Gray Rider Scouts
The Gray Rider Boy Scout Association is a German boy scout association that is strongly influenced by Bündische traditions. The federal government was a founding member of the ring of young associations , to which it belonged until 2012.
The Gray Rider Boy Scout Association was established as an independent Boy Scout Association in 1956. The roots of the association lie in the pre-war period, however, and go back to the Association of Storm Troop Boy Scouts "German Knighthood" , which in turn emerged from the Guttempler movement. This union partially took over the legacy of the new scouts after they were absorbed into the German Freischar . As the first co-educational scout association, the Sturmtrupp scouts and the Gray Rider maintained groups of boys and girls from the start.
history
Until 1956: Gau Grauer Reiter in the Association of German Scouts
In 1947 the "Tübinger Bund" was founded in Tübingen by the painter, lithographer and graphic artist Erich Mönch (Schnauz) and licensed by the French military government. This "Tübinger Bund" later joined the Bund Deutscher Pfadfinder (BDP) as the Landesmark Südwürttemberg-Hohenzollern . Free development of their allied scouting seemed possible at that time, especially in the musical and artistic field. A field rifle house was leased in a wasteland near Tübingen. At the end of 1952, a district with the name "Grauer Reiter" was formed in this Landmark. The name goes back to a mounted scout tribe "Grauer Reiter" of the storm troop scouts in Soldin , which did not disband in 1933 despite the ban.
This Gau "Grauer Reiter" set strong accents in the Federation of German Scouts: In 1953 the Bärenthallager of the Landesmark Südwürttemberg-Hohenzollern took place under the leadership of the Gaues Grauer Reiter. There, under the guidance of experienced artists and craftsmen, “Werkgilden” from the musical, technical or artistic field were offered for the first time, a method that has become fundamental in scouting and youth work today. The Bärenthallager was at the beginning of a development to supplement the Scoutist scouting scouting through independent musical and creative activity. The success was unexpectedly great. At the federal camp of the BDP in 1954 near Kirchberg in the Hunsrück, this method was implemented by members of the Grauer Reiter Gau for the entire federal government.
In 1955 the steppe camp of the state brands Südwürttemberg-Hohenzollern and Baden took place in Villingen , which was largely designed by Erich Mönch. It was the first camp dedicated to a comprehensive game idea. The concept of work was expanded to include amateur play in the storage area. In contrast to the amateur play, where there are actors and spectators, in the "basic idea" everyone is an actor and can help determine the course of the game. Under the guidance of Fritz Mühlenweg and others , after intensive preparation in the groups, the life and goings-on in an army camp of Genghis Khan was recreated. This method has also found its way into youth work today. In the memorial booklet (Grauer Reiter 17) to Eberhard Koebel (tusk), Erich Mönch reports on a last meeting with Koebel. He had heard about the steppe camp from his nephew and congratulated him on it. Starting from the steppe camp, the Gray Rider has kept the Mongolian greeting "Jabonah" and the tradition of Haddak to this day.
Many friends in the BDP, also outside the Gau, felt spiritually connected to the Gau Grauer Reiter and signed the so-called “Book of the Gray Rider”. The then federal leadership of the BDP accused the Gau of being a federation in the league and demanded a fundamental decision. Thereupon the BDP resigned in 1956, and an independent association, the Grauer Reiter scouts, was formed by groups and individuals from South Württemberg-Hohenzollern, South Baden, North Württemberg and Wuppertal. A little later, Swabian girls' groups from the Association of German Girl Scouts (BDPw), the Cossack horde from Göppingen and a group of boys from Düsseldorf joined the association. The Gray Riders chose Hohenkrähen Castle in Hegau , which is located on the Hohenkrähen and leased from Baron von Reischach in 1956, as the focus . A medieval house was initially expanded here without government support.
After 1956: Gray Rider Scouts
Out of transfers and new foundations, groups also emerged outside the Gau area, including in Wuppertal , Berlin and Husum . Soon the Gray Rider was represented in five federal states. The leadership of the federal government initially took over a leadership council consisting of Erich Mönch, Theo Hohenadel (Gari) and Karl Hills (gray elk). Later Erich Mönch was elected federal leader. From 1953 the font “Der Graue Reiter” appeared.
In 1957 the first cross -union meeting took place. Groups of different groups came to the camp at the foot of the Hohenkrähen, including the Nerother Wandervogel , the Jungentrucht , the DPB , the German Freischar and, of course, Gray Riders. The artist group " Ellipse " from Tübingen , painters, graphic designers and sculptors, supported the first cross-national meeting and sent an exhibition on modern art. The poets Hans Leip , Fritz Mühlenweg , Walter Scherf and Werner Helwig held work guilds, as did Professor Karl Hils and Professor Christoph Schellenberger from the Stuttgart Art Academy . Nerother Wandervogel and Grauer Reiter had invited to the second “Überbündischen Treffen” at the castle Waldeck of the Nerother Wandervogel.
When Erich Mönch took over the editing of Karl Hills in 1961, he resigned as federal leader. The Burgrat then elected Theo Hohenadel, the former chancellor of the Swabian youth in dj1.11 , as his successor.
The Gray Rider got involved at Meißner's Day in 1963 with a work exhibition and work guilds . In 1966 , the Ring of Young Associations was founded with other associations that follow the tradition of the youth movement . At the same time, the second house was built in-house at the Hohenkrähen federal seat. This "new house", built on the ruins of the old castle stables, is also available as accommodation for groups of friends.
The gray rider scouts were not spared from the effects that the upheavals of the 1968 movement had on the German youth movement . Although it did not break apart like many other unions during this time, the continuation of the previous youth work was increasingly questioned. In 1975 hardly any of the ten remaining tribes still had active group work. Reconstruction began in 1976 with new foundations in Butzbach , Düsseldorf , Singen and Tübingen . In 1977 the Gray Rider was again strongly represented at the sixth cross-union meeting at the Allenspacher Hof and in 1981 at the “Bünde in Gemeinschaft” camp. Entries of groups from Ingolstadt , Rottweil and Landshut as well as the attempt to set up groups in the new federal states shaped the following years, as did the extensive modernization measures at the Hohenkrähen federal seat, which only came to an end in 2002. In 2017, the Gray Rider was one of the inviting groups to meet at the Allenspacher Hof.
The gray rider scouts today
The gray rider scouts today consists of six tribes in four federal states as well as six elderly nurses and the castle team, some of which are supraregional. In 2006 the youth association had around 350 members. In addition to the Grauer Reiter scouts, the Grauer Reiter e. V. with around 150 members, which, among other things, sees itself as the seniority of the federal government.
The Gray Rider sees itself as a bond of life , which includes the attempt to integrate people into old age in the federal life without inhibiting the youth in their youthful development. This is made possible in particular by the joint work at the federal seat of Hohenkrähen Castle. The basis for the youth work that is carried out in the tribes and groups is the federal code that is binding for all members of the federal government. The national costume ( boy scout attire ) consists of a black scarf with a red border, a stone-gray shirt with breast pockets and the federal emblem, a Gerspitze that is worn on the left sleeve of the outfit, and the boys' jacket .
The gray rider scouts have an intensive federal life, which has been promoted through joint trips abroad , especially in recent years . Close contacts to bündisch groups, especially from the young ring frets are maintained.
In addition to the scouting group work, the gray rider scouts continue the idea of the voluntary work guilds under the ancient Greek word "ergon" (the work, creation). Every member of the Federation is required to complete an annual work. The two houses in the castle were equipped with a new workshop with a forge for this purpose.
The most important publication of the Grauer Reiter scouts is the series Der Graue Reiter , in which the content and design traditions of the federal government are maintained and further developed. A separate editorial department is responsible for this, which was long filled out by the federal founder Erich Mönch. There is also the Federal News Gazette Bastion and several tribal newspapers.
On the 1st of Advent 1957, Hans Leip dedicated the poem “And somewhere the steppe” to the gray rider scouts. In 1987 Erik Martin (Mac) wrote the melody as a sign of his solidarity with the Gray Riders and since 2002 it has been the federal song.