Russian local government during the war and the Union of Zemstvos

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1794855874

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-179223

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Polner, Tichon I. http://d-nb.info/gnd/172311195

Title:: Russian local government during the war and the Union of Zemstvos

Place of publication:: New Haven

Publisher:: Yale Univ. Press

Year of publication:: 1930

Scope:: XXV, 317 S.

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter XI. Work in the army

Collection:: Economics Books

190 THE ZEMSTVOS DURING THE WAR proceeded to recruit the medical staff. To carry the plan into execu- tion was, however, by no means easy. To begin with, it was impos- sible shortly after the outbreak of the War to get things done promptly in Moscow. The work was therefore considerably delayed. For instance the Moscow firms were willing to take orders for the metal rings which were to hold the cots in position, but required sev- eral months for the purpose. Fortunately, ready-made rings were discovered in some of the towns along the Volga river, where they were used by the fishermen for dragging their nets. The recruiting of the lower staff also presented considerable diffi- sulties, for the work demanded intelligent, patient, well-disciplined, and strong men. The first ten trains alone required four hundred such persons. The problem was admirably solved by a fortunate accident. The department found that a considerable number of Mennonites had been placed at the disposal of the military authori- ties for hospital service. The Mennonites were German sectarians living in Russia who had a conscientious objection to war and had steadfastly refused to bear arms ever since their immigration into Russia under Catherine II. The Government had guaranteed them {reedom from conscription and in return for this exemption they undertook to serve in the hospitals in case of war. The Zemstvo Union thereupon petitioned the Government to place the Mennon- ites at its disposal and the Government readily consented that it should hire several hundred Mennonites and see how they would answer the purpose. Having met with a friendly and generous re- ception, these Mennonites were soon writing cheerful letters home, with the result that many hundreds of Mennonites, in addition to those who were compelled to serve under the obligations they had assumed, enlisted of their own free will in the hospital service of the Union. They were excellent workers and performed their duties con- scientiously and gallantly. We have already stated, in Chapter IV, that the Union of Zem- stvos commenced its operations by furnishing special staffs to meet the sick and wounded who were arriving at Moscow in ordinary freight cars in no way adapted for their conveyance and without any attendance, and to accompany them on their way to hospitals in the interior. On August 29, 1914, the first train equipped by the Zemstvo Union was dispatched from Moscow with sick and wounded soldiers to Nizhni-Novgorod. Thus began the system of zemstvo

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