View source for Scouting and Guiding in Belarus

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{{expand Belarusian|date=February 2024}}
[[File:Belarusian Scout Association Abroad.png|thumb|140px|Membership badge of the ''Belarusian Scout Association Abroad'' (BSAA), which existed from 1945 to 1951 in [[Germany]]. The emblem features the traditional motto ''Напагатове!''.]]
The '''Scout movement in Belarus''' consisted of 1200 members when it joined the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) in 2010.<ref>{{cite web |title=The World Organization of the Scouting Movement |url=https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/210-032.pdf |website=Boy Scouts of America |accessdate=8 June 2020}}</ref> There are at least five nationwide associations as well as some regional associations. In addition, there were at one time Scouts-in-Exile in metropolitan areas of the [[United States]], and there are presently international Scout units in Belarus.

==History==
[[File:Scout troop in Kletsk, Belarus 1934.jpg|thumb|240px|left|Scout troop in Kletsk, Belarus 1934]]
The initial development of Scouting in Belarus took place within the [[Scouting in Russia|Russian Scout movement]], which was headed by general [[Oleg Pantyukhov]]. Belarus was a part of the [[Russian Empire]] at that time. The first Scout organisations were not independent. Instead they were totally a part of the Russian Scout movement. They first gathered in [[Gomel]]. In 1912 several Boy- and Girl-Scout organisations existed in Gomel. They were Russian, Polish and Jewish.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://scout-belarus.org/vestnik.html|title=Интервью Игоря Костевича журналу Вестник детского движения|language=Russian|trans-title=Interview with Igor Kostevich to children's movement bulletin}}</ref> In 1915 there were already 170 little wolves (this nickname was used to call children aged from 7 to 11 years). Russian Scout organisations that were a part of Organization of Russian Young Pathfinders existed in other towns of Belarus. In 1922 after the end of [[Russian Civil War]] Scouting had been banned by the [[Soviet Union]], and Scout activities ended. In April 1926 many [[leaders]] and members were arrested and imprisoned by [[Joint State Political Directorate]]. Most of them were sent to [[Solovki prison camp]]. Some of the Scouts and Scout-leaders fled abroad. They later continued their activity in [[National Organization of Russian Scouts (Scouts-in-Exile)|National Organization of Russian Scouts]]. Russian exiles in France turned cadets into Scouts, but in a more Catholic (local French) manner. Some of them where officers from Belarusian families, who immigrated to France after World War I.

[[West Belarus]] became a part of the [[Second Polish Republic]] according to the [[Peace of Riga]] after [[Polish–Soviet War]]. Along with the new Polish authorities [[Polish Scouting and Guiding Association]] spread in Belarus. A Scout organization was founded in [[Kletsk]], and Scouts appeared in [[Nyasvizh]] and other nearby [[village]]s. In 1929, [[United States|American]] [[Methodists]] helped found a [[Girl Guides|Girl Scout]] organization in [[Vilnius]] (which was named Vilna at that time). It lasted until 1929.
[[File:Founders of Belarusian Scouting-in-Exile, Regensburg, spring 1946.jpg|thumb|300px|The founders of the Belarusian Scouting in the West. [[Regensburg]], spring 1946.]]

In the period following [[World War II]], ethnic Belarusians gathered in Scout troops in exile and in [[Scouting in displaced persons camps|Scout troops]] in [[displaced persons camp]]s throughout Europe, as did [[National Organization of Russian Scouts (Scouts-in-Exile)|Russian Scouts]], [[Plast|Ukrainians]] and [[Balts]]. Belarusian Scouts formed the organization ''Belarusian Scout Association Abroad'' ({{langx|be|Згуртаваньне Беларускіх Скаўтаў на Чужыне}}, English acronym BSAA, Cyrillic acronym ZBSCh), which existed from 1945 to 1951 in [[Germany]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Kroonenberg | first=Piet J. | authorlink=Piet J. Kroonenberg | title=The Undaunted - The Survival and Revival of Scouting in Central and Eastern Europe | publisher=Oriole International Publications | location=Geneva | year=1998 | page=43| isbn=2-88052-003-7 }}</ref> White Ruthenian Scouts remained active in the United States until at least the 1970s led by [[:be:Вітаўт Кіпель|Vytaut Kipel]], unlike other ethnic organizations under the [[Boy Scouts of America]] umbrella. Belarusian scouts participated in the conference of scouts in exile held in New York on July 12, 1952 together with Latvians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Ukrainians, Russians, Poles, Hungarians and Yugoslavs.<ref>Ukrainian Observer (1953) Vol. 5, p. 15.</ref>

Unlike the other organizations, however, the BSAA did not survive to witness the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]]. Whereas Russia, [[Scouting in Poland#Polish Scouting abroad|Poland]] and Ukraine in particular had ready-made Scouting available once allowed in 1990-1991, Belarus had to start essentially from scratch.

Emergence of democratic principles in the mid-1980s made possible the creation of alternatives to the [[communist]] [[pioneer organization]]s. Close connections were formed with [[Girl Guide|Guide]] and Scout organizations of many [[Europe]]an countries, when [[children]] from areas affected by the [[Chernobyl accident]] were invited to summer camps abroad during the [[Chernobyl Children's Project]] in 1990. Especially close links were developed with [[Girl Guides Association of Cyprus|Cyprus]], and between [[Minsk]] and the [[Girlguiding UK|Guides]] of [[Lincolnshire]]. In 1992, Cyprus was officially appointed Link country to support the development of Guiding in Belarus, and in June 1993 the first conference of the [[Association of Belarusian Guides]] was held in Minsk.

== National associations ==
* [[Belarusian Republican Scout Association]] (''Белорусcкая Республиканская Скаутская Ассоциация''), member of [[World Organization of the Scout Movement|WOSM]]
* [[The Association of Belarusian Guides]], member of the [[World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts]] since 1996
* [[Belarusian Scout Association]] (''Аб`яднанне Беларускiх Скаўтаў''), founded in 1991, liquidated in 2005 by the [[Supreme Court of Belarus]]
* [http://en.ymcabelarus.org/national/home.html YMCA Scouting] in Belarus

Note: There may have been a link between one of the non-NSAB Belarusian Scout organizations and the [[Union Internationale des Guides et Scouts d'Europe]], a Christian-based Scout alternative, but it is uncertain to whom they were linked.

== Regional associations ==
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Gomel Scouts.png|thumb|right|Badge of the regional GomelScouts Association]] -->
Several countries have multiple organizations, divided on the basis of religion (for example, [[Scouting in France|France]] and [[Scouting in Denmark|Denmark]]), ethnic identification (as is the case in [[Scouting in Bosnia and Hercegovina|Bosnia]] and [[Scouting in Israel|Israel]]), or language (like [[Scouting in Belgium|Belgium]]). Belarus instead has regional Scouting organizations. Regional Scouting divisions of Belarus include the [http://www.gomelscouts.com/ GomelScouts] in [[Homyel|Gomel]]. Because usage of the [[Belarusian language]] and the [[Russian language]] are contentious issues in the country, the emblem itself is captioned in English.

== International Scouting units in Belarus ==
*In addition, there are American Boy Scouts in [[Minsk]], serving in Boy Scout Troop 1101, linked to the [[Direct Service]] branch of the [[Boy Scouts of America]], which supports units around the world.

== See also ==
{{Portal|Scouting|Belarus}}
*[[Belarusian Republican Youth Union]]
*[[Scouting in displaced persons camps]]
*{{Translate wikipedia|be-x-old|Гісторыя скаўтынгу на Беларусі}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

* World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, World Bureau (2002), ''Trefoil Round the World''. Eleventh Edition 1997. {{ISBN|0-900827-75-0}}
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{{Scout continent|Europe}}
{{Scouts in Exile}}

[[Category:Scouting and Guiding in Belarus| ]]
[[Category:Youth organizations based in Belarus]]