Monday, 14.06.2021, 18.00
On Galician Jews and Their Wartime Exile
Meeting with Dr. Kamil Ruszała, author of the book “Galicyjski Eksodus. Uchodźcy z Galicji podczas I wojny światowej w monarchii Habsburgów” (“The Galician Exodus. Refugees from Galicia During the First World War in the Habsburg Monarchy”)
Led by: Dr. Edyta Gawron
On-site event
This event will be broadcasted on the Galicia Jewish Museum Facebook fanpage.
“Galicyjski Eksodus…” (“The Galician Exodus…”) depicts the forgotten experience of exile during the First World War. The author conducted thorough research in the Austrian, Czech, Hungarian, Slovenian, Ukrainian, and Polish archives to depict the situation of escape and evacuation during the subsequent war years, through the time of exile, and finally up to the quandary of returning home or staying in various countries that were formerly part of the Austro-Hungarian empire after 1918. This is also a story about the intercultural relations between the different inhabitants of one monarchy, who met and interacted with one another only during the time of wartime crisis, shortly before the collapse of the empire. The situation shed light onto how deep the divisions were between the worlds of the three main groups in this book: refugees, local communities, and authorities who had to deal with a situation on an unprecedented scale. The book describes the realities of these experiences for these groups: attempts at hospitality, the efficiency of the bureaucratic apparatus, the need for being accepted, exclusion, identity, self-organization, and, most importantly, reactions of societal strata when confronted with refugees.
Kamil Ruszała is a historian and Assistant Professor at the Institute of History of the Jagiellonian University of Krakow. He studied in Krakow, Vienna, and Prague. In his work, he focuses on the history of Austria-Hungary, particularly the region of Galicia, the First World War, and the fall of the Habsburg empire. He was awarded funding from the Foundation for Polish Science (2017/2018), MNiSW (2016/2017), and the Lanckorońscy Foundation (2019/2020). He is the author and editor of numerous books on the experiences of the First World War.
Partner: Universitas Publishing House
In Polish.
Free admission.