From the first days of WWI, Russian commanders pointed to the alleged evident disloyalty of Russia’s Jewish population, its direct complicity with the enemy and involvement in espionage. The Russian army began to solve the “problem” of Jewish disloyalty by the expulsions of the Jewish population from various localities. The General Headquarters (Stavka) officially adopted these measures in January 1915. No distinction was made between the Jews who were Russian citizens and the Jews in occupied Galicia. As a direct result of the January 1915 declaration, the Russian command made several attempts to carry out a mass deportation of the Jewish population from the frontal zone (in particular, from the Warsaw and Plotsk gubernia and from Galicia). These attempts were unsuccessful as a policy of mass deportations required precise coordination between the military and civil authorities, which the Russian military command was unable to attain. In May 1915, however, about 200,000 Jews were expelled from Kovno and Kurliand gubernias. Gubernias was the sole deportation on such a scale, but for the various ranks of the military command, local expulsions remained a convenient and widely used means of clearing the battle area of the undesirable presence of the Jewish population. The Russian military authorities’ attitude toward the deportations of Jews can be seen as a reflection of the systemic crisis of the Russian empire in its last years of existence.

From the first days of WWI, Russian commanders pointed to the alleged evident disloyalty of Russia’s Jewish population, its direct complicity with the enemy and involvement in espionage. The Russian army began to solve the “problem” of Jewish disloyalty by the expulsions of the Jewish population from various localities. The General Headquarters (Stavka) officially adopted these measures in January 1915. No distinction was made between the Jews who were Russian citizens and the Jews in occupied Galicia. As a direct result of the January 1915 declaration, the Russian command made several attempts to carry out a mass deportation of the Jewish population from the frontal zone (in particular, from the Warsaw and Plotsk gubernia and from Galicia). These attempts were unsuccessful as a policy of mass deportations required precise coordination between the military and civil authorities, which the Russian military command was unable to attain. In May 1915, however, about 200,000 Jews were expelled from Kovno and Kurliand gubernias. Gubernias was the sole deportation on such a scale, but for the various ranks of the military command, local expulsions remained a convenient and widely used means of clearing the battle area of the undesirable presence of the Jewish population. The Russian military authorities’ attitude toward the deportations of Jews can be seen as a reflection of the systemic crisis of the Russian empire in its last years of existence.