"There were great many of them, but the best experience I have is from Podkopná Lhota in 1969. Our group was there on a winter trip. It was on February 22, on the Sisterhood Day, and the girls were taking their oaths there. Just imagine a barren meadow, 15 metres long, and a campfire in the middle. It was in the evening and all was quiet. Those who were present lined up quietly, and the girls who were to take the oath were approaching on a forest path covered with snow. I was the group leader at that time, and I was the one to whom they made the promise."
"After 1968, a pressure began to be exerted upon us to quit scouting and join Pioneer." (A Communist organization for Czechoslovak youth.) "They were coming to our house and persuading us. We summoned a council meeting, and we discussed whether to join them or not. We eventually agreed that we would not leave the children. Even brother Plajner wrote that we ought not to leave them at that time. We insisted that we would stay where we were, but that we would change our name to 'campers' troop.' At first they permitted this, but gradually they liked it less and less and they were looking for elements of scouting there. We were not allowed to use the fleur de lis or Boys Scout scarves. But it all paid off, because scouting as such has remained ingrained in the children's consciousness and it became fundamental for the restoration in 1989."
"In order to get to the camp, we needed to order a railroad car. We loaded all our stuff into it, and we used this cargo car for our own transport as well. That was something amazing for the kids: riding in a railroad car at night, sleeping there, and reaching Budišov nad Budišovkou in the morning. We had to keep an eye on them, of course, because the car doors were open. And you know the kids, they all wanted to sit on the ramp. They attached our car to a passenger train bound for Přerov, and in Přerov they reconnected us to a train heading to Ostrava, and in the morning we arrived there."
"I cannot say that there were disputes between us and the Pioneers. Who had most problems with it were the old hard-core Party members, who were coming for inspections to see if we didn’t engage in any anti-state activities. As for the kids, they actually didn’t care. In 1968, we offered to cooperate with them, but it was not possible, because these were two opposing ideologies. This was east and west. Moreover, the leaders in Pioneer were under the political influence and pressure to do what the Party leadership wanted."
František „Steve“ Pavlík was born on January 16, 1925, and has spent all his life in Napajedla in Moravia. In 1940, he was briefly a member of the local Boy Scout troop, but the scouting movement became banned in Czechoslovakia later that same year. In spite of this, the boys continued their activities during the war, registered as one of Mladý Hlasatel (children‘s magazine) clubs. They were looking for loopholes in the regulations at the time, which would at least allow them to keep their meetings and other activities. In 1945, František Pavlík was involved in the restoration of the scouting movement in Napajedla, becoming the troop‘s leader. However, Boy Scouts became banned again after the communist coup in February 1948. Pavlík actively participated in all three instances when the restoration of the Boy Scouts‘ organization was taking place: during the political thaw in 1968, a short period of revival of the Junák organization (Czech Boy Scouts) which lasted three years, and then during its final restoration in 1989. Mr. Pavlík has always strived to ensure the Boy Scout education for children, and without him, the scouting in Napajedly would not be what it is today. Steve was a member of Svojsík‘s troop, an honorary unit of old scouts, and a holder of several scouting decorations. He died on September 13th, 2016.
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