Levéltári Közlemények, 93. (2022)

Angol nyelvű összefoglalók

Abstracts

ádám Suslik

THE CRIMES COMMITTED BY SOLDIERS AND THE SUMMARY COURTS,

WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE CASES TRIED BY THE COURT MARTIAL OF THE 39TMHONVÉD INFANTRY DIVISION IN KOSICE

(1914-1918)

In peace and war, conscripted or professional soldiers were subject to military prosecution for various crimes. This was no different during the First World War. The more than four years of military conflict, trench life and the loss of comrades caused lasting damage to soldiers’ mental health. During the Great War, soldiers returning home, whether on leave, receiving medals or even recovering from wounds, committed many crimes. The most common of these were escape, robbery, assault, insubordination, espionage, self-mutilation or murder. These acts were dealt with severely enough by the Army High Command (Armeeoberkommando), although discipline was difficult to achieve through the constant redeployment of troops. In most cases, therefore, the execution of sentences was suspended for the duration of the war, except for the crime of espionage. The territory of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, including the whole of the Kingdom of Hungary, was divided into military districts. During the Great War, in each of these areas were set up Imperial and Royal and Honvéd infantry divisions, each of which had a brigade and division court. Thus, offences committed by soldiers were investigated by the respective court martial. Of the six districts of the Kingdom of Hungary, two, Kassa and Szeged, had a special status, since for a longer or shorter period of time a signihcant part of their territory was declared a military area, so the local population was also subject to military prosecution for crimes committed. Many of these ended in summary convictions. From the available conscripts, the Kassa district set up the 39th Hungarian Infantry Division, which fought in the Russian, Romanian and later Italian fronts between 3 August 1914 and 3 November 1918. The study describes the course of the trial, the extent of the punishment and its consequences through the division and its surviving court records.

335