Hadtörténelmi Közlemények, 128. évfolyam, Hadtörténeti Intézet (Budapest, 2015)
2015 / 2. szám - A SZIBÉRIAI PETŐFI-MÍTOSZ ÉS A TUDOMÁNYOS KUTATÁS - Hermann Róbert: Vittek vagy nem vittek? Az 1849. évi erdélyi hadjárat hadifoglyainak sorsa
A SZIBÉRIAI PETOFI-MITOSZ ÉS A TUDOMÁNYOS KUTATÁS HERMANN RÓBERT VITTEK VAGY NEM VITTEK? AZ 1849. ÉVI ERDÉLYI HADJÁRAT HADIFOGLYAINAK SORSA* Did They Take or Did They Not? POWs of the Transylvanian Campaign in 1849 The paper seeks the answer to the question if there is any evidence at all that the Russian Army transported Hungarian POWs to Russian territory with the consent of the Austrian party or by outwitting the Austrians in summer 1849. The first chapter gives an overview of the handling of POWs in 1848-1849. The last time Hungary had seen a great number of POWs was during the Napoleonic Wars. Then in autumn 1848 many POWs - mainly Croats - were captured by Hungarians. Some of them were set free, the others were used to do different public works. The Austrians were a lot less gentle with the POWs. Former Imperial-Royal officers were court-martialed, and sentenced to imprisonment in a fortress and degradation. The men were examined: those found fit were enlisted to the Imperial-Royal Army, the others were released home. On 14 May 1849 the Austrian government decided to ask permission from Russian Czar Nicholas I to guard the most dangerous Hungarian ‘rebels’ who will be captured in the future by Austrian guards in the Asian areas of Russia. Although Franz Joseph I agreed to this demand, the request was not put in the final agreement signed in Warsaw on 10 June 1849. It is only the last article of the agreement that speaks about the POW situation, saying, ‘If any subject of the two allied powers is found among the captured rebels, they are mutually transferred to the other party. The same procedure is to be followed with deserters.’ This wording is clear, and to our knowledge the two great powers kept this agreement. Namely, the POWs from the Polish areas under Russian occupation, mainly members of the Polish Legion, were handed over by the Austrians to the Russians; and the Russians handed over the formally Austrian subject Hungarian POWs to the Austrians. The last chapter of the paper explores the route of the Hungarian POWs transported from Transylvania in mid-August 1849, using the survived diplomatic- and army-reports. In mid-August the Russians actually took about two thousand POWs to Wallachia, planning to transport them through Moldova to the Austrian-ruled Bukovina. The authorities in Bukovina were prepared to receive them but following the end of the operations the POWs were transported back to Transylvania. This means that we have no data about a single Hungarian POW who was transported by the Russians to Russian territory in summer 1849. Keywords: campaign of the Russian Army in 1849, Hungarian POWs, Polish Legion, Jan Szydlowski, Czar Nicholas I, Franz Joseph I ' Az alábbi három tanulmány a Petőfi Irodalmi Múzeumban 2015. május 7-én rendezett, „Hol sírjaink domborulnak.” Megismerhető adatok Petőfi eltűnéséről című műhelykonferencián tartott előadáson alapul. HK 128. (2015) 2. 323-336.