Page - 818 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918
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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
THE FIRST WORLD WAR
and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918
- Title
- THE FIRST WORLD WAR
- Subtitle
- and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918
- Author
- Manfried Rauchensteiner
- Publisher
- Böhlau Verlag
- Location
- Wien
- Date
- 2014
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-3-205-79588-9
- Size
- 17.0 x 24.0 cm
- Pages
- 1192
- Categories
- Geschichte Vor 1918
Table of contents
- 1 On the Eve 11
- 2 Two Million Men for the War 49
- 3 Bloody Sundays 81
- 4 Unleashing the War 117
- 5 ‘Thank God, this is the Great War!’ 157
- 6 Adjusting to a Longer War 197
- 7 The End of the Euphoria 239
- 8 The First Winter of the War 283
- 9 Under Surveillance 317
- 10 ‘The King of Italy has declared war on Me’ 355
- 11 The Third Front 383
- 12 Factory War and Domestic Front, 1915 413
- 13 Summer Battle and ‘Autumn Swine’ 441
- 14 War Aims and Central Europe 469
- 15 South Tyrol : The End of an Illusion (I) 497
- 16 Lutsk :The End of an Illusion (II) 521
- 17 How is a War Financed ? 555
- 18 The Nameless 583
- 19 The Death of the Old Emperor 607
- 20 Emperor Karl 641
- 21 The Writing on the Wall 657
- 22 The Consequences of the Russian February Revolution 691
- 23 Summer 1917 713
- 24 Kerensky Offensive and Peace Efforts 743
- 25 The Pyrrhic Victory : The Breakthrough Battle of Flitsch-Tolmein 769
- 26 Camps 803
- 27 Peace Feelers in the Shadow of Brest-Litovsk 845
- 28 The Inner Front 869
- 29 The June Battle in Veneto 895
- 30 An Empire Resigns 927
- 31 The Twilight Empire 955
- 32 The War becomes History 983
- Epilogue 1011
- Afterword 1013
- Acknowledgements and Dedication 1019
- Notes 1023
- Selected Printed Sources and Literature 1115
- Index of People and Places 1155