Once WWII finally ended many soldiers and sailors could not wait to get back home and carry on with their lives. The set image for this post shows the plan that many U.S veterans had for after the war. Many simply wished to take off their uniform and return to the normal lives they had before. This was true for many veterans of every nation involved, however it would prove to be a difficulty for many. The reception these veterans received varied from place to place, some had it worse than others while some were able to quickly get back to their lives. It is certainly interesting to see how each country treated its veterans after the war and to see how they readjusted to civilian life.
For the Soviet Union, demobilization proved to be both slow and frustrating for its soldiers. While propaganda treated veterans like heroes and politicians made all kinds of promises, many were treated with little respect if any at all. This would lead to the veterans largely blaming government bureaucrats for their long wait to get home and lack of support. After the war’s end, “many soldiers would have to wait months, if not years, before they finally returned home.” (Dale, 122). In addition to the long wait, it would be years before veterans would be given any kind of social respect. While the problems of the Soviet veterans were hard, veterans of the U.S and others faced troubles as well.
While many veterans had a welcome return, some came back with damaging issues of their own. PTSD, or Shell Shock as it was known then, is a psychological disorder that can affect people who go through traumatic experiences. It affected many veterans as they returned home and they had little support for their newly formed disorder. At the time people who experienced Shell Shock were seen as having a, “psychological or emotional weakness.” (Jarvis, 99). There was an ever present stigma against soldiers who developed this disorder, people would see them as weak or not masculine enough for war. It was because of issues like this that many veterans had a hard time coming home.
Sources:
J Crotty & K Edele, Total War and Entitlement – Towards a Global History of Veteran Privilege, The Australian Journal of Politics and History 59.1 (2013).pdf
C Jarvis, ‘If He Comes Home Nervous -‘ US World War II Neuropsychiatric Casualties and Postwar Masculinities, Journal of Men’s Studies 17.2 (Spring 2009).pdf
R Dale, Rats and Resentment – The Demobilization of the Red Army in Postwar Leningrad, 1945-50, Journal of Contemporary History 45.1 (Jan. 2010).pdf
http://envisioning62.rssing.com/chan-19524005/latest.php
With PTSD not being understood very well at the time, was there a difference in knowledge level between the East and the West? As we saw in the video in class on Tuesday, there was at least some acknowledgement of battle fatigue in the United States, but was there anything comparable in the Soviet Union in terms of psychiatric care?
I like how in this post, just like the readings, we get a comparison from different countries instead of just focusing on one side. Were this countries in contact of how they should demobilize these veterans? It was a hard transition to come back home from war. It was more difficult than one would generally think. Which raises a question that we had in our discussion today about mental health, why did it take such a long time for PTSD to be recognized?
When you mention veterans are you saying all veterans or does race (Black and Japanese Americans) ? Does race make a difference when it comes to respect ?
I like how you pointed out in your article that even though today we call it post traumatic stress disorder that is not what it was known as back then, which was shell shock. I think that World War II brought to light the hug issue of soldiers having a different set of problem upon return to home.