AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN AND RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA AMONG THE PRISONERS OF WAR DURING WORLD WAR I: ANALYSIS OF PRACTICES

Abstract

The article traces the peculiarities of the Austro-Hungarian and Russian propaganda on prisoners of war and interned persons. The state of the study of the topic in the modern historical literature is analyzed and unresolved aspects are indicated. The use of prisoners of war for political and military purposes was sought by both empires. In the course of the First World War, the Russian command took such a step as the formation of military units from the prisoners of war of the hostile army – Czechs, Slovaks and Serbs. These units were created not only as purely military but also political units – for the agitation of the Slavic population of Austria-Hungary to the rebellion against government. In the Habsburg monarchy also hoped to use prisoners of war to undermine the combat capability of the Russian army. For this purpose, the Austro-Hungarian camps began the differentiation of the prisoners on a national basis. Ukrainian and Polish prisoners of war of the czar’s army were under privileged conditions, better provided with food, as well as better conditions for leisure and educational practices. Significant work in this direction was deployed by Ukrainian organizations that functioned on the territory of Austria-Hungary. Political agitation was supplemented by religious, which was carried out by Ukrainian priests from Galicia and Bukovina. National-cultural propaganda of the Union of the Liberation of Ukraine (SVU) and the separation of prisoners on national grounds for the Austrian military command were a means of recruiting volunteers for front-line propaganda, organizing an uprising in the rear of the Russian army in the Caucasus and the Kuban. Imperial propaganda was carried out mainly through print media specifically designed for prisoners of war.A promising object of historical research is the study of the content and visual aspects of propaganda, the peculiarities of the cooperation of the Austro-Hungarian and Russian authorities with representatives of national organizations in organizing propaganda among prisoners of war.