German war invalids in the 20th century

Disabled of the Second World War (1946)

War invalids are called people whose permanent physical (physical) or psychological impairment is the result of warfare or a prisoner of war . War- related amputees , paralyzes , facial injuries who were referred to as war-crushed , brain injured , hearing and visually impaired people belong to the group of war invalids.

After the two world wars , disabled people in Germany were given professional support through various measures . War invalids have contributed to promoting the integration of people with disabilities in the Federal Republic of Germany .

Well-known disabled people from the First World War include the German social democrat Kurt Schumacher and the Hamburg school senator Heinrich Landahl . The later Hitler assassin Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg was disabled in the Second World War in 1943.

During the Nazi era , the T4 campaign also included disabled people.

Number of war invalids

The 20th century, the century of two world wars, is also the century of the disabled . In the First World War, military armies of millions were deployed. Significantly more people than in previous wars were involved in the fighting. In particular, the use of explosive projectiles by the artillery resulted in numerous wounds. Since 1915, steel helmets have been tested for improved head protection , which were part of the equipment in the German army from 1916.

At the same time, a larger number of wounded survived thanks to the antiseptic wound treatment that had become possible on the troop formation station and in the field hospitals : Around 1867, the Briton Joseph Lister was the first physician to treat wounds with bandages soaked with the antiseptic phenol ( carbolic acid ). In 1874 this process was introduced in the German-speaking area by Johann Nepomuk von Nussbaum . As a result of the advanced military medicine , the group of physically handicapped people increased because the doctors of the medical corps were able to better treat broken gunshots , some of which resulted in limbs being shortened or stiffened.

In particular, the bombing raids on Germany during World War II resulted in civilians becoming disabled. Examples are the attacks on Hamburg in the summer of 1943, which are known as Operation Gomorrah , or the air raids on the Ruhr area and Stuttgart . It is unclear how large the total number of wounded German civilians, including children , was, but more civilians lost their lives than soldiers in combat operations during World War II.

In the German Reich lived after the end of World War half a million and the Federal Republic of Germany after the end of a half million state-approved war invalids. A certified war-related reduction in earning capacity of at least 25% had to be present in order to be considered disabled. For the Soviet occupation zone , it can be assumed that 242,705 war invalids were resident in it in 1948.

In 2000, 372,069 war disabled people in Germany were entitled to state benefits.

War invalids from crisis regions of other countries (including as a result of the Lebanon war from Lebanon , and Iran and Iraq as a result of the Iran-Iraq war ) live in the 21st century in Germany. Because of the Bundeswehr missions abroad since 1991, the cases in which German soldiers permanent health damage suffered accumulate; those affected are called military service disabled.

Legal regulations

War-disabled plumber (September 1949)

The welfare of war disabled persons was regulated in Germany from 1920 with the help of the Reich Supply Law. Its basic idea was to provide the disabled with monetary compensation through pensions and to enable them to return to work. In this respect, the right of the injured to medical treatment was in the foreground of the law. The Berlin orthopedic surgeon Konrad Biesalski had previously promoted the war disabled worker, not the recipient of alms .

The basic lines of provisions for war victims laid down in the Weimar Republic continued to have an effect after 1945. Which came to the office of the Chief Supply Act in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1950 Federal Supply Act (see also: war victims ).

In order to promote the integration of war disabled people into working life, the law to secure the integration of severely disabled people into work, occupation and society was passed in 1953 . The law was based on the Severely Disabled Persons Act of the Weimar Republic and, like this, established mandatory quotas for the employment of severely disabled people. Employers who provided at least seven jobs had to employ a severely disabled person. Public administrations were obliged to fill 10% of the jobs with severely disabled people. A quota of 8% applied to companies.

In order to ensure mobility and participation in public life for war disabled people, so-called disability compensation rights were granted. Anyone who had a severely disabled ID card issued could take advantage of free rides on public transport and discounted admission prices to museums, theaters, etc. (see also: Free transport ).

In Germany, the main welfare offices and pension offices are the contact persons for war invalids for the granting of benefits .

After the First World War, the military supply courts created for this purpose clarified the pension claims of the disabled .

In 2007, the law regulating re-use after accidents gave people the right to continued employment in their offices or in the public service who, as Bundeswehr soldiers , were or are becoming disabled.

Medical supplies

War invalids who were in an employment relationship subject to compulsory insurance were entitled to medical treatment as health insurance members after the end of the Second World War .

The Federal Supply Act guaranteed this right to uninsured war invalids. Uninsured people were assigned to a health insurance fund for the treatment of their war damage. The medical care of these so-called allocated persons was based on the federal treatment certificate issued by the Federal Ministry of Labor for allocated persons according to a federal tariff for war disabled persons, the federal supply tariff . The treating physicians had to deliver the federal treatment certificates to the responsible billing offices of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians after a quarter of a treatment period . These then settled with the cash registers. According to the Federal Supply Act, the federal supply tariff also applied to the treatment of war invalids who were members of a health insurance company.

Ex soldiers whose acquisition reduction degree of at least 50%, and Allocated freed the Federal law of the so-called supply Verordnungsblatt fee , d. H. from an additional payment for medication and aids.

The medical treatment of war invalids was also carried out in Germany in specially set up hospitals, e.g. B. in the BDH-Klinik Elzach , the BDH-Klinik Hessisch Oldendorf and in the Klinik Hohe Warte in Bayreuth.

The supply of prostheses was initially insufficient after the end of the Second World War. A lack of materials and inadequate cooperation between trade and industry are reasons for this. So-called self-propelled vehicles , three-wheeled vehicles for leg amputees, were only available in limited numbers.

In September 1932, Franz von Papen welcomed World War I veterans who were sitting in self-propelled vehicles

From 1919 onwards, Orthopädische Industrie GmbH was one of the companies that turned to the manufacture of prostheses . Since 1915, the test center for replacement limbs and their successors has been examining available prostheses with regard to their suitability for different user groups.

Leg amputees learned to walk with prostheses by taking part in walking school courses. These were offered, for example, by the walking school of the Bad Pyrmont supply hospital and the Malente walking school . In 1952, the Hamburg labor authority opened a walking school for leg amputees in Wentorf . The four-week courses held there were offered free of charge. The age of the participants in the first walking school course , which included two women, was between 13 and 67 years.

Doctor Arthur Mallwitz emphasized the fundamental importance of physical activity for the disabled after the First World War . In particular, his commitment led to the fact that movement therapy was recognized as a healing measure for war invalids. After the Second World War, the promotion of disabled sports found expression in the establishment of the German Disabled Sports Association in 1950 and the German Disabled Sports Association (ADV) , which was established a year later in 1951 , of which Mallwitz became the first chairman.

After the Second World War, a 'disabled group' a. the sailing club Münster .

The rehabilitation of war veterans devoted to the First World War with his self-developed total body workout furthermore Joseph Pilates .

In addition, facilities were set up in which war invalids were supposed to recover. In this context, mention should be made of federal health care and the rehabilitation measures organized by Stig Guldberg .

War-disabled blind persons received support from a guide dog on application in accordance with the Federal Supply Act. A monthly allowance of 25 DM was granted to support the dog .

The central office for information on medical records from both world wars was the medical records warehouse in Berlin until well into the 21st century .

Action T4

Selection criteria for the inclusion of people in the murder of sick persons during the Nazi period were the ability to work, social behavior and the medical prognosis. Rational considerations of utility determined whether a person was killed. War invalids were among those who were included in the murder of the sick on the basis of these criteria.

Doctors in the world wars

The doctors who treated the wounded or disabled during the First World War medically included August Blencke , Moritz Borchardt , Christian Bruhn , Kurt Goldstein , Georg Hohmann , Jacques Joseph , Karl Kleist , Wilhelm Klemm , Paul Krieg , Hermann Oppenheim , Ferdinand Sauerbruch and Franz Schede . Oppenheim turned to the tremors of war . Sauerbruch developed a prosthesis for war invalids, the Sauerbruch arm .

In medical terms, the disabled and wounded during the Second World War were cared for by Peter Bamm , Klaus Conrad , Rudolf Elle , Max Lange , Gerd Peters , Franz Schede, Friedrich Schmieder , Wilhelm Tönnis and Alfred Nikolaus Witt . Soldiers who suffered from gastric illnesses were treated by Rolf Valentin as a troop doctor .

Nurses in the world wars

As nurses or nurses with and without management responsibilities were in World War Erna von Abendroth , Pia Farmer , Margarete Boden , Mathilde von Horn , Karin Huppertz , Marie Kalteissen , Elsbeth von Keudell , Pauline Maier and Georg champion operates.

During the Second World War, Gertrud Baltzer , Pia Bauer , Ruth Elster , Erna Flegel , Elsbeth Heise , Margarete Himmler, Barbara von Richthofen , Elly Schürmann , Ernestine Thren and Ingeborg Tönnesen were among the nurses.

Social situation

War-disabled street musician (May 1949)

In the period from 1945 to 1950, war invalids in the British occupation zone of Germany and the Federal Republic of Germany were provided on the basis of the Wehrmacht Welfare and Pension Fund Act , which came into force in 1938 , the Social Insurance Guidelines No. 11 (1946), the Social Insurance Directive No. 27 (1947) and of the Federal Pension Act as well as on the part of welfare ; A distinction must be made between the disabled and those entitled to care.

The social situation of war invalids in 1950 can be illustrated using the example of the city of Hamburg: The average monthly income for a four-person employee household in the Federal Republic of Germany was DM 343 in the year in question. The average monthly support per war invalid on the part of the Federal Republic of Germany In 1950, the welfare in Hamburg amounted to DM 34, thus only 40% of what was available to the individual members of a West German employee household. The extent to which the gap could be closed through benefits to which war invalids were entitled on the basis of Social Insurance Directive No. 27 or the Federal Pension Act cannot be answered. All that can be said is that war invalids in the British zone of occupation received a monthly pension of between DM 10 and DM 100 at the end of the 1940s.

As a result of the boom in the Federal Republic of Germany and the law on the employment of the severely disabled, the situation of war disabled changed positively in the mid-1950s. The number of jobs with disabled people increased significantly. In 1953 around 48,000 severely disabled people were unemployed. By the end of 1956, unemployment among the severely disabled had fallen by almost half. War disabled blind people worked after the end of the Second World War a. a. as masseurs and telephone operators . In Hamburg war invalids were also active in the processing of amber .

Various institutions existed in Germany for the professional (re) integration of war invalids; to name, for example, the Berufsförderungswerk Bad Pyrmont , which in 1945 as a country wounded vocational school was established, the Berufsförderungswerk Birkenfeld ( Elisabeth Foundation ) and the Berufsförderungswerk Weser-Ems and the Theodor-Schäfer vocational training center and the Hamburg workshop for Acquisition Limited (HAWEE) .

After 1945 , the employment offices also had technical advice centers that contributed to making workplaces accessible to disabled people in order to promote the integration of war invalids.

In addition, shop stewards were appointed in the factories to take part in the recruitment of disabled people and who had to represent the special concerns of war invalids.

In addition, the press reported on war invalids who, despite efforts, could not find work. Employers were asked to give them a chance.

A state association of the CDU spoke out on a local election poster in October 1946 in favor of providing war disabled people with adequate care.

Local election poster of the CDU in 1946

In the context of large demonstrations, war invalids in the Federal Republic of Germany publicly drew attention to their social situation; for example in 1950 in Düsseldorf.

The Academic Aid Association, founded in 1915, supported war disabled academics and students in integrating them into working life until the 1920s .

After the end of the Second World War, the social administration in Hamburg provided housing for disabled people . Nissenhüttenlager and barracks served as accommodation. 1954 opened Alida Schmidt Foundation an accommodation for disabled veterans with 53 apartments. After both wars, separate settlements for war invalids were built in Germany ; These include the Kriegersiedlung in Munich and the Kosegartensiedlung in Rostock . The first building of the Fritz-Schumacher-Siedlung , built from 1918 on for war invalids in Hamburg-Langenhorn , was opened in 1920.

On the initiative of the disabled, a recreation park for war and physically injured people was opened in Munich in 1921 .

Artists such as the painters Otto Dix and Heinrich Zille or the writers Joseph Roth (see the novel Die Rebellion ) and Ernst Toller (see the tragedy Hinkemann ) thematized in their works the fate of the disabled during the First World War. With his publication Krieg dem Krieg in 1924 , Ernst Friedrich demonstrated the human suffering associated with the world war. The 1962 published novel The donated face of Heinz Günther deals with invalids of World War II.

During the First World War, Hamburg Senator Gottfried Holthusen headed a committee, the Hamburg State Committee for War Disabled , which had set itself the task of supporting war invalids.

In the Soviet occupation zone of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, the people's solidarity took on the situation of disabled people .

Proceeds from the sale of welfare stamps came after both world wars in Germany a. a. War invalids benefit.

Organizations

War invalids organized themselves to improve their social situation : the Association of Blind Warriors (1916), the Association of Brain-Injured War and Work Victims (1917) and the Reich Association of War Victims and Civilian Disabled, Social Pensioners and Survivors (1917) were founded during the First World War .

After the First World War, the International Association of Victims of War and Labor (1919) and the Central Association of German War Victims and Survivors of War (1919) were established. In 1927, associations that had been set up in the German states to represent the interests of those with brain injuries joined the Association of German Brain Wounded Warriors. V. together.

In the time of National Socialism, the Nazi war victims' pension was a welfare institution affiliated with the NSDAP for victims of severe war . In 1934, the Reich Association of German War Victims was also founded. This included the remaining organizations of the war invalids, which had not dissolved after 1933. The Allies liquidated the National Socialist organizations after the end of the Second World War.

1945/46 in Flensburg - Mürwik the non-profit organization for disabled people Schleswig-Holstein e. V. founded.

After the end of the war, the Association of Brain-Injured War Victims and Labor Victims in Bonn , the Union of the Severely Injured of both World Wars (1946) and the nationwide Association of War Disabled , War Survivors and Social Pensioners in Germany (1948/50) were added as interest groups in Bonn . Walter Nothelfer played a key role in its development .

The German Aid Community was set up in 1945 not only to support war invalids, but also to improve their living conditions .

In the wake of the Bundeswehr's foreign missions, organizations such as the Bund Deutscher EinsatzVeteranen and the Jenny Böken Foundation were set up for disabled people .

War disabled fates

People of different ages and genders became disabled war veterans in the 20th century.

It was not just their wounds that made them injured. A war disabled person was a person who, in accordance with the provisions of the Reich and Federal Supply Act, had been awarded a fixed degree of reduced earning capacity that separated the wounded from the disabled.

The question of the way in which mental illnesses as a result of the war experience were assessed played an important role: "Since the injured soul is not an externally visible wound, the combatants affected by it always had to fight particularly hard for their 'honorary pension'."

People who are called war invalids have been declared to be such through a medical assessment.

An evaluation of the prepared reports is available to some extent. The number of wounded to whom experts did not award the status of war invalids is unknown .

There are also no data that make statements regarding the age and gender of war invalids at the time of their injury or assessment.

Biographies provide insights into the group of war invalids.

Biographies

The following persons belong (apart from those named in the article) to the group of war invalids:

Disabled of the First World War

Paul Alverdes , Johann Gerdes Eilts , Hermann Görner , Hugo Gräf , Ernst Heilmann , Hermann Katzenberger , Hermann Knoll , Rudolf Ladewig , Rupert Mayer , Paul Nisse , Heinrich Otto , Friedrich August Pinkerneil , Peter Plein , Richard Schallock , Alfred Schüz , Walter Sonntag , Karl Friedrich Stellbrink , Karl Tiedt , Egmont Zechlin .

Disabled of the Second World War

Helmut Bazille , Jürgen Bolland , Günther Buck , Friedrich Dörr , Walter Eichenberg , Ernst Fricke , Herbert Grasemann , Greußener Jungs , Hanno Hahn , Werner Krusche , Otto Graf Lambsdorff , Karl Heinz Mai , Dario Malkowski , Hans Pflugbeil , Ernst Plener , Friedrich-Karl Proehl , Heinz Radloff , Erwin Reinholz , Heinrich Rombach , Kurt Rückstieß , Horst Sanmann , Hanns Martin Schmidramsl , Hugo Schreiber , Maximilian Skiba , Volker Starke , Johannes Steinhoff , Eberhard von Block , Wolfgang Weimar , Karl Wienand , Anton Wittmann .

Badge of honor

A wounded badge was donated for the first time in Germany in 1918 for injuries caused by the war . This was followed by other awards; including the Wound Badge for Spain Fighters and the Wound Badge (1939) . In 1943 the SA military badge was created for disabled people .

The German Democratic Republic promoted disabled sports. War invalids could be awarded the sports performance badge.

literature

Thomas Becker / Heiner Fangerau / Peter Fassl / Hans-Georg Hofer (eds.): Psychiatry in the First World War , Books on Demand , Norderstedt near Hamburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-8676-4801-1 .
Johanna Bleker / Heinz-Peter Schmiedebach (eds.): Medicine and war. On the dilemma of the health professions 1865–1985 , S. Fischer Verlag , Frankfurt am Main 1987, ISBN 978-3-5962-3859-0 .
Heinrich Brörken: About war injuries of the spinal cord . Univ.-Diss., Berlin 1920.
Association of War Blind Germany V. (Ed.): 75 years of the Bund der Kriegsblinden Deutschlands e. V., 1916–1991 , self-published, Bonn 1991, ISBN 3-937179-93-3 .
Deborah Cohen: The War Come Home. Disabled Veterans in Britain and Germany, 1914-1939 , University of California Press , Berkeley / Los Angeles / London 2001, ISBN 0-520-22008-0 .
Wolf Donner: The social and state-political activity of the war victims' associations. A contribution to the association discussion , Duncker & Humblot , Berlin 1960.
Wolfgang U. Eckart : Medicine and War. Germany 1914-1924 , Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh , Paderborn 2014, ISBN 978-3-506-75677-0 .
Michael Geyer : A harbinger of the welfare state . Provision for war victims in France, Germany and Great Britain after the First World War . In: Geschichte und Gesellschaft , 9th year, issue 2, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht , Göttingen 1983, pages 230–277.
Iris Groschek: Where is the thanks from the fatherland? - On the situation of those seriously injured in the First World War with special consideration of Hamburg , accessed on January 14, 2020.
Rainer Hudemann : Social Policy in the German Southwest between Tradition and Reorganization 1945–1953. Social security and war victims' benefits in the context of French occupation policy , v. Hase & Koehler Verlag, Mainz 1988, ISBN 3-7758-1177-X .
Sabine Kienitz : Damaged Heroes. War invalidity and body images 1914–1923 , in: War in History , Volume 41, Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh , Paderborn 2008, ISBN 978-3-506-76537-6 .
Uta Krukowska: Disability Pension and Employment. Aspects of the provision of war invalids after the end of the Second World War . In: Specialized prose research - border crossing , edited by Gundolf Keil , Volume 2/3 (2006/07), Deutscher Wissenschafts-Verlag , Baden-Baden 2009, page 425-434, ISBN 978-3-86888-005-2 .
Uta Krukowska: War invalids. General living conditions and medical care of German disabled people after the end of the Second World War in the British occupation zone of Germany - illustrated using the example of the Hanseatic city of Hamburg , Books on Demand, Norderstedt near Hamburg 2006, ISBN 3-8334-4725-7 .
Kunstamt Kreuzberg / Institute for Theater Studies of the University of Cologne (ed.): Weimar Republic , 3rd improved edition, Elefanten Press Verlag , Berlin (West) 1977.
Nils spoonbone: honorary citizen of the nation. The war invalids of the First World War in politics and propaganda of National Socialism , Klartext Verlag , Essen 2013, ISBN 978-3-8375-0839-0 .
Stephanie Neuner: Politics and Psychiatry. State care for mentally disabled war invalids in Germany 1920–1939 , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht , Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-525-37020-9 .
65 years of parity. The history of the Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband , Landesverband Berlin e. V. , published by the Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband , Landesverband Berlin e. V., Berlin 2015, accessed on January 14, 2020.
Livia Prüll: The war disabled. Physical and mental suffering and medicine during World War I , accessed January 14, 2020.
Helmut Rühland: Development, today's structure and problems of the provisions for war victims in the Federal Republic of Germany. Inaugural dissertation to obtain a doctorate from the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Cologne, Cologne 1957.
Melanie Ruff: Faces of the First World War. Everyday life, biographies and self-portrayals of face-injured soldiers , in: Medicine, Society and History - Supplements, Volume 55, Franz Steiner Verlag , Stuttgart 2015, ISBN 978-3-515-11058-7 .
Sebastian Schlund: Overcoming disabilities? Organized sports for the disabled in the Federal Republic of Germany (1950-1990) , Campus Verlag , Frankfurt am Main 2017, ISBN 978-3-593506838 .
Andreas Timmermann-Levanas, Andrea Richter: They talk - we die. How our soldiers become victims of German politics , Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2010, ISBN 3-593-39342-5 .
Klaus-Dieter Thomann: The disabled child. "Krüppelfürsorge" and orthopedics in Germany 1886–1920 , in: Research on the recent history of medicine and biology , Volume 5, Gustav Fischer Verlag , Stuttgart / Jena / New York 1995, ISBN 3-437-11699-1 .
Bernd Wedemeyer-Kolwe : From "disabled gymnastics" to the German Disabled Sports Association (DBS): a history of German disabled sports , Arete Verlag , Hildesheim 2011, ISBN 978-3-942468-02-2 .
Robert Weldon Whalen: Bitter wounds: German victims of the Great War, 1914-1939 , Cornell University Press , Ithaca 1984, ISBN 978-0-8014-1653-8 .
Rolf Zacharias / Susanne Zacharias: Hamburg in focus of self-help for the blind: Learning from the past for the future , Books on Demand, Norderstedt near Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-8391-4423-7 .

DVD

As a doctor in the front line. Private film recordings from the western and eastern front , Gescher ( POLAR Film + Medien GmbH ) 2008, ISBN 978-3-941028-04-3 .

Web links

Wiktionary: War invalids - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Wiktionary: War invalids - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (search: war invalids) , accessed on January 14, 2020.
War invalids - Contemporary witness forum , accessed on January 14, 2020.
Living Museum Online (search: war invalids) , accessed on January 14, 2020.
Welt im Film 76/1946: War invalids at work in America, England and Germany , accessed on January 14, 2020.
MUSE-O: Wounds. The Stuttgart military hospitals of the First World War , accessed on January 14, 2020.
Monika Ankele: Signs of life. Photo postcards from the hospitals of the First World War. Special exhibition and series of events in the Medical History Museum Hamburg , accessed on January 14, 2020.
Katja Iken: Trauma First World War. "We young men suddenly looked like monsters" , accessed January 14, 2020.
Bundesarchiv Internet: Die Schüttler , accessed on January 14, 2020.

Individual evidence

↑ On the situation in the prisoner-of-war camps, cf. Heilbronn and Rhine meadow camps .

↑ Michael Hagner: The spirit at work. Historical studies on brain research , Wallstein Verlag , Göttingen 2013, page 105.

↑ Blindness was also one of the consequences of the use of gas during the First World War, cf. Gas war during the First World War .

↑ Marc Burlon: The "euthanasia" on children during National Socialism in the two Hamburg children's departments , page 20 , accessed on January 14, 2020.

↑ Bruno Schrep: Broken in body and soul , accessed on January 14, 2020.

↑ Volker Hartmann: War injuries and their treatment in the First World War on the basis of specimens from the military pathological teaching collection of the Bundeswehr , accessed on January 14, 2020.

↑ Wounded people from the First World War came or will come in the Woundings exhibition opened in 2018 . The Stuttgart hospitals of the First World War and signs of life. Photo postcards from hospitals of the First World War to speak. The former was curated by Ulrich Gohl from MUSE-O , the Museum Association of Stuttgart-Ost, while the latter were curators of Monika Ankele and Henrik Eßler from the Medical History Museum in Hamburg . Julius Wilhelm Hornung was one of those who photographed the wounded in the First World War.

↑ Philipp Osten : First World War 1914–1918: “No charity, but work for crippled warriors” , Deutsches Ärzteblatt 2014; 111 (42): A-1790 / B-1538 / C-1470, accessed January 14, 2020.

↑ A calendar page from 2016 uses an everyday situation to illustrate how paralysis caused by the war affected the daily life of those affected into old age: “My father brought a paralyzed right arm from the French campaign. He died three years ago and bequeathed me - among other things - a key fob that holds one euro for the shopping cart. Whenever I go from the car to the shopping cart, I try to free the euro - it's still the French one my father used - with my left hand. Sometimes I succeed! For a few seconds I think of him and how he has mastered almost his entire life with this one hand. ” Rainer Hitzler, Weitnau, Bavaria ( What makes my life richer , ZEIT calendar, May 11, 2016).

↑ See also: Battle of Berlin .

↑ The fate of Karl Pagel, nine years old in April 1945, and his sister Hilde, who were struck by the splinters of a bombed-out window pane in Penkun and went blind (Karl Pagel: Doppelschicksal . In: Kriegsblinden-Jahrbuch 2003 , ed. V. Bund der Kriegsblinden Deutschlands eV, Bonn undated, pages 39–41).

↑ See: Second World War # Consequences of the war and victims .

↑ Children who handled found weapons were also seriously injured or killed. The fate of Alice Losse, who was seven years old in May 1945, bears witness to this. Together with others, she found a hand grenade in Reit im Winkl that exploded when trying to open it. Some of the children died, Alice Losse went blind (Alice Losse: A life as war blind . In: Kriegsblinden-Jahrbuch 2006 , edited by the Bund der Kriegsblinden Deutschlands eV, Bonn undated, pp. 88-90).

↑ On the number of war invalids, cf. Sibylle Meyer / Eva Schulze: Nobody spoke of love back then. Everyday family life in the post-war period , Verlag CH Beck , Munich 1985, ISBN 9783406308727 , page 130 and Thomas Vogel: War Consequences , accessed on January 14, 2020 and Hamburger Schriften zur Wirtschafts- und Sozialpolitik , ed. v. Eduard Heimann et al., Volume 2: Gustav Tonkow, The fate of the war-disabled in Hamburg , Rostock 1927, page 32.

↑ Rudolf Beil (pages 44–45) was disabled in the Second World War , accessed on January 14, 2020.

↑ Wilhelm Berger and Kurt Helmar Neuhaus were disabled in the Second World War , accessed on January 14, 2020.

↑ Walter Bunge was disabled during the First World War , accessed on January 14, 2020.

↑ Julius Netheim was disabled during the First World War , accessed on January 14, 2020.

↑ Hermann Peschel was disabled during the First World War , accessed on January 14, 2020.

↑ Ms. Pfeifer was disabled during the First World War , accessed on January 14, 2020 (PDF; 19 kB)

↑ Friedrich August Pinkerneil was disabled in the First World War , accessed on January 14, 2020.

↑ Matthias Beese: Life and work of the orthopedist Dr. Rudolf Elle , page 42, accessed January 14, 2020.

↑ BT-Drs. 14/3421 : Answer of the Federal Government to the minor question from the MPs Günther Friedrich Nolting, Hildebrecht Braun (Augsburg), Rainer Brüderle, other MPs and the FDP parliamentary group (PDF; 100 kB)

↑ See also: The beginning of social welfare for war invalids in the Rhineland , accessed on January 14, 2020.

↑ See also: 1914–1918: Ein Rheinisches Tagebuch ( Memento from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on January 14, 2020.

↑ See announcement of the new version of the law on the employment of the severely disabled. From January 12, 1923 , accessed on January 14, 2020 (PDF; 90 kB)

↑ Description of a leg amputated war invalid , accessed on January 14, 2020.

^ Stephanie Neuner: Politics and Psychiatry. State care for mentally disabled war invalids in Germany 1920–1939 , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2011, page 323.

^ Stephanie Neuner: Politics and Psychiatry. State care for mentally disabled war victims in Germany 1920–1939 , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2011, page 322.

↑ Alexander Michel: Hundreds of thousands of war invalids came home from the world war, badly marked. A famous surgeon was able to help in Singen , accessed on January 14, 2020.

↑ Last list , accessed on January 14, 2020.

^ Rolf Valentin: The sick battalions. Special formations of the German Wehrmacht in World War II , Volume 2 of the series Experiences of the German Medical Service in World War II , Droste Verlag , Düsseldorf 1981, ISBN 978-3770005895 .