Gajret

Gajret was a cultural society established in 1903 that promoted Serbian identity among the Slavic Muslims of Austria-Hungary (Bosnia and Herzegovina).[1] After 1929, it was known as the Serbian Muslim Cultural Society.[1] The organization viewed that the Muslims were Serbs lacking ethnic consciousness.[2] The view that Muslims were Serbs is probably the oldest of three ethnic theories among the Bosnian Muslims themselves.[3] After the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Bosnian Muslims, feeling threatened by Catholic Habsburg rule, established several organizations.[3] These included, apart from Gajret, the Muslim National Organization (1906) and the United Muslim Organization (1911).[3] Its main rival was the pro-Croat Muslim organization Narodna Uzdanica,[4] established in 1924.[2]

During World War II, the association was dismantled by the Independent State of Croatia.[5] Some members, non-Communists, joined or collaborated with the Yugoslav Partisans (such as M. Sudžuka, Z. Šarac, H. Brkić, H. Ćemerlić, and M. Zaimović[6]). Ismet Popovac joined the Chetniks.

In 1945, a new Muslim organization, Preporod, was founded in order to replace the pro-Serb Gajret and pro-Croat Narodna Uzdanica.[7] The former organizations voted for and were merged into Preporod.[7]

Notable members

References

  1. 1 2 Allworth 1994, p. 125.
  2. 1 2 Allworth 1994, p. 126.
  3. 1 2 3 Allworth 1994, p. 116.
  4. Hoare 2007, pp. 132–133.
  5. Emily Greble (2011). Sarajevo 1941–1945: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Hitler's Europe. Cornell University Press. pp. 121–. ISBN 0-8014-6121-9.
  6. Hoare 2007, p. 132.
  7. 1 2 Hoare 2014, p. 356.

Sources

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