Netherlands Youth Groups: Jonge Wacht


Figure 1.--This photograph of Jonge Wacht Pioneers was taken after World War II, May 25, 1946. The boys are decorating the graves of Allied soldiers. The caption read, "Dit is de oudst bekende foto van de in april 1945 opgerichtte Pioniers of Jonge Wacht (later Jong Nederland). Het jongensgilde bezocht de graven van drie gesneuvelde soldaten in de bossen op de Coevering. Op de achtergrond leiders Cor de Visser (links) en Jan van de Ven (rechts). Staande van links naar rechts: Theo van Boxmeer, Piet Bosch, Frits van de Biggelaar, Harry van Boxmeer, #?, #?, #?, Jan Munsters, verder onbekend. Wie zijn de andere leden?"

The Jonge Wacht was a Catholic youth organization. It was comparable to the Scouts which in the Netherlands were dominated by the majority Protestants. We do not know a great deal anout the group because most internt sites are in Dutch. We have managed to collect a little information, although wev are a little uncertain about the translation. Jonge Wacht means someting like Young Watch or Youth Guard. It was founded in 1928. It seems to have grown out of an earlier Catholic group--Patronage. The group did not operate in the Diocese of Haarlem. There a separate Catholic group was active--Kruisvaart (the Crusade). Jonge Wacht was very similar to the Scouts, but could make their own program and was not bound strict to Baden Powell's program. The Jonge Wacht boys were called Pioneers. The boys were 12-15 years old. We do not know if there was an associated Cub-age group. There was ab older group--De Jonge Werkman for youth 16 to 21 years. This actially was a group organized earlier in 1917. It was essentially an appretince group for the Roman Catholic Workers' Association. The NAZI occupation authorities banned he group (1941). There was some attemp for the leaders to operate cladetinely, but this was discinytinued in 1942 when it became to dangerous. After World War II, Jonge Wacht was reconstituted, but gradually evolved into Yong Netherlands.








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Created: 10:45 PM 11/24/2008
Last updated: 10:46 PM 11/24/2008