History of Russian Scouting

Russian scouting began in 1909 when Emperor Nicholas II received Robert Baden-Powell's book, "Scouting for Boys", from England. The Tsar ordered his top military leadership to translate the book into Russian to help with patriotic youth education. Soon after the Tsar's order, on April 30, 1909, the first Russian scout troop was founded in Pavlovsk, near St. Petersburg, by guards officer Oleg Ivanovich Pantyukhov. The scouting movement began growing more intensely during World War I. The first Russian girl scout troop was founded in Kiev in 1915 by Dr. Alexander K. Anokhin. By autumn 1917, there were 50,000 Russian scouts across 143 cities.

In the 1920s, after the Bolsheviks seized power, the Organization was banned in Soviet Russia. More than a thousand scout leaders and senior scouts were arrested and persecuted for their faith in God and the Solemn Scout Oath they had taken. However, some scouts and leaders were able to find refuge outside Russia, and the scout spirit, traditions and methods were preserved. Scout activities continued among the Russian diaspora. The National Organization of Russian Scouts (NORS) reached its peak in the 1930s, with tens of thousands of Russian scouts across Europe and Asia.

During World War II, the fascists dealt a terrible blow to Russian scouting. Contact with Senior Russian Scout Oleg Pantyukhov was lost and scouting went underground. In 1945, the most active Russian scout leaders renewed organized scouting under the name "Organization of Russian Young Pathfinders" (ORUR). In 1979, NORS and ORUR were merged. The unified ORUR (incorporated in some countries as St. George Pathfinders) has continued to remain active in Western Europe, Australia and the Americas. In 1990, ORUR once again unfurled the banners of Russian scouting in Russia itself.

History of Druzhina Putivl

The Washington, D.C. scout group was founded on March 1, 1965 by Scout Instructor Lydia Petrovna Gerich. It was initially known as Admiral Nakhimov Joint Troop 4.

In January 1970, Scoutmaster Michael A. Danilevsky came to Washington. Scouting activities picked up the pace and by the summer of 1971 the group had organized its first separate summer camp.

The ranks of Washington, D.C. Russian scouts grew in number year after year. In 1977, after 12 years, the troop grew into a full-fledged druzhina (chapter) of about 50 people under the leadership of SM Michael Danilevsky. The Druzhina takes its name from the ancient Russian town of Putivl, mentioned in the famous Tale of Igor's Campaign. The names of the boy and girl scout troops were chosen in honor of Prince Igor and Princess Yaroslavna, who visited Putivl in the epic tale.

Druzhina Putivl’s contribution to restoring scouting in Russia

In 1989, a congress of St. George Pathfinders leaders resolved to finally realize our organization's mission of returning scouting to Russia. In August 1990, a delegation from Druzhina Putivl led by Scoutmaster M. I. Levitskaya visited Russia and actively participated in the first ORUR Russian scout camp, held near the village of Gorelets, Kostroma Region. Earlier, in June 1989, a group of Druzhina Tsarskoye Selo (New York Chapter) members held a bonfire and scouting activities in Pavlovsky Park, the cradle of the Russian scouting movement in 1909. In subsequent years, our Washingtonians made increasingly frequent trips to Russia – among them was Senior Scoutmaster M. A. Danilevsky, who headed all of SGPA from 1986 to 2009. Scout leaders made individual trips to Russia over the years, sharing their scouting experience and helping with tasks.

In 1991, our Washington, D.C. scouts - Alexey, Andrey and Vera Zarechnyak, together with Dimitry Ekzarkhov, provided significant assistance in holding a camp for the chapter of Russian scouts in St. Petersburg.

In 1994, at an anniversary jamboree in Anapa, Druzhina Putivl was represented by a delegation led by chapter head Nikita Zelensky. SM Lydia Gerich writes -

In 1994 I went to the first jamboree in Anapa. It left an unforgettable impression: the Black Sea, scouts in formation, Russian and scout flags waving, tears in our eyes: “Now we are back”... Everything was like in a dream. Scout leaders from Russia stood nearby, whispering: “thank you for preserving and returning scouting to us.” The friendship, the understanding! Yes, indeed, “we are all sisters, we are all brothers.”

In the summer of 1999, at a jamboree marking the 90th anniversary of Russian scouting, held near the city of Pavlovsk, our Washington group was represented by a delegation led by instructor M. I. Levitskaya.