Formation of memory places of the Rusyns population of Galicia and Bukovina about internment in the territory of Cisleitania in 1914–1939

Abstract

The commemorative practices around the internment of the Rusyns population of Galicia and Bukovina on the territory of Cisleitania were mainly associated with the cemetery of the internment camp Talerhof “Under the Pines”. The study made it possible to clarify the nature of these commemorative practices. It has been established that the cemetery “Under the Pines” can be considered a key place of memory of the internment of the Rusyns population during the First World War, even though in the interwar period the remains of the victims of the camp were reburied at the Feldkirchen cemetery. It was found that in terms of significance for the Rusyns, the new memorial ossuary is significantly inferior not only to the former cemetery, but also to a number of local monuments. Both in Talerhof itself and in the interwar years, folklore was formed precisely around the cemetery "Under the Pines". The creation in 1934 of another place of commemoration – a monument to the Talerhofites in Lvov – made it possible to increase the level of accessibility of Galicians to the implementation of commemorative practices about the internment of Rusyns. It is noted that the new place of memory took on the image of the old cemetery “Under the Pines”, and it was thanks to this that it became the second most important object of worship for the Rusyns population. The findings obtained in the course of the study not only complement the already existing idea of the commemoration of Rusyns around internment, but also allow to intensify scientific discussions about the position of interwar Austria in matters of preserving the memory of the tragedies of the internment camps.