Gajret


Gajret was a cultural society established in 1903 that promoted Serbian identity among the Slavic Muslims of Austria-Hungary. After 1929, it was known as the Serbian Muslim Cultural Society. The organization was pro-Serb.

History

The organization viewed that the Muslims were Serbs lacking ethnic consciousness. The view that Muslims were Serbs is probably the oldest of three ethnic theories among the Bosnian Muslims themselves. After the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Bosnian Muslims, feeling threatened by Catholic Habsburg rule, established several organizations. These included, apart from Gajret, the Muslim National Organization and the United Muslim Organization. In 1912, after the death of Osman Đikić, the editing of Gajret was entrusted to Avdo Sumbul.
Gajret's main rival was the pro-Croat Muslim organization Narodna Uzdanica, established in 1924. In interwar Yugoslavia, members experienced persecution at the hands of non-Serbs due to their political inclinations.
During World War II, the association was dismantled by the Independent State of Croatia. Some members, non-Communists, joined or collaborated with the Yugoslav Partisans. Ismet Popovac and Fehim Musakadić 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. The former organizations voted for and were merged into Preporod. In 1996 it was reestablished as a Bosniak cultural association.

Notable members