“It was a real fine mess there. Dad said: ‘You know what? Here it’s from ten to five. I’m going to put you in a real scout group.’ And then he led me one floor – I can’t remember if it was up or down. 10 was on the third floor.” – “In that tower.” – “Or the second one. I think it was the second one. And: ‘I’m going to put you in a real scout group.’ And he took me to Jestřáb. He said: ‘Look Jestřáb, I’m bringing you a new member.’ – ‘What kind of member is he?’ – ‘My very own.’ – ‘Alright then, I’ll take him. He’s got a few camps behind him, doesn’t he?’ He took me by the hand: ‘Come on, the Hobby group are just about to have a meeting.’ And he took me – there were four groups. It was the White Group, where the oldest boys were. Then the Tigers. The Bears. And the Hobbies.”
Jiří Vodenka, known among his fellow scouts as Jíra, was born on 31 December 1922 in Zbraslavice near Kutná Hora. Both of his parents were active in scouting, his father Václav Vodenka, a professional book printer, was the leader of a scouting group – the Prague Tens. His family originally lived in Prague‘s Old Town but later moved to Strahov, where, under the Marian ramparts, scout clubs were being built. During 1937-1939 Jiří Vodenka was a member of the famous Dvojka (Two), the scouting group led by Jaroslav Folgar. In 1938 he took part in a scout camp in Synevyr in Ruthenia. During the war, he worked as a book printer and later underwent forced labor on the construction site of the gas holder in Vysočany. Together with his father, he co-authored the camp handbook Nauka o stopování (The Art of Hitchhiking). He died on 3 February 2020..
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