Returning Brothers and New Friends

"Scouts of the World, Brothers Together"
From a drawing by Baden-Powell

In his book on the history of the World Scout Movement, 250 Million Scouts, Laszlo Nagy, former Chief Scout of the World Scout Bureau (WOSM), documented the founder countries, and countries where Scouting has been disbanded. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, many of these nations have experienced the emergence or rebirth of Scouting.

Returning Brothers and New Friends

Totalitarian regimes are rarely friendly to Scouting. The Nazis and the Soviet Communists in Europe, and the Communists in China and Cuba, suppressed Scouting when they came to power. With the end of Soviet control, Hungary was the first to return to membership in the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) in 1990. Returning since then have been Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Romania, and Yugoslavia and the new nations of Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The chart below presents some of the important dates in the history of Scouting in Eastern Europe and Russia. It shows when Scouting was first established in each country, when the national association was first recognized by the World Organization, when Scouting was disbanded, and finally when the World Organization recognized the new or revived national association.

In some of these countries Scouting existed underground or in hiding for many years even though officially banned. Some Scouting associations were reborn in exile and exist to this day in lands far distant from their birth. And to some countries, Scouting is new and a reflection of the birth of freedom in countries formed out of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the breakup of Yugoslavia.


Country

Scouting
Established

Original Membership
in WOSM

Scouting
Disbanded

WOSM
Member

Albania

?

Member, 1922

1937

Belarus

1911, as part of
Czarist Russia

?

?

Bosnia and Herzegovina

19??
as part of
Austria-Hungary


Founder, 1922,
as part of Yugoslavia

1950

  

Bulgaria

Member, 1924

1940

Croatia


Founder, 1922,
as part of Yugoslavia

1950

Czech Republic

1911,
as part of
Austria-Hungary


Founder, 1922,
as part of
Czechoslovakia

1948,
as part of
Czechoslovakia


1996

Estonia

1911
as part of
Russian Empire


Founder, 1922

1940


1996

Georgia

?

?

?

Hungary

1919


Founder, 1922

1948


1990

Latvia

1919


Founder, 1922

1940


1995

Lithuania

Member, 1923

1940


1997

Poland

1910 in Russian Poland
1919 as Polish Republic


Founder, 1922

1946


1995

Romania


Founder, 1922

1937


1993

Russia

1911
Czarist Russia

In Exile, 1928

1945

Slovakia

1911,
as part of
Austria-Hungary


Founder, 1922,
as part of
Czechoslovakia

1948,
as part of
Czechoslovakia

Slovenia

1922,
as part of
Yugoslavia


Founder, 1922,
as part of
Yugoslavia

1950


1995

Ukraine

1911, as part of
Czarist Russia

?

?

Yugoslavia

1915, as part of
Austria-Hungary


Founder, 1922

1950


1995
This chart is under construction. If you have information to help fill in the blanks,
please contact the author at:
Founders documents the original countries forming the World Organization of the Scout Movement (the World Bureau) in 1922.
Departures: Thirty years before "The Wall" came down in Berlin, and the Soviet Empire came to an end, John S. Wilson, Director of the Boy Scouts International Bureau (now the World Bureau of the World Organization) told this story of the departure of good friends, the Scout organizations of Romania, the Baltic States, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, as the result of the rise of totalitarian regimes in Europe in the 1930’s and early 1940’s.
In his book, The Left Handshake, Hilary St. George Saunders recounts the history of the Boy Scout Movement during the Second World War 1939-1945. It is a story of bravery and devotion to duty. Ralf Bell, a member of the BdP (Bund der Pfadfinderinnen und Pfadfinder) in Germany, shares the early chapters on the World Wide Web. They are worthwhile reading for every Scout who wishes to better understand the challenge of the Scout Oath and Law.
Absent Friends documents the countries in which Scouting existed but was disbanded.
A Chronicle of Scouting in Eastern Europe presents information on the growth of Scouting in 17 countries formerly behind the "Iron Curtain," including: Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Ukraine, and Yugoslavia.
   
Cousins: Scouting Abroad and In Exile. The Communists and the Nazis were quick to supress Scouting when they came to power. Scouting and its traditions were maintained by emigres and refugees of several Eastern Bloc countries. Though unaffiliated with the World Organization of the Scout Movement, many maintain ties and provide support to the re-emerging Scouting movements in the countries of their birth.


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Last Modified: 5:17 PM on 1-19-97