Russland und seine österreichisch-ungarischen Kriegsgefangenen (1914-1918) by Reinhard s> Nachtigal (review)

Abstract

536 SEER, 83, 3, 2005 has provided a valuable narrative account and a penetrating intellectual study. Nottingham ROGER BARTLETT Nachtigal, Reinhard. Russland undseineosterreichisch-ungarischen Kriegsgefangenen (I9I4-I9I8). Verlag BernhardAlbert Greiner,Remshalden,2003. 39I pp. Illustrations.Tables. Figures.Maps. Notes. Bibliography.Index. ?54-00? WITH the recent publicationof specialiststudiesby Alon Rachamimov, POWs and the GreatWar: Captivity on theEastemn Front(New York, 2002), Hannes Leidingerand Verena Moritz, Gefangenschaft, Revolution, Heimkehr: DieBedeutung derKriegsgefangenenproblematik far die Geschichte desKommunismus in Mittel- und OsteuropaI9I7-I920 (Vienna, 2003), as well as Reinhard Nachtigal's own shorterbook on the Murmanskrailway,DieMurmanbahn: Die Verkehrsanbindung eineskriegswichtigen HafensunddasArbeitspotential derKriegsgefangenen (Grunbach, 200I), therehas been a bumpercrop of excellent bookson prisonersof waron the easternfront.In his latest, exhaustivelyresearchedmonograph, Nachtigal makesa notable contributionto the historyof the FirstWorldWarby focusing on the soldiersof the Austro-Hungarianarmywho were takenprisonerby the Russians.He tapsa richsourcebase, includingmemoirliteratureandfictional representations as well as the abundant material in Russian archives. His overarchingtheme is that the fate of the POWs was closelybound up with the fortunes of tsarist Russia. Captured enemy troops posed immense logistical problems,but they also provided the tsariststatewith opportunitiesto exploit their labour and (Austrian POWs excepted) their perceived disloyalty to Vienna. Nachtigal's book is divided into five sections. The first deals with the military and institutional background to the capture of Austro-Hungarian troops by the Russian army. Estimatesof the total number range from two to two and a half million. According to Nachtigal, some soldiers, particularly Serbians,gave themselvesup at an earlyopportunity,but the rateof desertion was not significant.He describes the tortuousprocess of holding, registering and 'sifting'refugees, whereby non-Slavs were despatched to Siberia, while Slav prisonerswere kept in European Russia. In the second part of his book Nachtigal focusesupon the health crisisin I9I5- I6 and externalintervention by official (that is, Austrian)agencies and semi-officialhumanitarianbodies. Austrian War Ministry officials established a special section in order to monitorthepoliticalopinions ofprisonersin Russianhands,particularlythose of Czech and Polish origin. He also devotes close attention to the visitsmade by the German, Austrian, Danish and Swedish Red Cross and other delegations to POW camps in the Russian interior. Among the detail of itineraries and contacts, Nachtigal argues that these visits need to be understoodin the context of reciprocalvisitsmade by Russianrepresentatives to Germanand Austriancamps, as a resultof which basicprinciplesof mutual humanitarian care were established. In the third part of his book Nachtigal examines the mobilizationof POWs forlabourin Russianagriculture,mining, REVIEWS 537 transportand, above all, construction. He specifiesthe difficultconditions in which many labourerswere obliged to work,particularlyon railwaybuilding projects in Russia's northern territoriesof which the Murmanskrailwaywas the most notorious. However, Murmanskwas not typical of the conditions in which most POWs had to work;those held in the southern provinces of the Russian empire were more fortunate. The fourth section looks at Russia's nationality politics and traces the formation of military units from among Romanian, Italian, Czech and otherprisoners;particularattention is given to the famous Czech Legion. The main finding is that the tsarist civilian authoritiesbecame increasinglyscepticalabout using POWs as an instrument forunderminingthe Austro-Hungarianempireby subvertingtheirallegiance. On the other hand, the Kerenskii offensive in June 19I7 encouraged the Provisional Government to offer privileges to Czech, Slovak and Polish captives. In general, the experience of captivity (particularlyamong officers) was crucial to the formation of a Czech national army and a fledgling Czechoslovak state. In a brief coda Nachtigal surveysthe evidence of escape from captivity, which became quite widespread during I9I7, and considers the initialprocessof repatriationthroughto early 19I8. This book needs to be read alongside that by Leidinger and Moritz, who deal more thoroughlywith the aftermathof the war. But in its comprehensive mastery of the administrativearrangementsthat affected the lives of AustroHungarianPOWs Nachtigal'sbook is unlikelyto be surpassed. Department ofHistogy PETER GATRELL University ofManchester Prazmowska,Anita J. CivilWarinPoland,I942-I948. Studiesin Russiaand East Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke and New York, 2004. xiv + 252 pp. Notes. Bibliography.Index. [45.00. POLAND'S subordination to, or threat from, more powerful German and Russian neighbours has historicallycaused profound domestic divisions over the questionof regainingand, later, of maintainingindependence. Such longterm conflictsproduced fundamentalpolitical, social and regionaldivisionsas well as specific disputes over timing and strategy.Repeated defeats caused if not a tradition, at least an external perception of the Poles...