Page - 144 - in Österreich-Ungarns imperiale Herausforderungen - Nationalismen und Rivalitäten im Habsburgerreich um 1900

© 2020, V&R unipress GmbH, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783847110606 – ISBN E-Lib: 9783737010603 alities, includingUkrainians.10TheGermanmobilisationofethnicitywaspartof a larger strategy, championed by Undersecretary (Secretary fromNovember 1916)ofState forForeignAffairsArthurZimmerman,ofglobalising thewarby fomenting revolution in theBritish andRussian empires. “Was es gab”,writes FrankGolczewski, “wareineOption imRahmenderRevolutionierungspolitik, die sich interessierte Beamte und Politiker offenhielten”11. It was also accom- paniedbya lengthydiscussiononUkraine intheGermanpublic sphere.12This policy thuscontributed to the furtherentanglingof theUkrainianQuestion,as Ukrainian nationalist leaders quickly realised they could play Berlin against Vienna inorder togain furtherconcessions. Internment,Refugee, andPOWCamps TheHabsburg authorities used the opportunity provided by thewar to crack down hard on Russophile Ukrainian activities. As they retreated westwards throughGalicia in theautumnof1914,Habsburg troopsperpetratedatrocities against Ukrainians suspected of harbouring pro-Russian sympathies, antici- pating the general descent into violence in the province.13 The sight of large numbersofpeoplehangedforspyingasawarningexamplebecamecommonon many a market square across Galician towns and villages.14 Often these ex- ecutionswerebasedonindividualstoriesofdubiousprovenance,suchasthatof theSokalUniatepriest’s communicationwithRussiantroops throughasystem of flags.AsChristophMickhas arguedpersuasively, such stories often shaped the perceptions and interpretations ofAustrianmilitary units,manyofwhich wereunfamiliarwith thecomplicated interethnic relations inEastGalicia.15 Ukrainians considered Russophile whowere not hanged on the spot were interned in a concentrationcampatThalerhofnearGraz, oneof the first such campsonEuropeansoil,whoseconstructionbeganon9September1914.On11 November, the camphoused6,680prisoners; overall,more than16,000people 10 SeppoZetterberg,DieLigaderFremdvölkerRusslands1916–1918.EinBeitragzuDeutschlands antirussischem Propagandakrieg unter den Fremdvölkern Russlands im Ersten Weltkrieg (Studiahistorica,8),Helsinki1978. 11 FrankGolczewski,DeutscheundUkrainer1914–1939,Paderborn2010,p. 76–77. 12 Golczewski,DeutscheundUkrainer (seenote11),p. 218–239. 13 Hannes Leidinger, “Der Einzug des Galgens und desMordes”. Die parlamentarischen Stel- lungnahmen polnischer und ruthenischer Reichsratsabgeordneter zu den Massenhinrich- tungen inGalizien1914/15, in:Zeitgeschichte33/5(2006),p.235–260. 14 Manfried Rauchensteiner, The FirstWorldWar and the End of the HabsburgMonarchy, 1914–1918,Vienna2014,p. 266. 15 ChristophMick, Lemberg, Lwjw, L’viv, 1914–1947.Violence andEthnicity in aContested City (CentralEuropeanStudies),WestLafayette2016,p. 29. BorislavChernev144