What is "gajret"

Gajret was a cultural society established in 1903 that promoted Serbian identity among the Slavic Muslims of Austria-Hungary ( Bosnia and Herzegovina). After 1929, it was known as the Serbian Muslim Cultural Society. 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 (1906) and the United Muslim Organization (1911). Its main rival was the pro-Croat Muslim organization Narodna Uzdanica, established in 1924.

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 (such as M. Sudžuka, Z. Šarac, H. Brkić, H. Ćemerlić, and M. Zaimović). 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. The former organizations voted for and were merged into Preporod.