Christian Scouting in Germany (1921)
The Christian Scouting Association of Germany (CPD, often also CP) was an evangelical scouting association with roots in the YMCA .
history
The first evangelical scout groups in Germany emerged in 1910 in Württemberg and Saxony in the YMCA. Up until the outbreak of the First World War , these groups grew very quickly, but did not form their own association within the YMCA. As a result of the military deployment of numerous leaders, the groups then lost a substantial part of their members from 1916, just like those of the German Scout Association (DPB).
It was not until 1920 that this development could be caught again and new groups founded. Similar to the DPB, two camps emerged in the CPD: on the one hand, a branch of work with youth movement , which had its center in Saxony and referred to as the Tatgemeinschaft Sachsen , and the "traditional", strongly militarily shaped Württemberg branch Groups on the other.
Despite these internal conflicts, at a conference in Neudietendorf in 1921, almost all scout groups in the YMCA came together to form the Christian Scouting Society , which formulated its program in the “Neudietendorf Principles”. These principles, just like the publications of the CPD, were strongly influenced by the Tatgemeinschaft Sachsen around Fritz Riebold . The core principle of the "Neudietendorfer Principles" was the most important basis of the evangelical scouting work before 1933:
"We want to strive with all our might to become Christians in action, bound to God, for the service of our neighbor."
Further sentences describe the lifestyle expected of the scouts, the community life and the external signs of the CPD. From today's perspective, they are to be interpreted as a formulation of the Boy Scout Law .
The influence of the Tatgemeinschaft Sachsen on the movement as a whole remained intact after 1922, when the Tatgemeinschaft temporarily left the CPD. At about the same time that the Tatgemeinschaft Sachsen resigned, girl scouts led by Olga Riebold founded the Tatgemeinschaft Christian scouts , from which the Bund Christian scouts later emerged.
In the following years the CPD grew strongly - both through the establishment of new scout groups within the local young men’s clubs or the YMCA as well as through the inclusion of groups that were not previously part of the YMCA. This opening repeatedly led to conflicts with the Reich leadership of the YMCA, which was then called the Evangelical Young Men’s Work. In order to avoid this, the CPD became largely independent. From the point of view of the YMCA after 1921, the CPD was initially only an informal association of groups that used the same form of work. In 1931, an independent working group could be formed, which in 1933 also became legally independent as a "related endeavor". During this process, some groups left the CPD who wanted to retain membership of the YMCA. Today's Heliand scouts belonged to them .
In the late summer of 1933, the CPD, the Bund Deutscher Bibelkreise and the Bund Christiandeutscher Jugend merged to secure the independent work, which was shaped by the youth movement and the Bündische Jugend , against both the YMCA and the Hitler Youth (HJ). The YMCA saw the general unification efforts accompanying the National Socialist seizure of power as an opportunity to reintegrate the previously independent leagues more strongly into its structures, while the HJ, with state support, pushed for the dissolution and integration of all youth associations. While this merger was successful in its alignment against the YMCA, it could not do anything against the efforts of the HJ. As early as the summer of 1933, parts of the CPD had voluntarily joined the Hitler Youth; it is estimated that between 10 and 20 percent of the last 12,000 members. With the integration of Protestant youth into the HJ agreed on December 19, 1933 between Reich Bishop Ludwig Müller and the "Youth Leader of the German Reich" Baldur von Schirach , the remaining groups had to join or disband the HJ by March 18, 1934. Only the adult cross scouts could stay in the CPD.
Although individual CPD groups were able to continue their work until 1935 with the approval of the Hitler Youth, the union was essentially reduced to around 2,000 adult members who saw themselves as a brotherhood. Sobered by the behavior of the Reich Bishop, which was perceived as treason, almost all members turned to the Confessing Church , which was also reflected in the magazines of the CP. That is why the CPD was first observed by the Gestapo and then banned and dissolved in the summer of 1937 . Further bans for the magazine “Auf neuempfad” (on a new path) and the circulars published there followed in 1938 . Since the members of the brotherhood continued to keep in touch via private circular letters - even during the Second World War - the CPD was run by the Gestapo as a "secret organization".
Shortly after the end of the war, fraternity members founded the first scout groups, initially under a different name, and from 1946 onwards as “Christian scouts” with the approval of the western occupying powers. Although the founding of the new Confederation in the brotherhood was controversial - many preferred a uniform Protestant youth - the brotherhood conference in Hanover in March 1946, with participants from the three western zones, set the course for a new structure. As early as 1946, the CPD had a seat and vote in the youth chamber of the Evangelical Church in Germany and was therefore also one of the founding members of the Working Group of Evangelical Youth (aej). When the first “federal thing ” was held in 1947 after the Second World War, the CPD already had 3,000 members again.
With the support of the occupying powers, the CPD, together with the Federation of German Scouts and the German Scout Association, founded the Ring of German Scout Associations in 1949 as a joint umbrella organization for external representation. In 1950 he was accepted into both the German Federal Youth Association and the World Organization of the Scout Movement .
In the following years, the further development of the CPD was the focus of the work; the content was largely based on the years before the ban. This phase was only concluded after 1960, when the pre-war generation largely withdrew from management positions. At the time, the CPD had between 15,000 and 20,000 members.
At about the same time that a younger generation took over management positions, the change in social values also reached the federal government. In addition to a general modernization of content, the focus was on questions of co-education and political education and political commitment.
Only on the subject of co-education could extensive agreement be reached within the CPD, which was previously only aimed at boys and men. When a cooperation with the Evangelical Girl Scout Association (EMP) and the Association of Christian Girl Scouts (BCP) was considered and prepared through appropriate discussions, the CPD decided in 1969 that it would be a fully co-educational association with immediate effect, thus setting the smaller ones female partner under pressure to act. From 1970 onwards, the three groups began to prepare intensively for a merger.
Since the content-related questions were largely excluded from these talks and, in particular, the positions of the more conservative groups, who advocated traditionally oriented scouting work on a Christian basis and largely rejected the (youth) political commitment of the new association, were not taken into account, these negotiations were already in preparation the way of the conflicts that later led to the separation of today's Christian Scouting Association in Germany .
In 1973 the CPD merged with the two girl scout associations EMP and BCP to form the Association of Christian Scouts and Boy Scouts (VCP).
Federal leader
- 1921 Reichsführer Erich Stange , Reich scout Karl-Otto Horch
- 1925 Reich scout Friedrich Duensing († 1944)
- 1933 Reichsführer Friedrich Duensing
- 1935 Reich scout Heinrich Karsch
- 1947 Federal Leader Heinrich Karsch
- 1961 Federal Leader Jobst Besser (1931–2012)
- 1968 Federal Leader Frank-Peter Hopf
literature
- Robert Dollinger: History of the Christian scouts in Bavaria: 1910-1980. Self-published, Bubenreuth 1980.
- Dieter Kraeter, Hanns-Dieter Lohnes (Hrsg.): From the work and community of the Christian scouts in Germany. Path Publishing House, Kassel 1960.
- Udo Smidt: Documents of Protestant youth leagues. Changes between two world wars. Evangelisches Verlagswerk, Stuttgart 1975. ISBN 3-7715-0167-9
- Pieter Kahl: Scouts in conflict - the development of the Christian scouting and their confrontation with the Hitler Youth and the Nazi state. Self-published in Iserlohn 2005.
- Günter Brakelmann: Cross and Swastika-Christian Scouting and National Socialism in the years 1933/1934. Hartmut Spenner Verlag, Kamen 2013. ISBN 978-3-89991-142-8
- Ulrich Bauer / Hartmut Keyler / Jobst Besser / Albrecht Sudermann (eds.): Cross and Lily. Christian scouts in Germany from 1909 to 1972. Wichern-Verlag, Berlin 2013. ISBN 978-3-88981-365-7