“Unwelcome guests”: Situation of Galician refugees in Austro-Hungary at the end of the First World War and at the time of dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy

This paper investigates the situation of Galician refugees in the Habsburg Empire during the last year of the First World War. The majority of the refugees returned home following the eastward movement of the frontline in 1915 (i.e. after the Gorlice‑Tarnów campaign). However, many others stayed deep within the Austro‑Hungarian Empire till the end of the war. According to the official reports of the Ministry of the Interior, there were still 90 thousand refugees (25% Poles, 28% Jews, and 46% Ukrainians, then known as Ruthenians) receiving social benefits from the state in the Austrian part of the Empire on 1st September 1918. Moreover, one can add countless refugees who stayed in the interior of the Empire at their own expense. The situation became even more complicated when the feelings of enmity on the part of the local inhabitants escalated. Pressed by society, the local authorities started expelling the refugees. As a consequence, some of them returned home, while others still stayed in exile in search of a better life. What is even more interesting is that some of them (mostly Jews) emphasised the lack of a bond with the new Polish state born in November 1918.