Presentation

World War I led to six to seven million maimed men at international level. In Europe, governments afterwards had to face an issue which varied in magnitude in different countries. In each of the following five countries, Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Russia, more than 800 000 war disabled men had to be provided for, whereas other countries (Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, the Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian Kingdom, United States) had to deal with 100 000 to 350 000 men disabled by the conflict. In all these countries, war-disabled men formed organizations whose political positioning was often adversarial (apolitical, communist, social catholic, etc.). Because they had so many members, and because they spoke for war victims, they became influential partners of public authorities. Generally, these associations did not challenge existing social attitudes but prided themselves in promoting the sacrifice of soldiers and their wounded members[1].

Almost all war disabled were men, a majority of them being between 20 to 40 years old, however, there were a few war disabled female nurses too. Many encountered difficulties in returning to their agricultural, artisanal, or industrial jobs. Although they had been in working life for only 10 or 20 years, a number of them were forced to consider another career to provide for their families. To solve the problem of their continuing employment, in many European countries (Austria, Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy) associations demanded that all employers whether public or private were forced to hire a certain proportion of disabled men. Therefore several European countries (Austria, Germany, France, Italy, Poland) adopted legal measures between 1916 and 1924 imposing an obligation on private and public companies to employ war-wounded workers.

The first studies on war wounded people focused on public policies, legislation and mobilization of organizations. More recent studies focus on life experience, on the representation of war disabled in media[2] and on other aspects such as the pain associated with lost limbs[3]. Many of these studies are centered on the local or national level (France[4], Great Britain, Italy[5], Belgium[6], Germany[7], Austria, Poland[8], etc.).Very few collective or individual books[9] plus the recent special issue of the First World War Studies journal[10] allow crossing view points on several national cases. Historians have started adopting transnational perspectives on the matter[11]. This interest is likely to develop considering the increasing exchange of experience and data between associations and medical doctors from different countries.

However, a vast majority of these studies focus on the war and post-war period itself, overlooking mid- and long-term consequences of the war on the life of individuals. It seems therefore necessary to foster the production of new research focused on war-wounded people during the inter-war period at local, national and international levels. A number of issues deserve attention:

• Daily life of war wounded people returning to civilian life
• Feelings and emotions (resentment, pride, etc.)
• The impact of high social visibility of war-wounded people on the social representation of disability
• Work, economic and family situation
• Gender and physical, psychological and sexual violence
• Transnational dimension of organizations mobilization and the making of rehabilitation policies for war wounded.

Submission Guidelines

The journal welcomes all responses to the issue of war-disabled people during the post WW1 period (1918-1939). Articles should be submitted to the Journal ALTER European Journal of Disability Research on the website http://ees.elsevier.com/alter/ before October 31th 2018.

Articles selected after blind peer reviewing will be published in a special issue of ALTER-European Journal of Disability Research in commemoration of WW1, end of 1919.

[1] Gerber David (ed.), Disabled Veterans in History, University of Michigan Press, Enlarged and revised edition, 2012, p. xiii.

[2] Alexandre Sumpf, "War disabled on screen : remembering and forgeting the Great War in the Russian and Soviet cinema, 1914-1940", First World War Studies, 2015, pp. 57-79.

[3] Delaporte Sophie, « Le corps et la parole des mutilés de la Grande Guerre », Guerres mondiales et conflits contemporains, n° 205, 2002/1, p. 5-14.

[4] Jean-François Montès, 1915-1939, (re)travailler ou le retour du mutilé : une histoire de l’entre-deux-guerres, Rapport de recherche effectué pour l’Office national des anciens combattants et victimes de guerre, 1991 ; Romien (Pierre), « A l’origine de la réinsertion professionnnelle des personnes handicapées : la prise en charge des invalides de guerre », Revue Française des Affaires Sociales, n°2, 2005, pp. 229-247 ; Rebecca Scales, "Radio Broadcasting, Disabled Veterans, and the Politics of National Recovery in Interwar France", French Historical Studies, vol. 31, n°4, 2008, pp. 643-678.

[5] Ugo Pavan Dalla Torre, "Entre public et privé : l’assistance aux invalides de guerre et les origines d’un nouveau système de welfare en Italie (1915-1923)", Revue d'histoire de la protection sociale, 2015, p. 46-64.

[6] Pieter Verstraete, Christine Van Everbroeck, Le silence mutilé. Les soldats invalides belges de la grande guerre, Presses Universitaires de Namur, 2014.

[7] Heather R. Perry, Recycling the disabled : Army, medicine, and modernity in WWI Germany, Manchester University Press, 2014.

[8] Magowska, Anita, "The Unwanted Heroes : War invalids in Poland after World War I", Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, vol. 69 (2), 2014, pp. 185-220.

[9] Deborah Cohen, The War Come Home. Disabled Veterans in Britain and Germany, 1914-1939, University of California Press, 2001.

[10] Pieter Verstraete, Martina Salvante and Julie Anderson, "Commemorating the disabled soldier : 1914-1940", First World War Studies, 2015, p. 1-7

[11] Gildas Brégain, « Un problème national, interallié ou international ? La difficile gestion transnationale du problème des mutilés de guerre (1917-1923) », Revue d'Histoire de la protection sociale, n°9, 2016, pp. 110-132.