The experience of mobility outside Galicia before and after World War I : war refugees example

When in 1912 a group of friends from Przemyśl went to Istambul and came back telling others about their adventures it was almost possible to believe that the “white man’s burden” can be easily fulfi lled not only by the British. They were not the only ones to believe that. It was the time when travelling was cheaper and much more democratic than ever before. What is more, being outside of their place of living could help the residents of Galicia to identify their Polishness, Ukrainianness etc. in the epoch of growing nationalism. All of the sudden, the year 1914 stopped this process. Lots of Galician inhabitants on a massive scale were forced to emigrate for fear of the Russian troops. They escaped to more central Austrian-Hungarian provinces. Not only the authorities but also common inhabitants of those provinces were unprepared to host so many refugees. Special concentration camps in Moravia were created, soon becoming notorious places all over the Monarchy. But even everyday travel experience was shocking for the Galicians - not less than living with complete strangers in a new environment. What is more, the months following the liberation of Galicia by German and Hungarian troops brought even more complex problems: resentment, irritation as well as hostility towards each other. This kind of treatment was shown inside and outside of the province. Galicia’s natives took revenge in 1918 - getting rid of the “strangers” from the newly created Poland, as not Galician enough.