Summer Pioneer Camp As Organised by the Ministry of the Interior

During the onset of the so-called normalisation of society and, generally, in 1968–1989, just like after 1948, attention was paid to organising as many children’s and youth leisure activities as possible, emphasising their political and ideological education. This was to be helped by the involvement of a great number of children in a youth organisation under the control of the Communist Party. With teenagers, the need was stressed to support their relationship to the political system in Czechoslovakia as instructed by the Marxist-Leninist teaching, and it was also important to indoctrinate them from an early age with a “positive” attitude to the Soviet Union. After 1970, school-age teenagers were organised in the newly established “Pioneer Organisation of the Socialist Youth Union” (PO SSM), a follow-up to the former “Pioneer Organisation of the Czechoslovak Youth Union” (PO CSM) and Czechoslovak Youth Union (CSM), the structures of which fell apart in 1968–1969.

It was very important to influence children not only in schools but also elsewhere; during summer holiday, for instance, by organising pioneer camps. Their organisation changed over time. Approximately from the 1960s, they were held under control of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement (ROH) by their parents’ employers. Besides the contemporary political and ideological education, these camps emphasised the acquisition of various skills, the learning of the nature, and also accentuated physical exercises. Every camp turn had a selected adventurous, historical or fairytale topic. Along with this, however, there was a requirement, in many cases merely formal, to interconnect these games with the historical milestones of the so-called “workers’ movement” or with the topics linked to the “Czechoslovak-Soviet friendship”. This was obviously ruled by the ideology of the Communist Party that was in power.

The archival of the month is part of the Surveillance Department collection (code A 25, inv. no. 990) and relates to the organisation of pioneer camps for the children of Ministry of the Interior’s staff and professional solders in the multi-purpose recreational facility of the Surveillance Department (codenamed Department IV) in Chotoun, near Jilove u Prahy, in 1987–1989. It shows the first of these camps, namely its preparations in the summer of 1987. This material also includes the so-called ideological motivation plan for the years 1988–1991 which was to be respected when preparing all-camp games. An interesting point herein is the emphasis on the appropriate “political profile” of the staff preparing the camp, and the necessity to approve their participation as a camp staff.

Have a great summer!