Ukrainian assistance to refugees during the First World War1

The Ukrainian lands became an epicentre of the movement of refugees who were assisted by a range of organisations. This chapter considers the role of governmental bodies in the Russian Empire and the new entities that appeared on Ukrainian territory following the February 1917 Revolution: the Ukrainian Central Rada, and the Ukrainian National Republic (UNR). It discusses the developing framework and implementation of public policy in relation to refugees, the activity of local government and non-governmental organisations which supported refugees. The chapter considers refugees’ life in Ukraine in 1914-18. During the peace negotiations in Brest-Litovsk in February 1918, Ukrainian delegates took the initiative in organizing the re-evacuation of refugees; the agreement between Ukraine and Austro- Hungarian, German, Polish and Russian representatives concerning repatriation was an early example of inter-governmental regulation of a new humanitarian problem.

‘Human waves’: refugees in Russia, 1914–18

Mass population displacement in Russia began at the very outset of war. People left their homes to evade enemy invasion, but the Russian army also targeted subjects of the Tsar who were suspected of cooperating with the enemy and resettled them in the Russian interior. German and Jewish subjects were disproportionately affected by this policy. The Tsarist state struggled to come to terms with the mass displacement, but finally articulated a policy towards refugees at the end of August 1915 by giving a new Special Council for Refugees overall responsibility for managing the refugee crisis. Local welfare provision became the responsibility of provincial governors. Local authorities played an important role, but refugees relied heavily upon the semi-official Tatiana committee, private philanthropy, religious communities and new national committees.. Social and political upheaval in 1917 created new structures of authority, complicating the process of repatriation. This chapter draws on Russian archives and refugees’ memoirs to trace the contours of the refugee crisis in Russia’s provinces.

Refugees from Polish territories in Russia during the First World War

This chapter concentrates on the issues raised by the forced resettlement of civilians (mainly Poles) in the Kingdom of Poland by the Tsarist authorities, beginning in 1914-15. Attention is paid to migration of the Polish population from Russian-occupied Galicia into the Russian interior. The chapter focuses on the institutional arrangements made on their behalf including the legal basis of their activity, financial, educational, cultural, economic and religious assistance to refugees, and the implications for creating and maintaining their national consciousness. Particularly noteworthy is the inclusion and participation of at least some refugees in the cultural, educational, journalistic and economic activity of Poles who had settled permanently in the Russian interior and formed ‘Polish colonies’. An important issue concerns the return of refugees to their homeland and the problems this posed at a time of internal and international political upheaval, especially after the Bolshevik seizure of power.

Introduction

The English writer and critic John Berger regarded the twentieth century as ‘the century of departure, of migration, of exodus, of disappearance: the century of people helplessly seeing others, who were close to them, disappear over the horizon’.1 Berger’s characterisation of ‘helplessness’ invites us to consider not only how people were rendered liable to sudden and involuntary displacement, but also how those processes were represented at the time and subsequently. Global conflicts, revolutions and civil wars have played a major part in these processes of movement and loss, exposing combatants and non-combatants to personal risk. Civilians have frequently been the chief actors in the dramas of ‘departure’ and ‘disappearance’. Massive displacement has not necessarily entailed movement across state borders, although it is only relatively recently that policy-makers have taken into account the large numbers of internally displaced persons in different parts of the world....

From imperial dreams to the refugee problem: population movements during Greece’s ‘decade of war’, 1912–22

This chapter is divided into three parts, each one of which is connected with the appearance of an important refugee wave in the region. The first refers to nationalist ideas in the Ottoman Empire during the 19th century and how this process caused the first important population mobility. The second part focuses on national antagonisms in the region during the early 20th century and the Balkan wars that caused mass population mobility and witnessed ethnic cleansing. The third focuses on the Great War and the broader politics of nation and state building, at the end of which emerged not only nation-states but the consolidation of a ‘refugee problem’ that was an important part of the modernist condition that emerged during the interwar period.

The refugee question in Bulgaria before, during and after the First World War

This chapter focuses on the circumstances of displacement, the reception and settlement of refugees, and the state’s attempts to address the political, economic and social shock of accepting thousands of refugees from the lost territories. It outlines the centrality of the refugee issue to the development of the modern Bulgarian state particularly after the Balkan wars. The chapter focuses on three main episodes: before 1912, when a quarter of a million refugees already fled to Bulgaria whose population was around 4.5 million in 1912; between 1913 and 1918, when 120,000 refugees settled in the country; and in the years 1919-25 during which time Bulgaria witnessed the influx of an additional 180,000 refugees. Some consideration is given to prevailing social and economic conditions, such as the impact of refugees on urban and rural life in Bulgaria, and to the role of refugee relief organisations. Attention is also devoted to the international repercussions of the refugee crisis.

Citizenship on the move: refugee communities and the state in France, 1914–18

This chapter provides complementary perspectives on the experiences of French refugees. The first is the perspective of the state and host communities in the French interior. The chapter examines the organisation of official and charitable aid and also examines the role of refugees in supporting the cultural mobilisation of the French nation for war. Originally they were welcomed as the tangible manifestations of ‘German barbarism’, but later on many faced hostility and were seen as a burden. The chapter also argues that in spite of the difficulties and disruptions posed by displacement, refugees successfully maintained communal bonds of solidarity based on the home communities they had left. French refugees were more than the passive recipients of state and charitable aid but actively engaged in managing their circumstances. Finally the chapter considers the return and resettlement of refugees after the war, the moral obligation many felt to return home and rebuild, and role played by memories and commemorations of displacement in post-war French society.

‘A mass which you could form into whatever you wanted’: refugees and state building in Lithuania and Courland, 1914–21

This chapter focuses on refugees in the region that later became the Baltic States and that in the Russian Empire formed the Baltic provinces and parts of Russia’s northwest. It addresses how the refugee crisis was perceived by diverse groups including Russian officials, Baltic Germans, Jews, local peasants, and the emerging national elites, and considers the impact of ethnic belonging on the treatment of refugees and the changes in ethnic policies over the course of the war and the first years of independent statehood. It examines how refugees were resettled against the background of state-building and continuing warfare. Lastly it points out that repatriation was not merely a reaction to expulsions, but a policy with its own strategic purpose, with aims that went far beyond a return to the status quo ante 1914.

Belgian refugees during the First World War (France, Britain, Netherlands)

The German invasion of Belgium in August-October 1914 led to the flight of more than 1.5 million Belgian civilians. The vast majority sought asylum in the Netherlands, France and Britain. In total, more than 600,000 Belgians – some 10 percent of the Belgian population at the time – settled abroad during the First World War. In France, they received financial support throughout the war, enabling the poorest refugees to avoid utter destitution. In Britain, committees sprang up to help resettle refugee families. In the Netherlands, where large camps were set up to house refugees, support for the refugees remained more limited. The war saw a gradual dwindling of the support offered to refugees. Many had no other choice but to find a job. In France, thousands were put to work in factories and farms. In Britain, 30,000 Belgian refugees, nearly one-quarter of them women, played an important role in the manufacture of munitions. Most refugees kept to themselves. Recreational activities strengthened the bonds to their homeland. Anxious to prevent them from permanently settling in their host countries, the Belgian authorities in exile promoted a strong sense of national identity among the refugees. By mid-1919, most Belgian refugees had returned home.

‘Cities of barracks’: refugees in the Austrian part of the Habsburg Empire during the First World War

This chapter introduces refugee politics in Austria-Hungary, in particular Cisleithania, and then explores the approach of the Habsburg administration towards refugees. Austrian officials established a network of large camps in seven administrative regions of Cisleithania. The daily life of the refugees was characterised by poor housing, inadequate nutrition and low standards of sanitation as well by as other constraints that created conditions that hardly differed from those of enemy aliens or prisoners of war, who were at least guaranteed minimal standards of treatment under international law. The barrack camp in Gmünd in Lower Austria is accorded close scrutiny. It occupied a central position in the network of camps, since it was not only the largest camp on Austrian soil, housing predominantly Ruthenian refugees, but also served as showcase camp for propaganda purposes between its creation in 1914 and closure in 1918.