The Politics of War Trauma

This study compares the policies and attitudes toward the health consequences of World War II in eleven European countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, East Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and West Germany. It shows the remarkably asynchronous development in these countries of health care financing and treatment for war survivors, and of the patients’ perception of their own health. Using an innovative and multidisciplinary approach, Withuis and Mooij analyze postwar health care in the context of the European political climate at that time.