, arguing that Sokół intended to cultivate national sentiment, which is fundamentally contrary to the general idea of the ''state.'' Private tenants were encouraged to demand exorbitant rents for space leased to Sokół or to terminate their leases, and some members were dismissed from their jobs. The German police conducted searches of Sokół's offices and members' homes, and German courts handed down prison sentences and fines on its members. In 1896, a German court in Bytom declared Sokół a political organization, justification for this included trips by members of the local Sokół branch to Kraków and Wrocław and the use of the Polish language.