Sporting activities of the Shooting Union in Western Belarus (1920–1930s)

Abstract

The article analyzes sporting activities of the Shooting Union «Strelets» in the territory of Western Belarus during the interwar period. The Union’s Charter declared the work on the development of physical culture and sports one of the main tasks of the shooting organization. After the coup d’etat of 1926, sports activities of the «Strelets» began to receive the full support of the Polish authorities, who viewed it as an important component of their youth policy. The article describes the conduct of sports work in the Shooting Union during the implementation of the military training of its members, as well as the activities of the sports clubs and sports sections in the shooting squads. Participation of the western belarusian units of the Shooting Union in the preparation and conduct of various sports events, both local and national, is analyzed. Conclusions are made that the Shooting Union made a definite contribution to the development of sports in the territory of Western Belarus, the greatest success was achieved by the archers in Polessie and in Vilna. At the same time, for a number of objective reasons, primarily because of the difficult financial situation of the younger generation of the region, sporting activities of the shooting organization were not able to acquire a truly mass character. During the work on the article, a wide range of documentary and foreign historiographic sources was used.