Szerb hadifoglyok Bihar vármegyében, 1914–1920

Abstract

The World War can be justifiably called the great seminal catastrophe of the 20th century, because the war that should have ended every further war, just disseminated the seeds of another cataclysm. From this point of view it is comprehensible why lots of historians deal with the named period. Numerous monographies and articles that deal with the destructing and stimulating eff ect of the Great War have seen the light of day. However, the mentioned works usually have serious defi cenceis, as most of them deal only with the battlefi elds, and a small proportion deals with the question of everyday life and hinterland, and the ordeals of the POWs are superfi cially described. In case of Hungary, the more serious researches related to POWs only started at the time of the centenary. This is why we can still read in some Serbian literatures about the people annihilating endeavors of the „huns” of Austria–Hungary. My choice of subject was therefore justified by the reasons outlined above. In my presentation I expound on briefly introducing the situations in the austro–hungarian POW camps. Furthermore, the presentation depicts in detail the everyday life, the medical and general treatment, clothing supply, the question of the minimal wages and working time of the prisoner labour forces. Lastly, I am depicting the problem of escapes and issues dealing POWs marriage and citizenship requests.