A disabled World War I veteran begging on the streets of Berlin,1923

A disabled World War I veteran begging on the streets of Berlin,1923

veterans who returned from the battlefields of World War I, disability came into view in the public sphere in Germany in a different way and to a greater extent than ever before.

It saddens me greatly to see wounded soldiers, fellow disabled veterans of another country, regardless of the timeline, reduced to becoming beggars. Their pride and dignity constantly assaulted by the passing public. I think, though, that this is more common even in today's world than we would like to believe.

If a country sends their sons and daughters to fight in any war, it has the morale obligation to support them when they return from war and look after them for life. Some countries do it well, others need to pick up their game.

Fifty years earlier, during the Franco-Prussian War, 80 to 90 percent of seriously wounded soldiers had died of infections and other complications. By World War I, however, medical advances enabled many more soldiers to survive previously mortal wounds, and advances in rehabilitation technology made it is easier for more disabled veterans to return to work.

Yet in the economic and social turmoil of the postwar years the government struggled to provide the substantial resources necessary to reintegrate these men into society. In spite of great efforts to meet their needs, both economic exigencies and problematic welfare policies increasingly alienated these men from the Republic, often making some susceptible to political extremism.

Photograph taken by Georg Pahl

Color by Julius 

All What's You Should Know— where you'll discover the most interesting things that you Should know