Page - 820 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

820 Camps Not only foreigners were interned, however, since the suspicion of hostility towards the Monarchy was directed to a far greater extent against certain groups of non-for- eign nationals. Some of them were to be found in lists that had already been compiled years before the war, so that it was now only a question of setting up card indexes. At the very top were Ruthenians accused of being Russophiles. Those foreigners re- garded as hostile, the suspects and those who had been evacuated from the war zone had to be repeatedly transported elsewhere due to the overcrowding of the prison houses, garrison courts and emergency accommodation, and in this way the first in- ternment and confinement stations were filled up in Esztergom in Hungary, in Vi- enna, in Karlstein an der Thaya and in Göttweig. At the end of August 1914, 3,600 internees were already recorded in the Austrian half of the Empire. The Army High Command, however, and above all the War Surveillance Office, which was primarily responsible for the internees, made sure that more were added. Thus, 6,700 Rutheni- ans regarded as Russophiles were brought from the deployment and war zones in the north-east to Graz-Thalerhof and Terezín (Theresienstadt). More than 3,400 Serbs were interned in Arad and 600 in Bihać.1933 Only in very few cases was an attempt made to verify whether the suspicion against the deportees was justified. They were dispatched ‘as a precaution’, as Count Herbert Herberstein noted with a shake of his head. ‘Among them were better people, women and girls and small children. […] I would just like to know what we imagine will happen if we ever get Galicia back. […] We cannot presume that the people treated in this way will simply become good and loyal subjects again.’1934 The third offensive against Serbia led to a further swell in the number of civilian internees.1935 This was then followed by the war against Italy. To a certain extent, the events of August 1914 repeated themselves. Thousands of Austrians lingered in Italy and were interned, whilst thousands of ‘imperial Italians’ resided in Austria-Hungary. In Cisleithania alone, 11,600 men from the new enemy who were fit for military ser- vice were counted. Most of them had been listed in registers even before May 1915, together with the ‘politically unreliable elements’ who then met with internment fol- lowing the Italian declaration of war on Austria-Hungary. They were sent to Leibnitz, Linz, Waidhofen an der Thaya, Steinklamm, Oberhollabrunn and Hainburg.1936 Bar- racks were built and camps set up. If anyone had funds at their disposal, they had to pay for their livelihood largely out of their own pocket. The destitute were maintained. In order that they did not remain idle and also contributed something to their upkeep, they were employed and forced to work. All men who were not eligible for military service and had not yet reached the age of 50 were to work. This regulation affected roughly a third of the internees and those otherwise confined. In May and June 1915, 5,700 ‘political unreliables’ from the Austrian Littoral and Trentino were deported into the interior of the Dual Monarchy. There were sent above