Rostislav Polchaninov Collection

1941-2000

Rostislav Polchaninov was born on 27 January 1919 in Novocherkassk Russia where his father served on the staff of the Commander-in-Chief of the White Army. He was evacuated with his family from Sevastopol to Constantinople (Istanbul) in November 1920, finally settling in Yugoslavia. There Polchaninov finished his schooling and began studies in the law department of the University of Belgrade.

At the same time he was active in the scouting movement joining the Yugoslav Boy-Scouts in 1931 and later the Russian émigré Boy-Scouts and Sokols. During the Second World War he was one of the leaders of the Russian underground Scouting movement. At the end of the war he organized a Russian émigré Boy-Scout unit in Niedersachswerfen (near Nordhausen Germany) just days after the U. S. army liberated the town (11 April 1945). He continued this work among both Russian and Yugoslav displaced persons throughout the immediate post-war years.

In 1951 Polchaninov settled in the United States where he continued his scouting work as well as teaching in parochial schools and working for Radio Liberty (from 1967 to 1983). He also wrote articles for American and émigré newspapers and journals and published books and bulletins as well as textbooks for parochial schools.