Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

general of division Divisional general is a general officer rank who commands an army division. The rank originates from the French Revolutionary System, and is used by a number of countries. The rank is above a brigade general, and normally below an army corps ...

Carl

Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , ) and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and in ...

von Seckendorff was one of the founders of

Scouting in Germany The Scout movement in Germany consists of a multitude of associations and federations with about 260,000 Scouts and Guides. History Scouting in Germany started in 1909. After World War I, German Scouting became involved with the German Youth Mo ...

, along with Maximilian Bayer and Elise von Hopffgarten. He was the first "Reichsfeldmeister" (''fieldleader of the realm'') of the Deutscher Pfadfinderbund after World War I. In February 1912, Bayer, von Seckendorff, Elise von Hopffgarten, and Alexander Lion authored "Pfadfinderbuch für junge Mädchen" (A Scout Book for Girls). In its effort to make young women more independent, it was free from patriotic or religious sentiment, and contained references to the

women's movement The feminist movement, also known as the women's movement, refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for radical and liberal reforms on women's issues created by inequality between men and women. Such issues are women's ...

Family

Seckendorff was born into the Seckendorff family, an old noble family of

Franconia Franconia ( ; ; ) is a geographical region of Germany, characterised by its culture and East Franconian dialect (). Franconia is made up of the three (governmental districts) of Lower Franconia, Lower, Middle Franconia, Middle and Upper Franco ...

. He had three daughters: Marianne, Ilse and Erika.

After World War I

With the end of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the Scouting movement in Germany strove to reintroduce a general structure, and reorganized the Pfadfinderbund in 1918. The first years of the newly formed Bund were marked by a recurring conflict about the orientation, between the "old" members that were active before World War I, and the "new" ones. While the old leading members almost all served in the German military during the war and wanted to rebuild the Pfadfinderbund in its old form, the new, progressive powers leaned more towards the

Wandervogel ''Wandervogel'' (plural: ''Wandervögel''; English: "Wandering Bird") is the name adopted by a popular movement of German youth groups from 1896 to 1933, who protested against industrialization by going to hike in the country and commune with na ...

as being more back-to-nature orientated and less nationalistic. This two main factions were the "jungdeutschen" (''young German'') and the "neudeutschen" (''new German'') Scouts. The latter adopted the so-called Prunner Gelöbnis (''Vow of Prunn'') in 1919, which became the German Scouts' epigraph. The first "Reichsfeldmeister" (''fieldleader of the realm'') after the war was Carl Freiherr von Seckendorff, chosen in

Eisenach Eisenach () is a Town#Germany, town in Thuringia, Germany with 42,000 inhabitants, west of Erfurt, southeast of Kassel and northeast of Frankfurt. It is the main urban centre of western Thuringia, and bordering northeastern Hesse, Hessian re ...

in 1919. While von Seckendorff was of the old leadership generation, both Scouting factions remained in the union.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seckendorff, Carl Freiherr von Scouting and Guiding in Germany 1874 births 1948 deaths