ABSTRACT
Convened annually by various European ministries from 1917 to 1922, the Inter-Allied Conferences on the After-Care of Disabled Men represented major initiatives of the day which sought to address the human wreckage of the Great War. Each conference brought together leading Allied medical authorities, voluntary-aid representatives, labour leaders and politicians to exchange views on two vital questions: How could the war’s disabled be healed effectively and, following this, how could they be successfully reintegrated into civilian society for the welfare of the man himself, for his family, and for his nation? Subjects discussed by conference participants included methods of surgical treatment, compulsory versus voluntary retraining, standardization of artificial limbs, and provision of pensions and related allowances. Conference organizers augmented their proceedings with concurrent exhibitions of diverse forms of war-related material culture – photos, films, and demonstrations of programs of ‘after-care’ by disabled soldiers fitted with and using artificial limbs and braces.
