Potápky (males, "The

Grebe Grebes () are aquatic diving birds in the order (biology), order Podicipediformes (). Grebes are widely distributed freshwater birds, with some species also found in sea, marine habitats during Bird migration, migration and winter. Most grebes f ...

s") and bedly (females, "The Parasol Mushrooms") were a Czech urban

youth subculture Youth subculture is a youth-based subculture with distinct styles, behaviors, and interests. Youth subcultures offer participants an identity outside of that ascribed by social institutions such as family, employment, work, home and school. Youth ...

primarily defined by the interest in

American culture The culture of the United States encompasses various social behaviors, institutions, and Social norm, norms, including forms of Languages of the United States, speech, American literature, literature, Music of the United States, music, Visual a ...

, primarily in

swing music Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement ...

. It corresponded to the subcultures of ''

Swingjugend The Swing Youth () were a youth counterculture of jazz and swing lovers in Germany formed in Hamburg in 1939. Primarily active in Hamburg and Berlin, they were composed of 14- to 21-year-old Germans, mostly middle or upper-class students, b ...

'' (literally "Swing Youth", commonly translated as "Swing Kids") in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

and ''

zazou The zazous were a subculture in France during World War II. They were young people expressing their individuality by wearing big or garish clothing (similar to the zoot suit fashion in America a few years before) and dancing wildly to swing jaz ...

'' in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

at the same time period.Petr Koura,
Swingová mládež a nacistická okupační moc v protektorátu Čechy a Morava
' ("The swing kids and the Nazi occupational power in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia"), Ph.D. Thesis, 2010"Protektorátní školák a jeho volný čas"
("A Student in the Protectorate and His Free Time") Potápky were distinguished by their eccentric fashion ("

zoot suit A zoot suit (occasionally spelled zuit suit) is a men's Suit (clothing), suit with high-waisted, wide-legged, tight-cuffed, wikt:pegged pants, pegged trousers, and a long coat with wide lapels and wide padded shoulders. It is most notable for its ...

", deformed hat, colored socks), long hair, body postures, and slang. As with many youth subcultures it was characterized by the rebellion against the older generation, and during the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

occupation (

Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was a partially-annexation, annexed territory of Nazi Germany that was established on 16 March 1939 after the Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–1945), German occupation of the Czech lands. The protector ...

), by rebellion against the Nazis.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Potapky Swing music History of subcultures Musical subcultures Czech youth culture Counterculture of the 1940s Americana in the Czech Republic World War II resistance movements

See also

References