An Unknown Census of the Population of Przemyśl from mid-1918 : A Primary Source Analysis

The main source for this article is a population census carried out in Przemyśl in 1918, previously unused in any scientific research. Using a survey method, it encompassed single households; only some of the material exists to this day, a larger part stored in the Sanok Archive, and a smaller in the National Archive in Przemyśl. The census combined the elements of the earlier “State of Souls” (status animarum) in relation to households and the more modern type of Austrian survey to which new categories were added; its Abstrakt Podstawę źródłową artykułu stanowi niewykorzystany dotąd w badaniach naukowych spis mieszkańców Przemyśla z połowy roku 1918. Przeprowadzony metodą ankiet (kwestionariuszy) spisowych, obejmujących pojedyncze gospodarstwa rodzinne, zachował się tylko w części; większej – w zasobach oddziału sanockiego Archiwum Państwowego w Rzeszowie, mniejszej – w zbiorach Archiwum Państwowego w Przemyślu, do którego kiedyś przynależał. Łączy on w sobie procedury austriackich konskrypcji ludności, S T U D I A I M A T E R I A Ł Y

The history of Przemyśl, one of the oldest cities on the Polish-Ruthenian border, which dates back to the early medieval era of the Piasts and Rurykowiczes, has not to this day registered any population census from the era of the First World War. With even greater surprise, we noticed, during an analysis of materials gathered in the Archive of Sanok, the existence of a large collection of conscription questionnaires from Przemyśl. For many years they had been mistakenly classified as data sheets concerning the population of Sanok; only recently have they been correctly identified as The census of the population of Przemyśl. 1 Later 1 National Archive in Rzeszów, Sanok unit (hereafter cited as APR, O/Sanok), unit no. 135, Akta miasta Sanoka, rps 550, Spis ludności miasta Przemyśla (kwestionariusze od A-K) 1918; rps 551, jw. (kwestionariusze od M-Z) 1918-1921. The collection post 1918 seems to be of little scientific value, as it contains only some random census entries. Digitalization and consultations were possible thanks to the kindness of Mr. Stanisław Dobrowolski, director of the Unit. original form enables new methods for analyzing the local population of that area. The circumstances in which the census was carried out are unknown; we can assume that it was conducted by the local magistrate, due to food shortages and mass migration of the population (including the military) to the city. The surviving 1,163 cards enable us to pinpoint personal data from the respondents, such as sex, age, religion and nationality, place of birth and address, and in some cases social status and profession.

Słowa kluczowe
Przemyśl, Galicja, I wojna światowa, spis mieszkańców, kwestionariusz spisowy, rodzina podstawowa i rozszerzona, zróżnicowanie narodowościowe i wyznaniowe miasta analysis of the collection stored in the main Archive in Przemyśl has revealed more entries from the same census and year. 2 The circumstances surrounding the creation of the census are difficult to establish in the current research without a detailed analysis of a huge collection of the Przemyśl Archive; more information, although indirect, could be obtained on the fate of those materials gathered during the last year of the war. We now know that the questionnaires survived both World War II and the occupation of Przemyśl (both the right bank of the San by Soviet forces until 1941 and the left, containing Zasanie, and later the whole city, by the Germans). During the chaos after the war, when the fate of the main archive in Rzeszów was disputed, part of the collection was transported (probably by accident) first to Skołoszyn (near Jasło) and then to Sanok, where it is stored to this day. The fate of the rest of the collection, which remained in Przemyśl, was less favourable. The archivists, unaware of its scientific importance, used its contents as bookmarks. The 64 sheets recovered in Przemyśl lasted only due to the markings in pencil on the back that contained the names of the units, their parts, fascicles and the individual archive units. The notes 3 discovered suggest that such behaviour was still common in the 1970s, due to acute paper shortages.
The analysis revealed 1,163 census questionnaires, nearly all of which could be pinpointed to individual streets and houses, and which constituted the basic administrative conscription units. 4 About 40 streets and town squares were recorded, along with 334 houses. An evaluation of the state of completion of the collection in relation to the state of the buildings at that time can be difficult, due to war, which made the collection and storage of statistical data far more difficult. Using the register of the housing and streets of Przemyśl from 1910 5 is risky, due to the fact that after 4 years of war, and especially the Russian siege, the housing potential must have been much lower in 1918. Without the historical factor involved, transferring the date from the aforementioned register would show about 933 residential buildings; this would mean that the 1918 census only concerned 1/3 of the dwellings, which would seem to be a significant underestimation.
More detailed information can be gained by analyzing the sum total of people that lived in the 334 houses in relation to the overall population of Przemyśl. The data suggest that the population living in this part was approximately 4,507 residents, and the total number of people living in the city at the end of 1918 and the beginning of 1919 (as verified by M. Duma) was approximately 47,000. 6 Taking into account migration to the city at the end of the war, we can assume that during mid-1918 the population numbered about 45,000, which means that the census data contain information on approximately 10% of the overall population. That is enough to draw some conclusions concerning the national and religious structure of the city. We can identify the name, the age and (indirectly) the sex, the place of birth, the place of the individual in the social structure (also more distant relatives and members of the domestic service), their religion, and sometimes the occupation and the place on the professional ladder. The questionnaire's clear, bilingual structure can give information on the level of education and the linguistic skills of the respondent and additional notes provide us with data concerning personal and family life. The tabular form enables us to compare, group and analyze statistical data such as the population density, family statistics, scale and the dynamics of migration and the social changes during the First World War, observed directly. The data reveal important information on the sociography of the housing stock, populated by people of different faiths (including mixed families) and sometimes employing domestic service from different nations and religions. There are also some hints concerning the growing conflicts between national groups, which marked the end of the war and heralded changes in this part of Europe, which was still Habsburg. The backbone of the census was a specially-created registration form, called the questionnaire (Figure 3). It was written in both Ukrainian and Polish, which was normal procedure during the second half of the 19th century and in Eastern Galicia. It contained four parts: the address, the tables (with personal data), verification and advice. The ordinal number space was empty; it was sometimes filled in by a "man of trust," who analyzed and corrected the questionnaires that were brought in. The corrections were mostly made in pencil (as shown below) and differed greatly from the text written by the head of the family. In this example, we can see that the name of the region Zasanie has been crossed out and replaced with a number, perhaps for census purposes, and the ordinal number has been filled in. The number 831 (visible below) was added later by archivists during the assembly of the collection, although inconsistently; on some forms the pagination only includes the front side, while sometimes it is also on the reverse side. The address also includes the street name at that time and the number. The main part of the form consisted of a table containing a heading, 5 columns and 13 rows. Apart from the ordinal number, the full list of all family members and all other people living there (including more distant relatives, domestic service, lodgers, hired workers) had to be included. The "head of the family," as well as all the other people on the list, had to provide information concerning their age, declared religion and place of birth. A signature and date were also required. In the end section, there is a notice instructing the questionnaire to be delivered to the "man of trust" within 3 days.
The form of the questionnaire was in direct relation to the general censuses organized in Galician counties. Both the order and most of the categories were identical; what sets this census apart was the interest the administration showed in the age and birthplace of all the respondents, and the wide scale of the research in the form of independent completion of the questionnaires. The detailed information on the birthplace, even of hotel guests, suggests that Przemyśl City Hall had initiated this research, as they had been struggling to control mass migration to the city.
The credibility of the census should be judged in accordance with the ability of the "heads of families" to fill in a relatively simple registration form. In spite of the war, they were quite well-educated, mainly due to universal public schooling, which included the greatest number ever of children of all nationalities and faiths. 7 In the census we can find many examples of school attendance, especially when a mother describes her own and other household members' duties. 8 It would seem that a good knowledge of Polish was universal amongst the younger Jewish population and to a lesser extent Ruthenians. As a positive example, we can take the questionnaire shown above, which was completed by Teodozja Muszyńska, a 33-year-old Ruthenian, born in the village of Tamanowice near Mościska. It is evident that she has good Polish language skills, no different from ethnic Polish women of the same age; indeed, without the knowledge of her specific name and the data in the declaration, we would not know she was Ruthenian Greek Catholic. The same questionnaire also reveals another merit to the census -it shows migratory movements, especially the mass immigration of entire, often interfaith, families to the city. The dynamics of this movement is often difficult to assess, because parish family books most often describe only migrations 7 As described recently by E. Juśko in his work Wpływ szkolnictwa ludowego autonomicznej Galicji na kształt polskiej szkoły powszechnej w latach 1918-1922 (Lublin: Catholic University of Lublin Press, 2006 (part VII, sub-section 2, Realizacja obowiązku szkolnego w zaborze austriackim). 8 We can observe this trend with all national groups and faiths, as in the case of a Jewish woman, Blüma Rosenbluth, a trader who lived in Kupcowa Street, who described all her children's activities, including her 3 sons, aged 16, 14 and 12, and her 10-year-old schoolchild daughter (reg. no. I 1377). within their own jurisdiction or give information on the population living permanently within their borders, rarely on the people of other faiths (status animarum registers). From the questionnaire, we can learn that Teodozja, along with many other Ukrainian girls, had moved from her home village to Przemyśl, where she settled and raised a family. At the time of the census, she already had 8 children (ranging from 3 to 16 years old), all raised in the Roman Catholic faith and with Polish names. We can, therefore, assume that she arrived in the city before the birth of her oldest son Franciszek in 1902, when she was about 16 or 17 herself. It is likely that her husband or family influenced the choice of names and Roman Catholic church, in spite of the interfaith Concordia and the Pope's 1863 decree which suggested that children should be baptized into the faith of the parent of the same sex. We can also see that Teodozja did not include her husband in the register; this was unusual and we will try to determine the cause later. In most cases, the credibility of the census was confirmed by cross-referencing the information with data gathered from civic certificates or other sources; more detailed verification, however, would require a wider evidence base.
The data were less informative in cases where the "head of the family" could not fill the form in personally. This was less of a problem for citizens who had little to no knowledge of the Polish language, as in the case of foreigners from other parts of the Empire or older generations of Jews or Ruthenians who did not want to use it officially, since the questionnaires could also be submitted in Ukrainian or German; the situation was worse when the respondent was illiterate and did not understand the contents of the questionnaire or misinterpreted them, as in the case of unqualified labourers of both Polish and Ruthenian origin. In that case, the questionnaires were completed by their landlords, more educated family members or neighbors. These questionnaires can be easily identified by the handwriting type or by the crosses marked by illiterate respondents next to another person's signature. 9 It was also rare to indicate illiteracy directly among the respondents, as in the case of the family members of Ruthenian Katarzyna Hudek, who supervised the apartments at 3 Mickiewicza Street along with 4 children, or another Ruthenian, Irena Tuszczak, who lived alone. 10 The data show that the first questionnaires were completed on 15th June and the main part of the census ended in the second half of July; after that date, the registers were rarely brought in, most likely due to food shortages and other problems. Half of them were incorrectly dated, which was partly due to different writing habits in the German-speaking population, including inversion of Roman numerals (April instead of June), but mostly due to the literal understanding of the text by people who had never had any previous experience with official letters. As "Przemyśl, on this day… 1918," was written on the form, the abovementioned Teodozja Muszyńska included only the day, without the month (but written correctly, in Arabic numbers with a dot!). This writing manner did not usually hinder the identification process of the questionnaires, as the timeline had already been established.
The method for collating the questionnaires was typical for such mass sources of a demographical and historical nature. The first step consisted in scanning all the questionnaires and arranging them by streets and houses; next, they were entered onto a database, each with their original number. 11 After that, the text of the questionnaires was put into a statistical table, the same for each street, and finally the data were analyzed according to certain demographic criteria (the number of family members, which included the basic family and other lodgers, birthplace and declared religion -Roman Catholics, 12 Protestants, Jews 13 and Greek Catholics. 14 The subject of the analysis were all the streets and registers, but due to the problem of representativeness, the more detailed research concentrated, in the case of the larger ones, on the streets with most questionnaires intact, and in the smaller streets on the ones with at least half available. In the first case, they were: 3 Maja Street (290 questionnaires, 34 houses and 1,220 registered people), Grunwaldzka Street (162, 64 and 518) and Krasińskiego Street (68-29-222) all located in the suburb of Zasanie and Kazimierz Wielki Street (61-11-202) and Grodzka Street (51-7-161) in the Old Town. Smaller, but no less important streets in the center were also included: Katedralna (21-6-71) and Kapitulna (8-3-32). The Lwowskie Przedmieście are represented by Kopernika Street (79-28-304), Nadbrzeżna Street (21-7-107) and the peripheral Krównicka Street (31-17-122), while in the small Podzamcze we have Kręta Street (8-4-1) and Reja Street (5-2-17). The best-represented part of the city is indeed Zasanie where, apart from the streets mentioned above, we have over half the questionnaires from Barska, Bema, Błonie, Klasztorna. Krasińskiego, Świętego Jana Górna and Zakątna 11 The format has been standarized to I/II/III/0000, where the Roman numbers marked the collection (I and II is Sanok, Przemyśl is III, and the Arabic numbers are the page numbers included by the archivists, with 0 in the case of a format different than four numbers).
12 Also Roman religion, Pole (usually in lowercase). 13 Usually called the Mosaic religion. 14 Also used in the questionnaires were words such as Ruthenian (also in lowercase) or Greek religion. Streets. Orientation in the Przemyśl of that era will be made easier by the reproduction of the city plan mapped shortly after the gaining of independence, which included hand-written building plans (in colour) and other elements of military infrastructure.
The character and limited length of this work allows us to show only the most important demographic processes taking place in the city at the end of the war; those that characterize the local community in its religious, social and national aspects and reveal the specific origins, the gender and age structure and the organization of family and in part religious life. The most characteristic examples are given in the form of tables with added graphics. The main point of interest has been the largely represented 3 Maja Street, which contained 27% of the registered population and is a point of reference for other places in the city.
The main street of Zasanie, later called 3 Maja Street, was marked out in the place of the old Kraków Road from 1779, in a form of a straight line from north to south, from the forested area of Budy Małe to the stone bridge on the river San. It was part of a modern road, built quickly as the emperor's highway (Kaiser-Chaussée) from the border in Biała to Lwów. 15 Soon new housing emerged, along with production facilities, in a typical urban fashion. 16 The table shows the quantity and size of the housing in this street along with the statistics on the number of families living there in comparison to 22 other places in Przemyśl (Table 1). Zasanie's main thoroughfare was only matched by the relatively short Grodzka Street, located in the old town centre and heading west, with a lot of housing; the other places with high population potential were three streets representing Przedmieście Lwowskie, with an above average (3.7) number of residents. Other streets were not so highly populated; the second part of the table encompasses medium-sized buildings, and the lower part is represented by the semi-rustic streets Głęboka and Krównicka, on the outskirts of the Przedmieście Lwowskie and Kręta Street, which was difficult to develop, in Podzamcze.  16 In the census we can find houses numbered from 1 to 49, situated from the crossroads with Grunwaldzka and Krasińskiego Street to the later built 29th Listopad -November Street; one register is from the higher situated house no. 73. Source: The Przemyśl population census, questionnaires completed in the selected places.
3 Maja Street was mostly populated by Jewish families (49.7%), then Polish (40.7%); next there was a small number of Ruthenians (9.3%) and only a few Protestants (0.3%); this last group were a rarity in the city, comprised mostly of single families and people, who were mostly bureaucrats, soldiers and teachers from Germany and Austria. The percentage share based on the number of these basic families is even more favorable to Jewish families (59.4%) and in effect less favorable for Poles and Ruthenians (32.6% and 7.7%), and the same may be stated for the only Protestant family living there, namely that of Wilhelmina Klöver 17 (0.3%). It follows, therefore, that Jewish families were more numerous than Catholic ones. 18 The table below (Table 2) shows that the largest Ruthenian family consisted of 7 members, two Polish families had 8 members, and the largest Jewish ones had 12 and 11 members. 19   According to the census, there were other residents living permanently or seasonally among the families, such as servants, hired workers, more distant relatives and lodgers. Along with the 290 families there were 150 residents, so on average every second family had them, which was the highest rate from the streets of Przemyśl. The table shows the placement of these residents, along with their religious denominations (apart from the Protestant family, which did not have servants). These people were most widely present in Polish families (71), and a little bit rarer among the Jewish families (67); proportionally the same amount could be seen in Ruthenian households (12). In practice, additional residents were present only in 98 families; some hired more than one worker 20 and those living alone had more than one lodger. 21 Further analysis reveals that a different religion was not an obstacle when hiring workers or taking in lodgers. Ukrainian maids, babysitters or servants were very popular among the Jewish population, but Poles also worked as domestic servants. In Polish families, especially mixed ones, other nationalities and religious denominations were also accepted. 22 The table shows a different configura-20 36 year-old Krausa Weissman, who came to Przemyśl 13 years earlier from Komarno, had 6 of her own children and one other baby and had hired a servant, a journeyman and an apprentice, all of whom were Jews, and at the end of the questionnaire had added her 56 year-old mother, Sima Schreiber (reg. no. II 0047).
21 69 year-old Prakseda Neuwirth, declaring herself a Roman Catholic, had two residents from Prague, Bohemia, Bogusław Szich and Karol Jedliczka, and for company a 38 year-old Ruthenian, Paranka Choma from Więckowice (reg. no. II 0029). 22 For example, a 30-year-old Pole, Kazimierz Szafran from Stryj, who had a wife from Sambor, two small children and who took care of an elderly father, hired a 19 year-old named Anna tion within the structures of workers and employers. The left side shows the same and different faiths of the residents, and the right takes into account the declarations of the employers. The example set in the late stage of the Hapsburg monarchy is quite positive, especially in relation to the tragedies of the next century.  The age structure of the residents was quite different than the families they lived with (Table 4). Two age groups, which constituted about 2/3 of this population (with the age metric included), were those between 11-20 and 21-30 years old. Most were household servants and hired workers. The domestic service career of young women employed by Jewish or Polish families usually ended when the children they were taking care of had grown up, and rarely extended beyond the age of 25; older, experienced servants could still be hired to help elderly people. 23 We can more or less imagine the everyday and official life of a typical family thanks to the questionnaires from the tenements marked as 39, 41 and 43 (Figure 6). The owner of the first (located in the corner of St. John) was a doctor, Samuel Natan Kutna; 24 a total of 12 families lived there, one Protestant, two Ruthenian (one of mixed character 25 ), 4 Jewish and 5 Polish; in total, 50 residents, including 9 servants and lodgers. 26 The middle part, owned by Gunsberg, was occupied by 1 Ruthenian family, 3 Jewish, 5 Polish and a German-Hungarian marriage -45 residents, 6 servants and lodgers. The other corner was owned by Mojżesz Döbla and co. and was inhabited by 17 families, 2 Ruthenian, 7 Jewish and 8 Polish, a total of 86 residents, among them 14 servants and lodgers. The total population of this elegant tenement was 181 people, with 29 servants and lodgers.  Przemyśl 1910, p. 84. 25 Head of the family was a Ruthenian, Michał Dziukiewicz from Kańczuga, and the wife was Maria from Kramice in Bohemia, a Roman Catholic, as were her two daughters, while the youngest son was raised as a Greek Catholic; with them lived 17 year-old Władysław Burmas from Jarosław (reg. no. II 0213). 26 The list of residents can be found in the registry, from nos. II 0213 to II 0224.
The most puzzling thing for demographs about the census is the over-representation of women as heads of families, with a low frequency of husbands appearing in the questionnaires along with typical aspects such as birthrate or the characteristic intervals between children, especially among the Jewish population. Obviously, the struggle for the equality of rights for females ended with success at around the end of the war, but the example of Przemyśl is quite astounding, especially given the mixed social, religious and national environment. Generally, we can assume that this phenomenon was in accordance with the wider European process of female emancipation. Here are the results of the analysis for the 3 Maja Street, which later will be compared to other, similar regions: The age structure, as expected, reveals that the "heads of families" group was comprised of autonomous and mature people. The youngest, a 19 year-old Ruthenian, Julian Męcieński from Łętownia, proves this not only with his signature but also by filling in the form of his neighbor, Piotr Olechowski, which was signed in the same characteristic way. 27 The same can be said for the 20 year-old Mojżesz Fugermann from Stryj, who filled in the questionnaire at house no. 49. The distribution in particular intervals is typical for families living in a multicultural environment. However, the distribution according to sex is very unusual: just the first age bracket (21-30) reveals that there were 3 times more women than men; the trend weakens with age, but the domination of females continues until the age of 50. In correlation with nationality and religion, it seems that women were most prevalent as "heads of families" in the Polish population, but among this group there were also Jews. This advancement of the position of females and the dominant number of men in the age brackets over the age of 50 led to a statistical balance between the sexes.
The comparisons with other streets fully confirm this change. Similar results are seen in Krasińskiego Street (at the ages of 31-40, in Polish families; the general state is the same) and Grodzka Street (here the dominance of women is more apparent: 52.9-47.1). Most young women in families were represented in the upper part of Grunwaldzka Street (Kmiecie, in the proportions 54.9-45). The 10% prevalence of women is seen in the same age groups, but in this region, their number is even 4 times higher than men. Here, young women headed families most commonly in Polish families, secondly in Ruthenian and lastly in the Jewish population.
The circumstances for carrying out the census are unknown to this day, so we cannot be 100% sure as to the source of these anomalies. The most obvious explanation would be conscription into the Austro-Hungarian army, but confirming this hypothesis would require further analysis of military documents and metrics from parishes and synagogues. We can also see examples of crossing out husbands (maybe due to their constant absence) or moving their names further down the list. It also should be mentioned that the census also shows the attitude towards the presumed fall of the Austro-Hungarian empire and the rising conflict between the Polish and Ukrainian populations. Some Ukrainian words were crossed out in the questionnaires by disgruntled Polish nationalists; although it would seem that the Ukrainians themselves were not so radical in the attachment to their culture and language, as only a few forms from the total of 4,500 were completed in Ukrainian.

Conclusion
The census found in Przemyśl is a phenomenon on a national scale. 28 It is distinguished by its original formal structure, the method and time of implementation which took place during the last year of the First World War. The place is also interesting, as Przemyśl (which for a long time served as a fortress) was one of the most important garrisons on the eastern front. Additionally, from its earlier days, it had been a typical town in Galicia, with a multicultural society, divided according to religious and national aspects, but still living together, often in the same housing and under the rule of an elected local government. The census is in one part typical for the Austrian regime, 29 but also adds new categories and enables a more detailed analysis of the local population, which brings it closer to the parish tradition of "status animarum," censuses made in relation to households and families, which also included servants and sometimes Jews. 30 Thanks to the answers provided by the 1,163 questionnaires, data concerning literacy among the citizens of Przemyśl is also provided. Its potential is limited in terms of the number of the population, but it is a rich source of information in relation to aspects such as stratification, the structure of the basic and full family, and the functioning of mixed families polarized by nationalities and religion. Its role is prominent in the case of analyzing migration processes; the population which came to the city from all the Przemyśl region, marked by two dioceses, and on a smaller scale from all of Galicia and the remaining parts of the monarchy. Even the available representation of 10% of the population opens up new possibilities in the matter. The problem of the civic state of women in Przemyśl in the 21-30 and 31-40 age brackets and their actual social status requires some further research.

Summary
Przemyśl, located in eastern Galicia, was an important administrative and educational centre during the era of autonomy; the city offered many possibilities for employment, a wide range of services and had well-developed commerce. It was a nationally and religiously diverse city, the feature being also omnipresent during the First World War period. A population census, carried out during the summer of 1918, reveals a local society in the form of a typical Galician multicultural city in which, apart from historical nationalities (Poles, Ruthenians/Ukrainians and Jews), families from other Austrian provinces lived and worked. It is the last such source that reflects the landscape formed during the division of the Commonwealth. 1,163 questionnaires were located, from about 40 streets and plazas, in which 334 houses were situated. We found information on 4,507 people (about 10% of the population of Przemyśl, which numbered about 45,000 in 1918). The census made it possible to identify personal data, age, sex, birthplace and the position of the respondents in the basic and extended family, constituting one household. It also reveals their religious denomination and in some cases social status and profession. The census enables us to calculate of the size of the families of each religion and precisely pinpoint their address in each house and outbuilding in correlation to individual streets, squares, districts and suburbs. The subject under analysis encompasses the streets with the most surviving data material. The research revealed that on average a single house was occupied by 3.7 families, and in the central streets as many as 8.5 families. The best-represented, 3 Maja Street (290 families), was mostly occupied by Jews, followed by Poles; while Ruthenians and other nations were less represented. The second most represented, Grunwaldzka Street, was mostly occupied by Poles; next were Ruthenians and Jews. Most of the registered population was composed of migrants, coming into the city from nearby regions, but also from all of the provinces of the Habsburg Empire. In the "head of families" category we can see a surprisingly large overrepresentation of young women, especially in Polish and in part Jewish families; this issue was less common in Ruthenian families.