“With faith and honour for the homeland”

The 479th László Szőgyi Scout Troop of Győr

Abstract

In June 1933, the Hungarian Scout Association registered the 479th László Szőgyi Scout Troop as one of its members. In November 1941, the association excluded the Jewish scout troops from its membership, so after 8 years of operation, the Győr troop had to go as well. The organising body of the 479th troop was the Israelite Congregation of Győr, but its base institution was the Révai Miklós Secondary Grammar Schhol, whose newsletter reported on the troop’s activities every year. Drawing on the records of the Secondary Grammar Schhol and the Scout Library and Archives in Gödöllő, I will reconstruct the history of the 479th László Szőgyi Scout Troop of Győr: the circumstances of its foundation, the motivation for the naming, religious and secular events, the characteristics of the scouting work in Győr, as well as the spread of anti-Semitism and its consequences in the life of the troop. My research is part of the research project titled “Zsidó cserkészcsapatok története: identitás és emlékezet” (History of Jewish scout troops: identity and remembrance), which started in 2018 and aims to explore the history of the Jewish scout troops that were active between 1913 and 1948. Earlier phases of the project have highlighted the disparity between the preserved memories and documentation of the former troops from Pest and the countryside: while for the Pest troops there are documents, photographs, or even, in exceptional cases – such as the 311th Vörösmarty Scout Troop, whose members still organise meetings today – collected reminiscences, or anniversary publications, the rural troops, like the 479th László Szőgyi Scout Troop of Győr have almost fully vanished.