LETTERS FROM THE FRONT AND TO THE FRONT AS A SOURCE FROM THE HISTORY OF WORLD WAR I IN HALYCHYNA

Abstract

This article is an attempt to analyze the correspondence of Halychyna Ukrainians from the front and to the front; identify the possibilities and limitations of the epistolary as a historical source; capture key themes of World War I letters. In essence, the war caused a «letter boom» between home and the front. Each had its own history of writing, shipping/ delivery, and ultimately reading. It turned out that the correspondence was almost the only way to find out any information about loved ones and reflected the everyday, ideological, cultural, political ideas of the time. On the other hand, during the war, the ability to write became a kind of privilege for literate people, which made it possible to earn money by organizing special offices for writing letters to the illiterate. The article also deals with the functioning of the mail, censorship; topics of religiosity, life and death, perception of the enemy, reactions to the Russian occupation in Halychyna, a description of the place of residence are covered. Correspondence between men who were at the front and their relatives (mainly wives) who remained in the rear was analyzed. Not all related letter complexes have remained complete – one-way correspondence predominates. All these texts differ in the level of education; their content depended on social status, nationality, religion, worldview.Despite the excellent information about the couple, the letters had a similar emotional color associated with feelings for relatives. The texts were directed to the future with the hope that the war would end as soon as possible. It was found that the war led to the transformation of traditional family relationships, allowed a woman to feel in the roles that traditionally belonged to men. The letters show that there were no universal rules of conduct. Whether or not the family had its «limit» of acceptable topics for conversation, influences each other.