WSPOMNIENIA Z CZASU I WOJNY ŚWIATOWEJ. LIST KS. WALENTEGO KOZAKA SALEZJANINA.PRZEMYŚL 1 LIPCA 1915 R.

The paper deals with the letter of a Salesian priest, Rev. Walenty Kozak, the superior of the Salesian centre in the Przemyśl district of Zasanie, written on 1 July 1915. The author describes the history of the community and its work during the second siege of the Przemyśl Fortress. Between October 1914 and March 1915 the building was converted into a field hospital. As both Austro-Hungarian and Russian soldiers were quartered there, it was largely destroyed. The letter also presents the situation in the town during the siege and after the Russian troops had entered, the functioning of the schools, the change of the symbols on institutions, the influx of Russian people, the arrests of Jews, some clergymen and suspected persons. The author of the letter was himself arrested together with a fellow priest. The second part of the letter is a detailed account of dramatic events from his arrest on a charge of espionage and being kept in the garrison prison in Przemyśl, Lviv, and in Przemyśl again, until his release with a ban to stay in town and an order to go to Lviv. The letter ends with the author’s return to Przemyśl on 25 June 1915.