History of our group

Introduction
Group II, or the Graaf Folke Bernadotte Group, was founded on March 31, 1916, and therefore has existed for nearly 110 years. It is impossible to write down everything our group has experienced over all those years and who was involved. Yet it is nice to read small pieces of history and realize what has happened. Below we share the story of 100 years of Group II.

The beginning (1910 – 1920)
On December 10, 1911, a propaganda meeting was held in Eindhoven. The Eindhoven notary’s son A. Fens had become acquainted with the scouting movement in Amsterdam and decided to set up an organization in Eindhoven. That same evening, 20 enthusiastic boys signed up, and on January 5, 1912, the Eindhoven Section was officially founded. The first group was initially called ‘The Scouts of Eindhoven’, later Group I, and then the Hopman-Fens Group.

In 1916, our group was founded. A two or three new patrols were formed exclusively from H.B.S. students. Troops I and II operated mostly together during the early period. For example, the magazine *De padvinder* reports that both groups celebrated the annual festival together in 1917, and at that time both groups consisted of three patrols of eight members each.

Scout huts
It is not entirely clear where Group II held troop meetings. We probably started on the Vestdijk. At the place where the Van der Meulen Ansems garage now stands, there used to be a matchstick factory where groups I and II were housed. Whenever possible, they let the nice weather lure them outside and held troop meetings in the so-called Scouts’ forest, which was later called the scout hut terrain. In 1917, Prince Hendrik visited the room on the Vestdijk and later dined with Fens on the Keizersgracht.

When the room on the Vestdijk became too crowded in the 1930s, hopman H. Garvelink rented a space above an Edah branch on the St. Jorislaan for one guilder per week. This space was located directly above the store, which was advantageous. Through a hole in the floor (ceiling), speculaas figures could be fished from the store for Sinterklaas. The stay there was short-lived, as they got the opportunity to move to Voorterweg. The empty cigar factory there was better suited to house the group. Group I also moved there.

Split: Group I and Group II (1920 – 1940)
Although the groups I and II seem to have been often together in the early years, it is also mentioned that this cooperation only concerned the annual festivals. The groups mainly differed in members; otherwise, why would Group II have been started? According to some, Group I had mainly Catholic members, Group II had a more mixed character. The main difference lay elsewhere. Group I mainly had ‘ordinary’ scouts and Group II ‘better’ scouts. The scouts of Group I came from simpler backgrounds and mostly worked. Group II counted many secondary school students. That difference lay in where the members came from: for Group II it was mainly from the Municipal Lyceum.

The first cub scout pack
The founding of the first pack simply started with ‘the first cub’. In 1922, the first cub appeared in Eindhoven, Leo Raymakers. As an 8-year-old boy, he joined Troop II as “the cub of Eindhoven,” as he then formed the entire cub branch locally. And since a one-man pack is difficult to maintain, he participated in all troop exercises in cub uniform. “It was sometimes not easy to be out with those older boys, but then the tall, tough patrol leader of the Spechtenpatrol, Piet Eliëns, was always ready to help.” Piet Eliëns later went to the cub leadership as Kaa (a Jungle Book name). We fly through time.

The first troop was founded in Group I, the Kempenzwervers. Later, in 1932, a group of pioneers was formed in Group II, the Duthmella troop. This group was named after the Dommel.

The war and after
During the war (when the group was at Voorterweg), scouting was banned. The room at Voorterweg was requisitioned and could no longer be used by the scouts. During the war years, N.P.V. groups were banned, but the Catholic groups could continue part of their activities until 1943. In that year, all their possessions were confiscated by the Germans for the Hitler Youth and Jeugdstorm.

Immediately after the war, scouts appeared everywhere again. In 1945, 19 groups jointly took action to assist their colleagues in Amsterdam. They collected large amounts of food and shoes. Interest in scouting was very high after the war. New groups appeared everywhere to meet that demand.

Under the leadership of hopman H.J. Touw, our group restarted after the war. The troop room was then in Gagelstraat. After that room burned down, Group II moved to Harmoniestraat. There stood the radiator factory owned by our hopman. In 1946, he sold his factory to move to England. Mr. L. Schoffelmeer became troop leader and remained so until 1958. During this period, we also received our current name: Graaf Folke Bernadotte Group. All groups’ number names were replaced by word names. We had to leave the factory and temporarily had no shelter. The cubs gathered in the room at Voorterweg, where Groups I, V, and IX also operated. The troop came there occasionally, alternated with outdoor meetings behind the observatory.

Graaf Folke Bernadotte
Count Folke Bernadotte is the namesake of Scouting Graaf Folke Bernadotte Group 2.

Folke Bernadotte was born in 1885 and became both Count and officer during his life. He was a first cousin of the Swedish king. In 1937, he became leader of the Swedish scouting federation. He was very interested in various sports: Folke Bernadotte was a good horse rider and chairman of the Swedish swimming federation and the Swedish shooting federation.

During World War II, he succeeded through negotiations with Himmler in freeing 30,000 prisoners from German concentration camps. The Swedish Red Cross was allowed to provide aid in the concentration camps together with Danish and Norwegian prisoners. Swedish women who had married a German before the war could, thanks to Folke Bernadotte’s negotiations, return to Sweden while retaining Swedish citizenship. Folke Bernadotte was also offered the German capitulation by Himmler, but this was not accepted by the Allies because the surrender was offered without the knowledge of the German leadership.

In 1946, Folke Bernadotte became chairman of the Swedish Red Cross. In 1948, he was selected as a United Nations negotiator in Palestine. There he mediated to a short ceasefire and made a peace plan. However, both Israel and the United Arab Emirates rejected the proposal.

Count Folke Bernadotte was assassinated in 1948 by STERN, a Jewish terrorist organization. They believed he sympathized too much with the Arabs. Afterwards, the Folke Bernadotte Foundation for International Mutual Understanding and Humanitarian Affairs was established.

That same year, the leadership of the Eindhoven scouting group “Group II” decided to take this man’s name as the group name, and the group was renamed Scouting Graaf Folke Bernadotte Group 2. Permission for the naming was obtained from the Swedish Embassy.