100 lat 16 Warszawskiej Drużyny Harcerzy, Warszawa

This centenary memorial honours the sixteenth Warsaw Scout Troop. It bears the name of Zawisza Czarny. Known informally as Szesnastka, the troop is among Poland’s oldest scouting units and has retained uninterrupted leadership continuity.

Its beginnings reach back to 1911, in organisations that formed the roots of Polish scouting. Since 2001, it has belonged to the Polish Scouting Association, ZHR. The wartime chapter carries particular weight: the troop worked with teachers from the Staszic school who held clandestine classes, then joined the Gray Ranks within the Home Army’s Ochota district during 1944.

Its traditions are unusually vivid. Scouts wear woven Łowicz bands in place of neckerchiefs, Highlander-style knots on their caps, and a light-blue sixteen embroidered on a uniform shoulder. A banner presented in 1925 was buried before the Warsaw Uprising’s capitulation and was never found.

The troop still uses a replica received at camp in 1958. Notice the commemorative lettering: it connects this anniversary with service to the Republic and calls for strength of body and spirit in devotion to the homeland.