School teacher, Scout leader, writer, resistance organizer
Rudolf Plajner (5 April 1901 – 23 June 1987) was a Czech Scouting pioneer and teacher, He was declared the Chief Scout of the newly unified Czech Scouts and Guides association called Junák after its inception on 22 January 1939. Junák was abolished by force and Scouting prohibited by German State Secretary Karl Hermann Frank during the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia on 28 October 1940. After World War II, the association was reborn. His function was confirmed at the third Junák council (Czech: sněm) in 1968, and served in this function until the end of his life.[1]
In the communist period he and members of his family were persecuted. Later in this period he received several state and Scout awards due to his work for the Scouting movement, including the Silver Wolf.[citation needed]
Plajner spent the end of his life in Luka pod Medníkem (now part of Jílové u Prahy), where he wrote a series of books and writings about the history and Scout life of the Junák movement. He published mostly on Scouting topics, and is the author of the Scout handbookPřiručka pro Junáky, Junácké hry pro školy a oddíly (Junák games for schools and troops), Radosti junáckého roku (Joys of the Scout year) and Úsvit českého junáctví (Sunrise of Czech Scouting).[citation needed]
