German Boy Scout Association (1945)
The German Boy Scout Association (DPB) is an alliance , independent, interdenominational boy scout association and is a member of the ring of young leagues . It was founded in 1945 by Walther Jansen and Ebbo Plewe and consists of a boys 'union, a girls' union, the order of St. George over the youth and the order of St. Christophorus as equal parts of the federal government and is organized on a purely voluntary basis.
Own declaration of essence
The German Scout Association is
- a Boy Scout Association, which makes the Boy Scout Law the basis of its actions, which lives in the spirit and in the forms of worldwide brotherhood and seeks its way into a free, cosmopolitan humanity;
- an autonomous federation, rooted in human rights and in the basic order of our country, dependent on and committed to no one but his conscience and law;
- Covenant youth who form a community out of an inner bond and who lead their life out of their own determination, before their own responsibility and with inner truthfulness.
The DPB is a founding member of the ring of young fraternities with a clear commitment to fraternal scouting. Free from denominational and political ties, he wants to show young people ways to develop their own talents, which will allow them to become cosmopolitan, independently thinking people and citizens. In addition, it is a life union , older members who are no longer actively involved in younger groups can be incorporated into the order as older communities.
history
The German Scout Association was founded shortly after the Second World War by Walther Jansen (called Michael) in Berlin. A German Boy Scout Association existed before the war . However, this has little more in common with today's DPB than the name. Today's DPB is more in the tradition of the Reichsschaft Deutscher Pfadfinder , to which many of the first leaders of the Federation belonged.
Soon after it was founded, the federal government expanded into West Germany. Today it has around 2500 members and groups in many parts of Germany. The regional focus is on Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia.
Building the Confederation
The small groups of the DPB are separated according to gender. These small groups are called hoarding for boys and guilds for girls and are usually led by young people.
Associations of several hoards are called tribe or youth . In the girls' union, these larger groups are referred to as Hag and girls.
Young and girls' groups can come together to form larger groups, the rings and Gauen. Mixed groups are also possible at this level.
In addition, there is also the male order of St. George and the female order of St. Christophorus in the DPB as elderly communities of the Federation. Here men and women come together in gender-separated groups, who go their own way to a self-determined person in a community of like-minded people and in the spirit of the ideals of the federal government.
Age and maturity levels
Since younger and older people belong to one group in the DPB, the individual groups (after-school care centers, guilds, squads) are not divided according to age or maturity, but rather travel groups. In addition to this purely organizational structure, there is a structure according to age and maturity known as the federal states. After a six-month trial period, the new member called the newcomer can be accepted into his tribe or hag by choosing his group and making the promise. With the scarf he is bound to his promise to the goals of the DPB. After a further probationary period of at least six months, he can be accepted into a federal state according to age and maturity:
- From the age of 8 in the state of the wolves .
- From the age of 11 in the state of young wolves and young scouts.
- From the age of 15 and fulfillment of the requirements and election by their group of classes, boys can be accepted into the stand of miners and girls into the stand of guild girls.
- From the age of 17, boys can be admitted to the scout's booth, girls to the gildin's booth by their own choice and inclusion in the group.
literature
- Walther Jansen: German Boy Scout Mirror . 4th revised edition. German Scout Association, Karlsruhe 1999
- German Boy Scout Association, Neue Fährte (Federal Journal of the DPB in the 60s and 70s)
- German Boy Scout Association, The Compass Needle (Federal Journal of the DPB today)