Działalność rosyjskiej cenzury wojskowej w czasie I wojny światowej
Operation of Russian Military Censorship during the First World War

Summary/Abstract: The Russian military censorship was an institution set up in the event of the outbreak of war, as was the case in other states. Also, the tasks set before it were the same as in other countries. Its activities included wide-ranging control of information coming from the front and reaching it. All information of military importance was intercepted, which was to prevent its use for espionage purposes. Censorship activities took place in two main areas of control: (1) soldiers’ correspondence, and (2) printed texts, including the press. The topics brought up in the letters written by and to soldiers was very broad, ranging from descriptions of combat operations and the dislocation of troops, through all types of problems (supply, equipment, uniforms, etc.), to descriptions of mutual relations between soldiers and the army’s relations with the people. One can also find some Polish matters among the many themes raised by the authors of letters and press articles. Letters controlled by military censorship make it possible to verify many official reports from the battlefield. This often happened in the case of events that could have had a negative, not to say harmful, impact on the propaganda activities of the state. The fragments intercepted and quoted in the reports shed additional light on many already known war episodes. They enable us to show the variety of relations between the Polish society and soldiers of the fighting armies.

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