East Frisia 1914: Fear of war - a look at the Eastern Front

East Frisia 1914: Fear of war - a look at the Eastern Front

Ostfriesland, Deutschland - In the rural East Frisia, there was anything but enthusiasm for war in 1914! People lived in fear and hoped for peace until the last minute. Records from the reepsholter school chronicle show the dark mood: the war was perceived as "something horrible, dark", which threatened to crush everything. Many did not really believe in World War II, convinced that the economic interdependencies between the peoples made war impossible. But the reality was cruel!

On August 1, 1914, the Anzeiger for Harlingerland headlined with "condition of the impending risk of war". Just a few days later, seven European countries had already been involved in a terrible war that was supposed to change world history forever. The fights on the Eastern Front took their course, and the East Frisian infantrymen experienced countless victims and the horrors of the war up close. After the bitter fights in the southeast, which until 13./14. Lasted in June 1915, the Russians were driven out of Galicia and the city of Lemberg.

The horror of war

The East Frisian soldiers were witnesses to an incessant change of attack and counterattack while moving north. In September 1915 they returned to the western front via Bialystock. The regiment chronicler stated: "The East Frisians, who have been only war and war, burning villages and devastated settlements, whimpering and silent dead, were amazed at the life and hustle and bustle in the city." The rough warriors hesitated to regain their relationships with life.

The war on the Eastern Front finally came to an end with the peace treaty of Brest-Litovsk on March 3, 1918. The new Soviet state recognized Ukraine and Finland as independent states and waived territorial demands against Poland and the Baltic States, which once belonged to the Tsarist Empire. Armenia fell to Turkey - a dramatic end for many who had experienced the horrors of the war up close!