World War I

“ . . . disabled [German] veterans subscribed to the restorative value of work. In contrast to the British Legion, which argued that the severely disabled should be exempt from work, German veteran’s organizations agreed that employment was the best remedy for disability. . . . In contrast to Great Britain, where many severely disabled ex-servicemen joined the long-term jobless, unemployment among the badly incapacitated remained low during the Weimar Republic. . . . Unlike in Britain, where a disabled man’s masculinity was measured by his stoicism, German veterans proved their manhood through their labor. . . . Deprived of their fellow citizen’s gratitude, they [German disabled veterans] turned to the welfare bureaucracy to provide the Fatherland’s thanks. Unlike philanthropists, who spoke readily of men ‘who had given their best for the Fatherland,’ civil servants were not accustomed to extol their clients’ sacrifices” (Cohen, 158, 161, 167). “Despite the right to participate in advisory councils and jobs in welfare offices, codetermination proved elusive for the [German] war-disabled. . . . By the mid-1920s, disabled veterans had lost faith in their fellow citizens’ goodwill . . . Weimar’s victims proved susceptible to the Nazi appeal (169ff).