Russia's War Refugees.
By A Russian Observer.
In the history of the present War, unparalleled in its terrors and sacrifices, there is not another page so replete with horrors as that which records the story of Russia's war refugees. It may be compared only with the recital of the wholesale slaughter of Armenians in Turkey. In both cases, thousands of peaceful, innocent people were destroyed in the midst of revoltingly cruel armed conflicts.
Beginning with the spring of 1915, War has continued to drive thousands of refugees from Poland, the Baltic Provinces and the governments of Northwest Russia into the interior of the country. Their number has reached three millions, or according to some estimates, even seven millions. About a half million of them were forced by military authorities to leave the territory around the fortresses and near the frontiers. Others left voluntarily the towns and villages occupied by the German and Austrian troops, and these streams of unfortunate refugees, rendered mad by their fear, began to flow away from the sections of the country over which the war's conflagration was burning brighter and brighter.
From that time on, two new words were added to the Russian language; these were vyselentsy, or those who are forced to leave, and biezhentsy, or those who flee voluntarily. These words are met constantly in the columns of the Russian press, for the enormous masses of people that suddenly flooded the interior provinces of Russia still constitute a tremendous problem for the whole country. All of Russia is now covered with a veritable network of committees, organized by the national government and the local governmental institutions in provinces, ouyezds, cities, Zemstvos, for the purpose of solving the problem of the fugitives. The Ministry of the Interior has organized a special department for the removal of refugees. A Special Conference has been called to consider the problem of the refugees, and this Conference is presided over by the Assistant Minister of the Interior. A bill has been introduced in the Douma, in which attempts are made to solve a whole series of problems connected with the distribution of the refugees. The government has appropriated 25,000,000 roubles for this purpose.
