Page - 818 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

818 Camps From 1917, repeated attempts were made to forcibly repatriate those who had de- fied a voluntary return. These attempts were not very successful, however, since the total number of refugees could be reduced by only around 100,000 people over the course of an entire year. Finally, a conflict continued that had been smouldering for a long time : the governors, municipalities and mayors repeatedly attempted to carry out forced evacuations. They were not least under the increasing pressure of the respective local population, which did not tire of expressing its rejection of the refugees. They were ‘parasites’ and to blame for the ‘unhygienic conditions’ and thus for the outbreak of contagious diseases. They, and above all the Jews among them, were forcing up prices and supplying the black market.1927 They were regarded as work-shy, but were expected conversely to heed the ban on work that was effective, for example, in Vienna.1928 Here, the established lawyers, among others, had successfully resisted the admission of their Jewish colleagues as lawyers, since they simply feared the competition. The door had been opened for anti-Semitic rhetoric. But there were also other targets. When a law ‘regarding the protection of war refugees’ was discussed in the Austrian House of Representatives on 22 July 1917, it was the correspondent, Dr Janez Evan- gelist Krek, who  – somewhat polemically  – stated : ‘I am surprised that not all refugees have turned into criminals. I admire their passive bravery in enduring the hardships. I admire that they have not completely despaired of everything, since […] these people have indeed been discouraged by the state, by justice, by the law, by order, by the world, by God.’1929 The House of Representatives adopted the bill. Until the parliamentary process was over and the Law for the Protection of War Refugees could actually come into effect, however, another half a year passed.1930 The law changed nothing in respect of efforts to get rid of the refugees, however. Let the Galicians and, above all, the Jews return to where they had come from ! The meth- ods used to induce them to return home oscillated between the application of enacted regulations, promises, financial contributions, aid cuts, eviction and sheer hatred. There was nothing left of the initial sympathy and understanding. If there was something akin to a feeling of community, then it was limited to a most narrow group of people who shared the same fate and companions in misfortune. Feelings of thankfulness did not surface. The return transports of the refugees appeared, therefore, at least as dramatic as the forced evacuations. The report of the Imperial-Royal Governor of Galicia, Witold von Korytowksi, from the end of December 1915 made this all too clear : around 70,000 square kilometres had been ravaged. Approximately seven million people had been affected by the devastation and some of them were left without any possessions. Evi- dently, however, this was not seen as a reason to abandon the repatriation. Galicia had to be rebuilt, whatever the cost. The reports that arrived at the beginning of 1918 to the effect that hundreds of repatriated refugees were dying every day in East Galicia1931