winter 1914–15 The Russians in the passesRusi v priesmykoch

The First World War came over the mountains rather than past them. In the autumn and winter of 1914–15 Russian units pushed through the Carpathian passes into the northern part of the Bardejov district, and the fighting in the Beskids was some of the coldest and worst of the entire eastern front. It left something you can still find: a scatter of small military cemeteries in the hills north of the town, where Austro-Hungarian and Russian soldiers are buried in the same ground, often with no names. The spa emptied, the men were at the front, and the district that had been exporting people to America was now exporting them to trenches.Prvá svetová vojna sem prišla cez hory, nie okolo nich. Na jeseň a v zime 1914 – 1915 prenikli ruské jednotky karpatskými priesmykmi do severnej časti bardejovského okresu a boje v Beskydách patrili k najkrutejším a najchladnejším na celom východnom fronte. Zostalo po nich niečo, čo sa dá nájsť dodnes: roztrúsené vojenské cintoríny v kopcoch severne od mesta, kde v jednej zemi ležia rakúsko-uhorskí aj ruskí vojaci, často bez mien. Kúpele sa vyprázdnili, muži boli na fronte a okres, ktorý dovtedy vyvážal ľudí do Ameriky, ich teraz posielal do zákopov.