The Hungarian Scouting Association / Magyar Cserkészszövetség

Scouting's Centennial 1907-2007

100 Éves a Nemzetközi Cserkészmozgalom!
Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of International Scouting

Scouting started in 1907 when Robert Baden-Powell, Lieutenant General in the British Army, held the first Scouting encampment at Brownsea Island in England for 20 boys from a wide variety of social backgrounds. Today, Scouting is a million times bigger than when it first started. It involves girls and boys, men and women from every race, religion and culture, and nearly every country in the world.

In 2007, Scouting celebrates its worldwide Centenary. This is an opportunity to promote the values, benefits and achievements of Scouting to the world, and also for the millions of Scouts around the world to make a real difference to the lives of others through their Centenary activities. The single theme for all events and activities for the Centenary of Scouting and the 21st World Scout Jamboree is: 2007: One World One Promise.

The American Hungarian Federation is helping the Hungarian Scouts of Washington raise funds to attend this 2007 jubilee centennial Jamboree!

About the Hungarian Scouts

The Magyar Cserkészszövetség, the primary national Scouting organization of Hungary, was founded in 1912, and became a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement in 1990. The Magyar Cserkészszövetség, the primary national Scouting organization of Hungary, was founded in 1912, and became a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement in 1990. The coeducational Magyar Cserkészszövetség has 7,198 members as of 2004.

Scouting in Hungary is maintained through Magyar Cserkészet Tanácsa, the Council of Hungarian Scouting. There are two associations in this national federation, Magyar Cserkészszövetség, the Hungarian Scout Association, and Magyar Cserkészcsapatok Szövetsége. Also serving Hungarian Scouts is Magyar Cserkészlány Szövetség, the Association of Hungarian Girl Guides.

Hungarian Scouting was founded in 1909 under Austria-Hungary, and the first Scout group in the dual monarchy, MCA-1912 HAS, was founded in Budapest in 1910. Scouting started in the separate nation of Hungary in 1919, at the end of World War I, when Austria and Hungary were divided. In 1920, the magazine Magyar Cserkész ("Hungarian Scout") was first published.

Hungary was a founding member of the World Scout Bureau in 1922 and later was a founding member of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, WAGGGS, which was in fact established in Parád, Hungary, in 1928.

In 1924, at the World Scout Jamboree in Copenhagen, Hungarian Scouts attending their first jamboree came third in the competition of the nations, behind British and American Scouts. They were especially good at water sports.

The first Hungarian National Jamboree in 1926 had 10,000 participants. Hungary hosted the fourth World Jamboree in 1933 at the royal forest of Gödöllo, outside Budapest, in which 26,000 Scouts from 54 nations camped together. The camp chief was Teleki Pál, the member of the International Committee who later became Prime Minister of Hungary. This was the first time there was a Jamboree subcamp for Scouts taking part in aviation. To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the fourth World Jamboree, the Hungarian Scout Association hosted a fourth World Jamboree Memorial Camp at Bélapátfalva, Hungary in 1993.

After World War II, the Külföldi Magyar Cserkészszövetség started operating in the displaced persons camps in Germany and Austria in 1948 as the Teleki Pál Scout Association, renamed in 1948 as the Hungarian Scout Association. Scouting was well organized and popular in Hungary until it was officially abolished by the Communist regime in 1948, but remained nascent underground...
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