Scouting Association of the Republic (Poland)


Związek Harcerstwa Rzeczypospolitej is a Polish Scouting organization founded on 12 February 1989. At present, Związek Harcerstwa Rzeczypospolitej has over 20,500 members. At present, Związek Harcerstwa Rzeczypospolitej is an associate member of the Confederation of European Scouts.

History

In 1956, after Stalin's and Bierut's death, the communist party youth movement ZMP OH was transformed and renamed to ZHP, the same name the Polish Scouting association had before World War II. After 1958 many pre-war instructors were removed from the new ZHP or marginalized, and the original oath, law, educational content and methods were changed. After Pope John Paul II's first pilgrimage to Poland in August 1980, some "non-conforming" instructors inside the ZHP created the Andrzej Małkowski Circle of Scout Instructors, with the objective of restoring the original Scout ideals. After the 7th Congress of ZHP at the beginning of 1981 rejected all their motions and the martial law was imposed in December 1981, they went underground. The underground movement came to light in the fall of 1988. After they were unsuccessful in reforming the ZHP their way, the ZHR was founded.

Canada: ZHRwK

In June 1996, a new branch of ZHR was established in Canada by Elżbieta Lyszkiewicz with the stated goal of continuing the traditions of Polish scouting for the Polish diaspora. ZHRwK remains in operation, holding annual summer camps in the Madawaska Valley of Southern Ontario, an area known to the Polish diaspora in Canada as Kaszuby.

Organization

The association is divided into Girl Guide and Boy Scout Organizations which involve:
ZHR is divided into 13 Districts. Each District consists of a girl scout company and a boy scout company. The companies consists of troops which consist of squads.
The logo of the ZHR is a white Fleur-de-Lis with the Polish Flag. The logo of the Girl Guide Organization is a modified ZHR logo on a blue trefoil and the logo of Boy Scout Organization is ZHR logo with addition of oak and laurus leafs in the back