BRANKO ČUBRILOVIĆ AND SERBIAN SOKOLISM

Abstract

At the end of the 19th century in the Czech Republic a new way of physical exercise entitled the “Sokol” or “Tyrš” system appeared. It spread to all the countries where Slavs lived and thus arrived among the Serbs who lived on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. A group of Serbs from Foča in 1893 tried to establish the Serbian Soko society but the Austro-Hungarian authorities did not allow it. The first Serbian gymnastic society on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina called “Obilić” was founded in 1904 in Mostar. Many educated people of that time participated in the work of the Soko organizations, among them the medical doctor Branko Čubrilović. The main subject of this paper is Branko Čubrilović and his connections with Serbian Sokolism and the aim is to highlight his role in the development of Serbian Sokolism, primarily in the areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as in other areas where Serbs lived. The authors used a historical method.