Humanitarian Activities of the Zemstvos of Kharkiv Province During the First World War (1914–1917)

Abstract

The article discusses the humanitarian activities of the zemstvos of Kharkiv province during the First World War. In military time, the whole life of the country has changed, including the tasks of various governing and self-government have been changed or expanded. Without studying the activities of the zemstvo and other public and political institutions of the period under study, in our opinion, it is impossible to objectively reconstruct the realities of the life of the population of the empire in the conditions of the First World War. The purpose of the article is to define the essence and nature of the humanitarian activity of one of the leading Ukrainian Zemstvos – Kharkiv Province. The article discusses such spheres of humanitarian activity as helping patients and wounded soldiers, work with refugees, helping the families of military personnel and disabled of war. As a study showed, in wartime, zemstvos demonstrated their own ability to adapt to the challenges of everyday life, and not only adapt, but also ability to give their activity a new meaning, enrich their tools of socially significant spheres with new methods of activity. In a short time, due to the funds of the All-Russian Zemsky Union, the provincial zemstvo and the public attracted by it, a sufficient number of places in the medical institutions of the province were organized, the sanitary security of the region was provided. Zemstvos faced a constant shortage of funds to be paid for their activities by the treasury and were forced to rely on their own sources of income. Adherence to the interests of local residents sometimes contradicted the need to implement unpopular government decisions, which in turn negatively affected the authority of the local zemstvo. Not all tasks in the field of socio-economic well-being of the region have been completed. But it is only fair to note that the activities of the zemstvos of Kharkiv province during the First World War showed a number of signs of civic responsibility and humanism.