Theater in everyday camp life of imprisoned Ukrainian soldiers in Austria-Hungary in 1915-1917

Анотація

Introduction. The military defeat of the imperial army at the front of World War I led to the creation prison camps of the territory of Germany and Austria-Hungary. For some time the governments of these countries resorted to Ukrainianization of a number of camps, the first of which was Freistadt. An extremely effective tool was the creation of the camp theater and artistic circles in which Ukrainian prisoners were free to create and develop the Ukrainian culture and traditions.

Methods. In this article we used problem-chronological, concrete historical, statistical and analytical and comparative retrospective methods, the combination of which allowed us to fully realize the stated research goal.

Purpose. Reconstruction of the process of formation and development of Performing Arts Ukrainian prisoners in camp Freistadt (Austria-Hungary), tracing the camp Arts Organizations activities enabling the functioning of arts groups (drama group – «Artistic Section» – Ivan Kotlyarevsky Drama Society). It was established that the theater operated through great assistance from the Education Department IED, the camp commandant’s office and contributions from benefactors. However, the theater depended heavily on the cash from the host and charities nationwide.

Results. This could buy props, make theatrical scenery, and regularly maintain small amounts of remuneration for camp artists. From the beginning, the actor’s camp attracted the attention of the people with skills (including implementation of female roles). In the article the features of interpersonal relationships between individual members of society are shown that sometimes had conflicting color.

Originality. It was determined that the circumstances of the operation of the camp theater in Freistadt in the period was not subjected to special complex research in Ukrainian and foreign historiography, and important introduction to a wide array of scientific use of new archival sources on this issue was made.

Conclusion. It was proved that thr theater performed important national cultural, organizational and patriotic functions among the prisoners. It was found that his repertoire included plays by Ukrainian playwrights. Theatre and performing arts camp in Freistadt were largely «saving circle» for a large number of Ukrainian captives relieving thrm from gray everyday camp life, giving them inspiration and positive emotions, which in turn helped them to overcome nostalgia.