Assistance for victims of World War I in Austria

The subject of the planned project which will employ both qualitative and quantitative methods is the history of war-victim welfare in Austria after World War I. Apart from examining the various forms this system adopted at various stages in history we shall first and foremost carry out an analysis of its implications, real or symbolic, for governmental and social policies. As to the temporal framework the study spans the period from the end of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy up to the Anschluss of 1938. By addressing World War I the study focuses on the first major conflict of the 20th century. Geographically, the study covers the territory of present-day Austria. Wherever possible, comparisons with other nations, in particular Germany, will be made. The enormous extent of victims - not least induced by general conscription (which was introduced in the Austro- Hungarian Monarchy in 1868) - made World War I a turning point in the sphere of war-victim welfare as the existing system which was organised on a subsidiary basis and thus depending on private charity proved inadequate to cope with this situation. Having become a small state Deutsch-Österreich was forced to develop her own welfare system at the core of which lay the Invalid Compensation Act ("Invalidenentschädigungsgesetz") passed in 1919. As its central goals this law formulated the restoration of fitness for work and re-integration of wounded soldiers into civil society as well as the establishment of a non-paternalistic welfare system. Apart from providing an in-depth study of the nature of war-victim welfare the project aims at corroborating the thesis that war-victim welfare played a paradigmatic role in developing the following themes: a) the beginnings and growth of State social welfare, b) how the State administered or dealt with its citizens` suffering, c) the transition from, ort he merging of civil and military (war) societies, d) the significance of the term "victim" in (and for) society. The project will therefore deal with the following questions: In which way did the state exercise its role as a "provider of welfare"? Of which nature are the interactions between the State and War-Victims Associations? Have the latter been successful in furnishing the victims of the war with a common identity and mobilising them for political concerns? What was the kind of administrative and medical categorisation to which war-victims themselves were subjected? Who established the "value" of the damage they had suffered? How much did the sufferings of the survivors - widows, orphans and parents - weigh compared to those of the incapacitated ex- servicemen? These considerations will be made against the background of the concept of "give and take" regulating the relationship between the State and the Individual: According to this concept the state, demanding from its soldiers to make a sacrifice thus turning them into victims, will reward their physical sacrifice by granting them material (benefits) and symbolic (status) compensation. Whether and/or to which extent this concept was of relevance for the specific situation of Austria in the aftermath of World War I will also be a concern of the proposed project.

The subject of the planned project which will employ both qualitative and quantitative methods is the history of war-victim welfare in Austria after World War I. Apart from examining the various forms this system adopted at various stages in history we shall first and foremost carry out an analysis of its implications, real or symbolic, for governmental and social policies. As to the temporal framework the study spans the period from the end of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy up to the Anschluss of 1938. By addressing World War I the study focuses on the first major conflict of the 20th century. Geographically, the study covers the territory of present-day Austria. Wherever possible, comparisons with other nations, in particular Germany, will be made. The enormous extent of victims - not least induced by general conscription (which was introduced in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in 1868) - made World War I a turning point in the sphere of war-victim welfare as the existing system which was organised on a subsidiary basis and thus depending on private charity proved inadequate to cope with this situation. Having become a small state Deutsch- Österreich was forced to develop her own welfare system at the core of which lay the Invalid Compensation Act ("Invalidenentschädigungsgesetz") passed in 1919. As its central goals this law formulated the restoration of fitness for work and re-integration of wounded soldiers into civil society as well as the establishment of a non- paternalistic welfare system. Apart from providing an in-depth study of the nature of war-victim welfare the project aims at corroborating the thesis that war-victim welfare played a paradigmatic role in developing the following themes: 1. the beginnings and growth of State social welfare, 2. how the State administered or dealt with its citizens` suffering, 3. the transition from, ort he merging of civil and military (war) societies, 4. the significance of the term "victim" in (and for) society. The project will therefore deal with the following questions: In which way did the state exercise its role as a "provider of welfare"? Of which nature are the interactions between the State and War-Victims Associations? Have the latter been successful in furnishing the victims of the war with a common identity and mobilising them for political concerns? What was the kind of administrative and medical categorisation to which war-victims themselves were subjected? Who established the "value" of the damage they had suffered? How much did the sufferings of the survivors - widows, orphans and parents - weigh compared to those of the incapacitated ex- servicemen? These considerations will be made against the background of the concept of "give and take" regulating the relationship between the State and the Individual: According to this concept the state, demanding from its soldiers to make a sacrifice thus turning them into victims, will reward their physical sacrifice by granting them material (benefits) and symbolic (status) compensation. Whether and/or to which extent this concept was of relevance for the specific situation of Austria in the aftermath of World War I will also be a concern of the proposed project.