The "War on Spies" during the First World War: New Research Perspectives
Mykola Hlibishchuk
Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University19.2.2025, 15:00
Library of Center for Urban History
While working with the archival funds of the Russian military administration in the State Archives of the Chernivtsi Oblast, the historian drew attention to a significant amount of material on espionage during the First World War in Bukovyna. The available documents allow us to understand the extent of this phobia in Bukovyna, despite the fact that the absence of many archival funds of the Austrian authorities of that time makes it difficult to construct a complete picture of the "war on spies."
During the seminar, the researcher proposes to consider the prospects of the study: the possibility of expanding the territorial boundaries, as well as including topics that are not directly related to espionage (rumors, gossip, denunciations), but significantly complement the understanding of the mass consciousness and moods of the population of multicultural border regions during the war. At the same time, this perspective has challenges in terms of attracting new sources (periodicals, epistolary heritage), methodological developments, etc.

Mykola Hlibishchuk
Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National UniversityAn assistant professor at the Department of World History at Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University. As part of his residency at the Center supported by the Institute of Human Sciences (IWM), Mykola will work on the spy mania in Bukovyna during the First World War.