Seite - 831 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

On Ivans, Serbs and Wops 831 In Mauthausen, the Italians did not have any blankets and many soldiers had neither shirts nor underwear.1977 It may be the case that the Austro-Hungarians still wanted them to be made to feel the ‘treason’ of 1915. It is more probable, however, that even  – and especially  – the prisoners of war were not spared the progressive barbarisation. Only in April 1918, i.e. with the arrival of the warmer season, did the situation im- prove somewhat. At this point in time, the population of the Sigmundsherberg camp alone, the largest of the six prisoner of war camps occupied by Italians, was 120,000 prisoners, of which 20,000 remained in the camp itself ; the rest were deployed for work outside the camp. Among those who stayed behind were more than 5,000 sick.1978 The increased deployment of the Italians for work was not connected to the overcrowding only being manageable in this way. The peace negotiations with Russia and Romania were decisive and restored the hope that there would soon be an exchange of prisoners. Until this happened, however, both Russians and Romanians had to accustom them- selves to enduring prisoner of war captivity in the same way as Serbs, Montenegrins and Italians. In Austria-Hungary there were around 50 prisoner of war camps. They were not  – with one exception  – divided into officers’ camps (Offizierslager) and main camps (Stammlager), as they would be in the Second World War, though there was a separa- tion of the respective accommodation itself for officers and soldiers. The main camps provided the basis for countless generally ad hoc satellite camps, which were estab- lished in the vicinity of the front near mines and industrial complexes, near business enterprises and, above all, in the countryside. The fact that Mauthausen, Terezín (Ther- esienstadt) and Oświęcim (Auschwitz) are among the names of the camps, but also Strnišče (Sterntal) near Ptuj (Pettau), appears  – at least in retrospect  – to be a giveaway, but it invites comparisons that are inadmissible. Overview of the Prisoner of War Camps in Austria and Hungary1979 Military Command Area Camp Vienna Sigmundsherberg Spratzern near St. Pölten Hart near Amstetten Mühling Purgstall Wieselburg Graz Knittelfeld Feldbach/Mühldorf Lebring Klagenfurt Strnišče (Sterntal) near Ptuj