“Mury” – “The Walls”, the clandestine Girl Scouts group organized by young Polish women; political prisoners in the concentration camp in Ravensbrück. The group, led by Józefa Kantor – the Scouts’ Group Leader, was established on 31st November, 1941.
At first, “Mury” consisted of small number of patriotic girl scouts. Then, later on, it grew up to 5 units with about one hundred young women. Their main activities included: organizing food and medical supplies for the sick fellow prisoners, moral, psychological and religious support for the group members and other women in the concentration camp.
The members of the group held meetings in various blocks in the concentration camp regularly where they were receiving not only new tasks and daily instructions from the group leaders, but also acquiring a scouting knowledge and high school education from fellow prisoners who had been experienced academic teachers incarcerated in the concentration camp as political prisoners.
It is unprecedented case of such activities in such circumstances conducted by Girl Scouts during the Second World War. Regretfully, it is mostly forgotten chapter from the history of the Girl Scouts movement.
See also
