The Sokol society "Dušan Silni" in Zaječar and the Moravian Sokol Parish in Niš: Interrelations and permeations

The Sokol movement in the Kingdom of Serbia had its roots in many small towns and district centers, and it brought together residents who wished to establish and advance their knowledge in the field of sports. First, interest in sokolism appears among high school students in places like Zaječar, Negotin, Leskovac, Prokuplje, Pirot and other places of the then Moravian Banovina, which was a fertile ground of pan-Slavic, free, and patriotic ideas that manifested through the Sokol movement at the beginning of the twentieth century. With the development of crafts, trade, and small industrial plants, mostly mill-food and brewery plants, young people were also employed. Of course, the emergence and development of Sokol organizations in those, at that time, smaller towns, could not have happened without synergy with enthusiasts and Sokol supporters from Niš, the capital of Moravian Banovina and Sokol Parish, which was created in 1920. It is interesting that sokolism in Zaječar at the beginning of the twentieth century was mainly under the influence of the Belgrade Sokol organization and that contacts with Sokol workers in the town on the Nišava River were not frequent. On the other hand, as early as 1919, the integration of Sokol societies and companies in the northeast of today's Serbia can be observed. More precisely, in the wide area from Požarevac to Kladovo and from Donji Milanovac to Knjaževac, the Sokols associated with Timok Parish, whose central place is in Zaječar.