Figure 1.--
|
Figure 1.-- |
We have no information on Ukranian summer camps during the Tsarist era. There may have been some Boy Scout camps, but we have no information at this time. During the Soviet era the Young Pioneer organization operated many summer camps in the Ukraine. As far as we know these were not camps specifically for Ukranian children, but Soviet children in general. The Crimea because of the climate and access to the Black Sea was a favorite spot for these camps. An assessment of the Pioneer camps is included at this time in the general Soviet Young Pioneer camp section of HBU. After the disolution of the Soviet Union, Pioneer camps like other Soviet institutions have disappeared in the Ukraine and other post-Soviet stattes. They have been replaced by camps sponsored by a variety of children's organizations. In this regard the Ukraine fared well in the disolution of the Soviet Uniion. Large numbers of Soviet Young Pioneer camps were located in the Ukraine. Some camps are now private and some are still sponsored by state agencies. Some are entirely Ukrainian and others supported at least in part by foreign groups. Many without the substantial support once offered by the former Soviet Government operate on very limited budgets. The organizations spnsoring summer camps in the Ukraine have a wide range of philosophies and goals. Each camp has its own varied rules and activities.
We have no information on Ukranian summer camps during the Tsarist era. There may have been some Boy Scout camps, but we have no information at this time.
During the Soviet era the Young Pioneer organization operated many summer camps in the Ukraine. As far as we know these were not camps specifically for Ukranian children, but Soviet children in general. The Crimea because of the climate and access to the Black Sea was a favorite spot for these camps. An assessment of the Pioneer camps is included at this time in the general Soviet Young Pioneer camp section of HBU.
After the disolution of the Soviet Union, Pioneer camps like other Soviet institutions have disappeared in the Ukraine and other post-Soviet stattes. They have been replaced by camps sponsored by a variety of children's organizations. In this regard the Ukraine fared well in the disolution of the Soviet Uniion. Large numbers of Soviet Young Pioneer camps were located in the Ukraine. Some camps are now private and some are still sponsored by state agencies. Some are entirely Ukrainian and others supported at least in part by foreign groups. Many without the substantial support once offered by the former Soviet Government operate on very limited budgets. The organizations spnsoring summer camps in the Ukraine have a wide range of philosophies and goals. Each camp has its own varied rules and activities.
We are not sure what has happened to all of the very extensive Soviet Young Pioneer summer camps located in the Ikraine, especially the Crimea. These camps had extensive facilities and were located on much valuable real estate.
After the disolution of the Soviet Union, Pioneer camps like other Soviet institutions have disappeared in the Ukraine and other post-Soviet stattes. They have been replaced by camps sponsored by a variety of children's organizations.
Some Young Pioneer camps have suvived as part of new post-Sovuet organizations. One such camp is an international camp called Molodaya Gvardiya, or Young Guards which is located in Odessa. The camp operates 20-day sessions involving 1,500 Young Guards. The activities are designed to teach the campers about competition--a shift from the Soviet Young Pioneer focus. Molodaya Gvardiya has a rather Soviet-sounding name and even uses some Soviet-style slogans. J. Quin Martin interviewed camp director Tetyana Goncharova for an interesting article about Ukranian summer camps. Goncharova told Martin that ideology is not
part of the camp curriculum. "We have a very simple philosophy: Me, my family, my motherland, but we're not a political organization." Goncharova heads the Federation of Children's Organizations in Ukraine and told Martin that Molodaya Gvardiya programs are filling the void left by Soviet Pioneer camps. Interestingly, Molodaya Gvardiya appears to be maintaining its contacts with other post-Soviet states. Goncharova told Martin that the camp invites children from across the former Soviet Union. She stressed that "There is an emphasis on friendship among peoples. [Martin] There is no indication that children were invited from Eastern or Western European countries.
Some large employers sponsor summer camps for the children of their employees. I believe that this was the case in the old Soviet Union and has been continued on a smaller scale in the independent Ukraine. Such state sponsorship of chukldren's camps is declining. Many state employees can no longer appord to send their children to summer camp--even to state-sponsored camps. [Martin] In the old Soviet Union, most children went to summer camps at almost no costt to the parents.
The Kyiv [Presumably Kiev] transportation workers union sponsors a camp near Kyiv for the children of its workers. The transportation workers are state employees and the camp is thus state sponsored. The camp is called Sputnik-1, a good Soviet name. It is a coed camp accomodating about 800 children. There are both summer and winter sessions during school vacations. One assessment of the fact suggests that while the camp staff "no longer spew Leninist propaganda", little else has changed at the camp since the disolution of the Soviet Union. Senior counselor Anya Mazur reports that "Everything in this camp is about competition. Life is a competition, and for that reason, we're always trying to find the best." The competitions appear to be group rather than individual competions. Each Sputnik-1 camper belongs to a team that competes in everything from sports to dancing to trivia games (called "intelectual games"). This is not disimilar to American summer camps, although interesyingly there appear to be more competitions at Sputnik 1 than is common in American camps. Winning is stressed at this camp. Martin reports, "The chorus of one favorite camp song among some of the older kids is, 'We firmly believe in the heroes of sport! We need victory like we need air to breathe! We want every record assigned to our sonorous names!'" The parents pay only about 10 percent of the costs of the camp, the rest being financed by the state. State workers in the Ukraine are not well paid. As a result the the Hr 64 fee a 1 month-long session at Sputnik-1 is a substantial cost for many families. The average Kiev metro workers make about Hr 250 a month. [Martin]
Ukranian parents with money can send their children to foreign camps, often in Western Europe where there is a wide variety of choices. Here exposure to a foreign language is seen as very important.
The Artek Camp in the Crimea, was a pretigious Young Pioneer Camp in the old Soviet Union. It was open to the childen of the Soviet elite. We are not sure who owns and operates the camp today. It is no longer the children of the Soviet eliete who attend, but now it is the children of the new Ukranian elite with money to pay for it. A 3-week session costs Hr 1,000, about 3-4 times the salary of an average worker. Whoever now runs the camp, little seems to have changed since Soviet days. The camp is located on a large site on the Black Sea shore northeast of Yalta. It accomodates 1,000 campers during aech session. As in Soviet days, uniforms are required. Like many Pioneer-style camps, the program remains "brutally competitive". [Martin]
The Ukrainian Scouting movement, called "Plast" (which means "scouting" in the Ukrainian language), was founded in
1911, when what is now known ascthe Ukraine was still part of Czarist Russia (eastern Ukraine) or the Austrian-Hungarian Empire (western Ukraine). It was founded by a group of progressive, Western-oriented Ukrainian youth-leaders and educators. This was shortly after the formation of the Scouting movement in Great Britain by Lord
Baden-Powell. The movement started originally in Western Ukraine, which was then part of Austria-Hungary, but it soon spread to Central Ukraine. For example, in Kyiv (Kiev)
Scout groups were founded in 1911 and operated utill 1923. All Ukrainian nationalist organizations were suppressed by the Soviet Government. In fact the famine caused in the Ukraine during the 1920s by Stalin was not only to destroy the Kulaks (prosperous peasants), but to weakemn any Ukranian national spirit. The Ukranian Scouts, however, survived abroad as Scout units in the Ukrainian diaspora. Ukranian Scouts are known as Plast, the Cossack word for scout. The Ukranian Scout movement was founded founded before World War I, but suppressed by the Soviets after the War. Scouting has been revived in te Ukraine after independence in 1992. The Plast program emphasizes Ukrainian national identity, a sharp contrast to the Soviet Young Pioneer program. The emphasis on Ukranian identity includes g languistic, religious, and cultural aspects. Anout 10,000 Ukrainian children belong to Plast. There are Plast summer camps. We are unsure if some of these are the former Young Pioneer camps. The camp program includes some of the basic summer camp activties, but in contrast to the Youbng Pioneer program the children sing Ukrainian songs and pray. A feature incorporated from Scouting is woodcraft. Plast is primarily funded from diaspora organizations. There are also financial contributions from the Ukrainian government and the children's parents. [Martin]
The U.S. Peace Corps is most associated with programs in developing countries. Since the disolution of the Soviet Union, the Peace Corps has established programs in Easter Europe and post-Soviet states. One Peace Corps program is educational summer camps to teach Ukrainians about American culture and values. Peace Volunteers operate about two
dozen camps throughout the Ukraine each summer. Many are free of cost. Programs may vary from camp to camp. Martin describes a Pace Corps camp in Khmelnytsky that combines 2 days of sex education 5 days of baseball. Ukrainian counselors handle the sex education sessions while the American Peace Corps volunteers oversee the baseball. Martin reports that "The idea is to get kids involved in a fun summer activity that also focuses on health and teamwork." Donna Fiebelkorn, deputy director of Peace Corps Ukraine, says that the camps instill American camping traditions and the traditions of American groups like Boy Scouts. [Martin]
The Ukraine before the Russian Revolution was devotly religious, but divided among the Orthodox Christains in the east and the Roman Catholics in the west. Despite years of sometimes brutal suppression, many Ukranians retained their religious traditions. Since independence there has been an influx of missionaries, primarily from the United Sates. Most are Protesrant. Many of these missionary groups have established summer camps. These camps have a two-part focus. One is to help tarin misionaries and in part to develop Ukranian-language skills. The other is providing a religiously oriented summer camp experience for the children who are often from low-income families taht could not otherwise not afford to go to camp. [Martin]
Independence has meant that the Ukraine is now much more open to foreigners. As a result, some foreign-language camps have been established. Marin describes the English-language Kyiv International Summer Camp. It is a day camp sponsored by the employees of the U.S. Embassy, but also has chukdren from other embassies in Kiev as well as many Ukrainian children. The camp was established in 1997 and costs $45 for a 1 week session. [Martin]
Martin, J. Quin. "Camping for the New Pioneers", Augus 16, 2001.
Smith, Hedrick. The Russians (New York: Ballanentine, 1975), 775p.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main summer camp country page]
[Introduction]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Photography]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Satellite sites]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]