On the topic of demobilization and social adaptation of post-war veterans, we would like to draw your attention to Robert Dale’s article « Rats and Resentment ; the Demobilization of the Red Army in Post-War Leningrad, 1945-1950 », published in the Journal of Contemporary History, n° 45, 2010, pp.113-133. Continue reading
Category Archives: Post-War Situations
Book – On Veterans and Post-War Trajectories – « L’adieu aux armes. Parcours d’anciens combattants », Nathalie Duclos (Ed.)
L‘adieu aux armes. Parcours d’anciens combattants. Nathalie Duclos (Ed.) The book is published by Karthala, Paris, 2010 (in French). Continue reading
Book – Mark Edele, “Soviet Veterans of the Second World War. A Popular Movement in an Authoritarian Society, 1941-1991”
Mark Edele, Soviet Veterans of the Second World War. A Popular Movement in an Authoritarian Society, 1941-1991, Oxford University Press, 2008.
Millions of Soviet soldiers died in the “war of annihilation” against Nazi Germany but millions more returned to Stalin’s state after victory. Mark Edele traces the veterans’ story from the early post-war years through to the end of the Soviet Union in 1991. He describes in detail the problems they encountered during demobilization, the dysfunctional bureaucracy they had to deal with once back, and the way their reintegration into civilian life worked in practice in one of the most devastated countries of Europe. He pays particular attention to groups with specific problems such as the disabled, former prisoners of war, women soldiers, and youth.
Continue reading