Plast - Plast Outside of Ukraine

Plast Outside of Ukraine

After World War II, a number of independent Plast Ukrainian Scouting organizations were founded in the West by Ukrainians from Western Ukraine (which was under Polish rule until 1939). This phase of Plast began in Germany and Austria in 1945 in various Displaced Persons Camps, and as various members of Plast eventually ended up in Canada, the United States, the UK, Australia and elsewhere, various émigré organizations were founded between 1946 and 1951. Until the fall of the Soviet Union, these represented the totality of Plast organizations, and were aligned to a supranational organization called KUPO (Conference of Ukrainian Plast Organizations), which convened every four years and elected an operational "Holovna Plastova Starshyna" (HPB) and a board called "Holovna Plastova Rada" (HPR), and would also name the head Plastun ("Nachalniy Plastun"), typically a long-term or lifetime, and somewhat ceremonial position. The current, and third, "Nachalniy Plastun" is US-based (originally from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) Dr. Lubomyr Romankiw, his predecessor was US-based Dr. Yuriy Starosols'kiy, who succeeded Severyn Levytsky ("Siriy Lev"), who was inaugurated in post-World War II Germany.

Thus, Plast has existed as an émigré organization in:

  • Canada, with major contingents or "stanytsi" in Toronto, Hamilton, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa and elsewhere, and a campsite in Grafton, Ontario, since 1948. Another campsite is located in Baturyn, Quebec.
  • the United States:
    • "Stanytsi" (Plast divisions) in New York City which is the superior stanytsia to all, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Buffalo, Syracuse, Hartford, Rochester, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Newark, Passaic, Albany, Baltimore, Denver, Colorado, Boston, Los Angeles, California, St. Petersburg, Florida, Seattle, Washington, Kerhonkson, New York, Hempstead and Yonkers, New York.
    • Defunct, dormant or inactive "stanytsi" in Trenton; Jersey City; Utica; New Haven; Lorain, Ohio; and Elizabeth, New Jersey
    • Plast Museum in Parma, Ohio
    • Plast Campsites ("oseli") in Buffalo ("Noviy Sokil"), East Chatham, New York ("Vovcha Tropa"), Middlefield, Ohio ("Pysanij Kamin"), Connecticut ("Bobrivka"), Chicago (Round Lake), and Detroit ("Zelenyj Yar").
    • Campsite for camp leaders ("Lisova Shkola" and "Shkola Bulavnykh") in Hunter, New York
  • Australia, with "stanytsi" in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Sydney and Victoria,
  • the United Kingdom (London, Manchester)
  • Germany (Munich)
  • Brazil
  • Argentina (Buenos Aires)

To a less-organized extent:

  • France
  • Belgium (Antwerp)
  • Poland (more recently)
  • Czech Republic (more recently)
  • Slovakia (more recently)
  • Lithuania (more recently)
  • Latvia (more recently)
  • Kazakhstan (more recently)

The mission of Plast in exile was amended somewhat, with objectives to maintain and perpetuate Plast and Ukrainian culture and identity throughout the Ukrainian diaspora.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, in addition to Ukraine, Plast units were formed in Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Kazakhstan and the Czech Republic. In the middle of 1998, a two-week YUMPZ (Ukrainian: ЮМПЗ, International Anniversary Plast Gathering) was held in Winnipeg, Canada that brought Plast contingents from France, Germany, Argentina, the United States, Canada, Ukraine, and other countries. Given that only the organization in Ukraine is a "National" organization, the other Plast units ("krayi") continue to collaborate via KUPO and HPB (now moved to Ukraine), but with Plast in Ukraine having its own status.

Read more about this topic:  Plast