THAT WAS SOKOL (TO BYL SOKOL):
The English Translation of
Legendary Sokol Marie Provazníková's Book
and a Summary of her Life

Robert J. Tomanek, Editor

To byl Sokol (That was Sokol) is a historical memoir by the>legendary Sokol Marie Provazníková, who documented the role the Sokol movement played in gymnastics, culture, and the democratic values of the Czech people from the first decade of the nineteenth century to 1948.

Provazníková's book was published only in Czech in 1988. An English translation was made in 1991 by Martinek, Pokorny and Cahlander, Sokol Baltimore members, but was not published. A copy of the type-written translation of the book was given to the Sokol Museum and Library by Norma Zabka of Sokol New York. Provazníková's granddaughters contributed to the edited and expanded story. The current book includes: 1. the English version of her book with editorial comments, 2. the history of her life in Bohemia, and 3. her life in America after her defection from the 1948 Olympics in London.

The significance of to byl Sokol> is that it is a detailed account of the struggles of the Czech people during their lives under the Austrian and Austro-Hungarian Empires, World War I, and then under oppression by the Nazis during World War II, and the Communist coup in 1948. Provazníková, an official in the Czech Sokol organization and the International Gymnastics Federation, was personally involved in all the historic events detailed in her book. After bringing the Czechoslovak Women’s Gymnastics team to the 1948 London Olympics, where they won the gold medal, she defected to the US, to avoid imprisonment in her Communist homeland. The new information included in this publication completes her story and its significance.