DOI: 10.47026/2712-9454-2024-5-4-5-14
УДК 625.1(094)(470)«1914 /1918»
ББК Т3(2)-534-68-234(28-8)
Semen N. BLINJAEV
Key words: war prisoners, World War I, Kazan governorate, Simbirsk governorate, material and living situation, sanitary and hygienic rules, payment in kind, food supply for war prisoners.
The publication is timed to coincide with the 110th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War and is devoted to the problems of war captivity, which, due to serious geopolitical changes in the international arena related to the ongoing special military operation in the Ukraine and the war in the Middle East, have acquired special relevance and attracted the attention of the world community.
The purpose of the study is to consider issues related to the policy of local authorities on implementing the guidelines given by the center regarding the material and living maintenance and food supply for war prisoners in the territory of Kazan and Simbirsk governorates during the First World War.
Materials and methods. The aspects of the issue are investigated on the basis of unpublished archival documents of the State Historical Archive of the Chuvash Republic, the State Archive of Ulyanovsk region, information materials making the thematic collection of documents of the State Historical Archive of the Chuvash Republic in 2014 and scientific works of domestic historians. In developing the problem, general historical methods of analysis and generalization and special historical methods (historical-comparative, structural-functional, problem-chronological) were used.
Results. The analysis of the materials making the thematic collection and archival documents made it possible to identify various aspects in the way that local civil and military authorities organized the material and living maintenance and food supply of Austro-Hungarian and German war prisoners during the first world conflict within the territorial borders administratively included today in the Chuvash Republic. Using the example of Kazan and Simbirsk governorates, the issue of payment in kind, food provision for war prisoners and the development of sanitary and hygienic rules for them is studied. The objective causes and consequences of social and living situation deterioration, material security and food allowance of war prisoners by the end of the First World War are indicated, which was associated with the general negative vector in socio-economic and domestic political development of Russia.
Conclusions. It can be stated that in the context of executing the circulars sent down from above, the local authorities developed general principles of material and living maintenance and food provision for war prisoners who arrived on the territory of Kazan and Simbirsk governorates from the central regions of the Russian Empire, and by the end of 1915 they were implemented by the efforts of executive, administrative and military local authorities, primarily by the executive offices of Kazan and Simbirsk governor, district military chiefs, zemstvo and city administrations. In conditions of a protracted war, the norms of food and material allowances for lower ranks and officers of enemy states were not always observed, but they were better than in the countries of the Triple Alliance for captured soldiers of the Russian army. To prevent diseases, local authorities compiled sanitary and hygienic rules for war prisoners. In the territory of Kazan and Simbirsk governorates, they were involved in work in agriculture, private workshops, farms and in the artel detachments of the region, and therefore they did not starve much until the end of 1916. However, the situation of war prisoners directly depended on the economic and domestic political situation in the country. Its deterioration resulted in a decrease in the level of domestic services, quality of life and material provision of captured combatants in the territory of Kazan and Simbirsk governorates.
References
About the author
Semen N. Blinjaev – Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, Department of General Education Disciplines, Chuvash State Agrarian University, Russia, Cheboksary (semen-blinjaev@rambler.ru; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1686-1214).
For citations
Blinjaev S.N. FOOD AND SANITARY PROVISION OF AMENITIES FOR WAR PRISONERS IN THE TERRITORY OF KAZAN AND SIMBIRSK GOVERNORATES DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR. Historical Search, 2024, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 5–14. DOI: 10.47026/2712-9454-2024-5-4-5-14 (in Russian).
