Külföldi Magyar Cserkészszövetség

Külföldi Magyar Cserkészszövetség
Hungarian Scout Association in Exteris
Country	11 countries worldwide
Founded	1945
Membership	4,500
Affiliation	International Forum of Hungarian Scouting
Website kmcssz.org

Külföldi Magyar Cserkészszövetség (Hungarian Scout Association in Exteris) is a Scouts-in-Exile organization created for youth of Hungarian descent. Scouting makes it possible for the young men and women to learn more about their Hungarian heritage, language and culture. The organization is dedicated to carrying out its obligations at four levels: God, their adopted countries, their fellow man and the Hungarian nation. The Boy Scout and Girl Guide units meet in conjunction with Hungarian weekend schools, which in many instances they also operate.

At the end of World War II in 1945 and during subsequent years, Scout groups were organized by Hungarian refugees in Austria and Germany. As a young Scoutmaster during 1945, Gábor Bodnár (b. 1920) worked with several Scout friends to organize troops in refugee camps in Germany. They were referred to collectively as the Hontalan Sasok or "Homeless Eagles". Bodnár led the Külföldi Magyar Cserkészszövetség from its founding in 1945 until his death in the early 1990s.

These groups from the Displaced Persons camps joined together to form the Pál Teleki Scout Association. After the start of the Cold War and the rise of the Iron Curtain, which closed the borders of Hungary in 1948, the Communist government officially disbanded Scouting within Hungary's borders. To help preserve the traditions of Hungarian Scouting, the Pál Teleki Scout Association changed its name to that of the now-banned national Hungarian Boy Scout association, Magyar Cserkészszövetség.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the refugees from World War II and the new Communist regimes in Eastern Europe were unable to return to their native country. Many emigrated to various countries. The first overseas troop was founded in 1950 in Rio de Janeiro, although it has since disbanded. Three troops founded in Caracas, Venezuela were still active in 2009. Along with Brazil and Venezuela, troops were founded in the United States, Canada, Australia, and other countries. The organization grew from about 1000 members in the early 1950s to over 6000 members in the late 1970s.