Exchange and Repatriation of Disabled and Sick Prisoners of War on the Eastern Front during World War I

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to study the process of exchange and repatriation of disabled and sick prisoners between the Russian Empire, on the one hand, and the Central States (Austria-Hungary and Germany), on the other hand, during 1914-1918. The research methodology involves the application of general scientific and historical principles and methods of scientific research: analysis and synthesis, problem-chronological, historical, historical-genetic and historical-systemic methods). The scientific novelty consists in addressing the topic, practically unexplored in Ukrainian historiography, as well as in the introduction of a number of sources, which together allow to trace the complex process of exchange and repatriation of sick and maimed prisoners during World War I. Prospects for further research suggest a systematic study of the complex process of exchange of prisoners of war between all participants of the opposing military and political blocs during World War I with the involvement of a wide source base. The conducted scientific exploration allows us to conclude that the process of exchange and repatriation of disabled and sick prisoners of war on the Eastern Front during World War I was rather ad hoc and not properly organised. The criterion for exchange was the state of health of POWs who could be repatriated home or interned in neutral countries, and the selection and medical examination of prisoners had to be carried out by special mixed medical commissions. Despite the agreements worked out and signed between Russia, Austria-Hungary and Germany, the outlined ways of their implementation and the identification of intermediaries to facilitate the implementation of the measures envisaged, the repatriation of prisoners throughout 1915-1918 encountered a number of difficulties, such as: general suspicion and espionage inherent in all the opposing sides; financial, transport and organisational difficulties, etc. Although in the end it yielded rather modest results against the background of the total number of prisoners, the experience gained during World War I laid the foundations for similar practices in subsequent military conflicts.