“I was civilian prisoner No. 52 for all those unforgettable years”: on the status of Russians in Germany during the First World War

The article examines how the authorities of the German Empire treated civilians from Russia who found themselves on the German territory at the very beginning of World War I. The author singles out the following three categories of people: those detained in the German Empire at the start of the war and repatriated to Russia, the subjects of the Russian Empire confined in Germany and internees. Characteristics of the position and conditions for each group on the territory of Germany are given. The first category includes those enemy aliens who were detained and restricted in their rights, but who left Germany during the first two months of the war. In private sources they refer to themselves as prisoners of war. However, this is rather an emotional perception of their position. The bulk of the group are women, children and men not subject to conscription. The focus is made on the control measures applied to those confined. The latter were men at military service age who were civil prisoners being under police surveillance. They were not put to camps. They had to reside where the authorities prescribed them to. They were not allowed to leave Germany before the end of the war. The internees in the German Empire were meant to be civilians from an enemy state placed in camps including women and children. Very often those interned were kept at POW camps, which makes the study of this category of civilians more complicated.