Rusins in the memoirs of the participants of the Great war

In the multi-national Austro-Hungarian Empire there were more than 25 different nationalities. One of these were the Rusins (Greek Catholic and Orthodox). In accordance with the Census of 1910 the Rusins (Ruthenen) numbered 3 997 831 persons (7,78 % of the popuLatiion of the empire). At that time the majority of Rusins considered themselves as part of the one Russian nation as did the majority of Great Russians, Little Russians and White Russians. Rusins lived in lands under the Hungarian Crown (TransLeithania) and in lands under the Austrian Imperial Council (CisLeithania). In TransLeithania, according to the data of the 1910 Census, there were 472 000 Rusin (2,3 % of the population) while in CisLeithania there were 3,5 million (12,6 % of the population). In the Eastern section of GaLicia Rusins comprised 62 % of the population. With the beginning of WWI regions of Austro-Hungary with compact Rusin settlement (GaLicia, Bukovina, Hungarian Rus') and also the Russian KhoLm Province became an arena of miLitary operations. Northern Bessarabia, in which a significant part of the province was Rusin, became a front. The war brought no LittLe caLamity to the LocaL popuLace. From the onset of the war the Austro-Hungarian authorities created concentration camps for the Russian GaLicians and Bukovinians. In totaL during WW1 the Austro-Hungarian authorities annihilated no less than 60 000 Rusins. 422 000 were required to leave the Carpathian Region because of military operations and repression. According to several accounts about 200 000 Galicians turned up in Russia. It is of interest to learn of the attitude toward the Rusins of Galicia and Bukovina by their contemporaries and participants of the military operations. A valuable source of information for study regarding this question are the memoirs of Emperor Nicholas II, Generals, Officers and Soldiers. The majority of the authors of the memoirs, who had contact with the Rusin population of Galicia and Bukovina, stress the loyalty and benevolent relationship toward the Russian army and administration shown by the Rusins. The Rusins saw them as themselves, representatives of the Russian nation similar in tradition and language to the Little Russian.

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