Ukrainian Austrian internment
Encyclopedia
The Ukrainian Austrian internment was part of the confinement of enemy aliens in Austria
during World War I
. Central Camp Talerhof
(German: Thalerhof) was a concentration camp operated by the Austro-Hungarian imperial government between 1914 and 1917 in the Austrian state of Styria.
Over twenty thousand Ukrainian
Moscophiles were arrested and imprisoned in the camp and in the fortress of Terezín
, Bohemia
. The camp housed primarily Russophile
individuals and families from Galicia. All were suspected of collaboration with the advancing Imperial Russian Army
that had invaded and occupied Galicia
at the outset of World War I.
The first group of prisoners was transported to Talerhof by soldiers of Austrian regiment of Graz on September 4, 1914. Until the winter of 1915, there were no barracks in Talerhof; prisoners slept in the open air on the ground.
On November 9, 1914, according to the official report of Field Marshal Schleer, there were 5,700 Ukrainians, Carpatho-Rusyns and Lemkos in Talerhof. In total, 20,000 people were prisoners from September 4, 1914 to May 10, 1917.
In the first year and a half, three thousand prisoners died. In addition, tens of thousands of Ukrainians and Lemkos were victims of reprisals carried out by Austro-Hungarian authorities in the Western Ukraine during World War I. In May 1917, the camp was closed by order of Emperor Karl I of Austria
(r. 1916-1918).
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Central Camp Talerhof
Talerhof
Talerhof was a concentration camp created by the Austro-Hungarian authorities of Franz Joseph I of Austria in the first days of World War I, in a sandy valley in foothills of the Alps, near Graz, the main city of the province of Styria....
(German: Thalerhof) was a concentration camp operated by the Austro-Hungarian imperial government between 1914 and 1917 in the Austrian state of Styria.
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
Moscophiles were arrested and imprisoned in the camp and in the fortress of Terezín
Terezín
Terezín is the name of a former military fortress and adjacent walled garrison town in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic.-Early history:...
, Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
. The camp housed primarily Russophile
Ukrainian Russophiles
The focus of this article is part of a general political movement in Western Ukraine of the nineteenth and early 20th century. The movement contained several competing branches: Moscowphiles, Ukrainophiles, Rusynphiles, and others....
individuals and families from Galicia. All were suspected of collaboration with the advancing Imperial Russian Army
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army was the land armed force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian army consisted of around 938,731 regular soldiers and 245,850 irregulars . Until the time of military reform of Dmitry Milyutin in...
that had invaded and occupied Galicia
Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria was a crownland of the Habsburg Monarchy, the Austrian Empire, and Austria–Hungary from 1772 to 1918 .This historical region in eastern Central Europe is currently divided between Poland and Ukraine...
at the outset of World War I.
The first group of prisoners was transported to Talerhof by soldiers of Austrian regiment of Graz on September 4, 1914. Until the winter of 1915, there were no barracks in Talerhof; prisoners slept in the open air on the ground.
On November 9, 1914, according to the official report of Field Marshal Schleer, there were 5,700 Ukrainians, Carpatho-Rusyns and Lemkos in Talerhof. In total, 20,000 people were prisoners from September 4, 1914 to May 10, 1917.
In the first year and a half, three thousand prisoners died. In addition, tens of thousands of Ukrainians and Lemkos were victims of reprisals carried out by Austro-Hungarian authorities in the Western Ukraine during World War I. In May 1917, the camp was closed by order of Emperor Karl I of Austria
Karl I of Austria
Charles I of Austria or Charles IV of Hungary was the last ruler of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was the last Emperor of Austria, the last King of Hungary, the last King of Bohemia and Croatia and the last King of Galicia and Lodomeria and the last monarch of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine...
(r. 1916-1918).
See also
- Ukrainian Canadian internmentUkrainian Canadian internmentThe Ukrainian Canadian internment was part of the confinement of "enemy aliens" in Canada during and for two years after the end of the First World War, lasting from 1914 to 1920, under the terms of the War Measures Act that would be used again, in the Second World War, against Japanese Canadians;...
- Central Labour Camp JaworznoCentral Labour Camp JaworznoCentral Labour Camp Jaworzno was a concentration camp in Jaworzno, Poland. It operated from 1943 until 1956, first run by Nazi Germany and then by the Soviet Union with the People's Republic of Poland...
- Metodyj TrochanovskijMetodyj TrochanovskijMetodyj Trochanovskij , Lemko activist, was born in Binczarowa, Poland, when it was part of the province of Galicia of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, on May 5, 1885. At the onset of World War I, he was accused of treason against Austria-Hungary, arrested, prosecuted, and sentenced to death in 1916...