From Regensburg to Paris: the World Scout Jamboree of 1947 (09/12/04)

From Regensburg to Paris: the World Scout Jamboree of 1947

by Bohdan Malaniak

Fifty-seven summers have passed since the 1947 - Sixth World Scout Jamboree - took place in Moisson, a suburb of Paris, located on the banks of the River Seine. During those years, Ukrainian displaced persons, living for the most part in post-World War II Germany, encountered many difficulties in terms of officially representing their country of origin at this international gathering of some 25,000 scouts.

Nevertheless, some 40 to 50 Ukrainian scouts did take part in this post-war jamboree and among them were three youthful Plast members from the Regensburg Displaced Persons (DP) Camp: Wolodymyr Mialkowskyj, who currently resides in Munich, Germany; Volodymyr Slobodian, who lives in the "Land Down Under," Australia; and yours truly, Bohdan Malaniak, from Glendale, Calif. We three members of the Lions troop decided, at any cost, to make our way to this gathering of scouts from all corners of the world in France.

And so, without invitation, official permission, passports and other necessary documentation, we began our uncertain journey into unknown and risky predicaments, illegal crossings of German and French borders, and the greatest of traveling adventures ever!

Our journey began as we boarded a train that would take us from Regensburg to the French occupied zone of Germany, where, luckily, we connected with a group of vacationing Ukrainians who were traveling on the River Rhine toward Koblence, a city near the German-French border. They invited us to travel with them and, when we reached the border, the crew of the boat smuggled us across - and VOILA! - there we were on French soil. As the boat was pulling away, Mr. Mialkowskyj sent a message in Morse code to the boat people saying, "SKOB" (a Ukrainian Plast greeting).

Using our compasses, we headed in the direction of Paris. We traveled by foot on wooded trails until we came to some railroad tracks, where we stopped to refresh ourselves. While we were resting, we heard the distant whistle of a train that was traveling in the direction we were headed. We realized that the train would be slowing down in order to negotiate the curve of the tracks, so we cautiously jumped onto the steps between the boxcars and one by one climbed aboard and made our way to the corner of an open boxcar filled with black coal.

After some time, the train slowed down and then came to a complete stop at a very small station in order to take on some cold, cold water on a hot, hot day. And that is where railroad officials and the local gendarme caught three stowaways." Fortunately, we had concocted a story in the event we were caught: we would pretend that somehow we were separated from the main contingency of Czechoslovak scouts traveling to the Jamboree. Luck was still with us; not only did they buy our story, but they also put us passage-free on the next train to Paris.

Before heading to the jamboree, however, we spent a couple of days sightseeing in Paris, including a visit to the Ukrainian Community Center, where we received directions to the Moisson campsite.

Our hearts were pounding with excitement as we entered a campsite bustling with activity and saw the massive number of scouts who had arrived from some 70 lands. During registration, we received our housing and meal assignments and a jamboree patch designating the name of our sub-camp - ours was the "Bourgogne." Speaking of meals, each table of eight was hosted by one French scout who served three bottles of French wine at every meal, including breakfast. This amazed us, but they explained that the French water was not fit for drinking.

On our first evening, we attended a traditional scouting campfire. The evening included skits, dances, songs, jokes and storytelling by various groups and individuals. All of a sudden an announcement was made over the loudspeaker that a surprise group of Ukrainian scouts would be the next to entertain. And then, out of the darkness running toward the campfire some 20 Ukrainian Scouts (I believe from Munich) all dressed in Ukrainian Hutsul costumes began to dance the Arkan." In our extreme excitement and pride, we jumped out of the bleachers and ran to join them in their dance. We closed that evening's campfire with all scouts standing and singing in unison, "Day is done, gone the sun, all is well." It gave me chills.

We spent most of our remaining days having a good time visiting with other scouts, learning about other scouting traditions and trading scout memorabilia. We left the jamboree with a sense of satisfaction at having fulfilled our youthful dream. Our trip home was incident free. From Paris, we headed for home by express train passing through Berlin and arriving in Regensburg toward evening.

It was dark by the time we walked home and by coincidence our Regensburg scouts were having a campfire that night. As you can imagine, we presented quite a sight when we arrived with loaded-down rucksacks, full dress uniforms and our newly acquired scout hats from Paris. I am sure the rousing welcome they gave us was heard throughout our DP camp that night - and we could not have been happier.

As an aside, many of the people who were there that evening will be attending the 15th Regensburg Reunion at Soyuzivka on September 13-16; some of them will also be remembering the 57th anniversary of the Ukrainian Scout Jamboree held in Mittenwald, Germany, on June 5-7, 1947.

Last summer while my granddaughter was visiting Paris, she tried, but was unable to find the site where the jamboree took place in Moisson. She wrote to me saying, "Dear Jajo, I am unable to locate any remains of the 1947 Jamboree site. However, I did stop at a local philately shop and found a commemorative postage stamp from the 1947 Jamboree, which I will bring home for you."

Sadly enough, to this day, Plast is not a member of the World Scout Organization. In 2007, the 21st World Scout Jamboree will celebrate the 100th anniversary of scouting in Great Britain. By that time, let us hope that Plast Ukrainian Scouting Organization will have become a member of the World Scout Organization.

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