The Sokol movement

The Sokol (falcon) Movement was originally set up by the Czechs in 1862 as a protest against the Austro-Hungarian policies of germanising the Czechs. To understand the spirit and strength of the people the movement’s ideologists (Miroslav Tyrš and Jindřich Fügner) worked out a special system of physical exercise. The Sokol Movement quickly found popularity amongst the Slavonic peoples, including the Russians. The Sokol Movement ideas became particularly popular in conditions of emigration. In Latvia the first Sokol association appeared in Daugavpils in 1928, then in Riga, Liepāja, Rēzekne and Jelgava. Along with the physical exercises, sokols were educated in the spirit of enmity towards bolshevism