Wartime Experiences Research Articles

Екзистенційні виміри війни в есе Ернста Юнґера «Війна як внутрішнє переживання»

This article explores the existential dimensions of war as presented in Ernst Jünger’s essay “War as Inner Experience”. As a direct participant in World War I, Jünger centers his reflections on the protagonist’s (his own) personal engagement with the destructive phenomenon of war, which serves as a means for self-transformation and the integration of these experiences into a cathartic process. The study underscores that Jünger’s poetic portrayal of combat operates as an attempt to grapple with human existence in its most critical and extreme states. Invoking Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophical concept of the “Übermensch”, the analysis posits that war gives rise to a new archetype of soldier – individuals who, through an ongoing process of existential transformation, adeptly navigate societal destruction and derive self-identification from their wartime experiences. Existential categories such as solitude, fear, anxiety, freedom, and faith are intricately woven into each chapter of Jünger’s work. The study further identifies key binary oppositional existential themes that form the conceptual core of Jünger’s narrative. These include the oppositions “Eros and Blood”, “The Trench and Pacifism”, and “Horror and Courage”, which reflect the author’s moral and philosophical contemplation of his wartime experiences. The dichotomy of “Eros and Blood” serves as a metaphor for the tension between the polarities of “life and death”. Blood is emblematic of the mortal violence inflicted upon the enemy, whereas Eros, by contrast, signifies the affirmation of life and a quest to reclaim vitality. Similarly, “The Trench and Pacifism” illustrates the gulf between the harsh realities of frontline existence and the utopian aspiration for peace. The trench becomes a symbol of dehumanization, while pacifism embodies the longing for a harmonious world. Lastly, Jünger’s existential pair “Horror and Courage”, forged through the crucible of war, captures a spectrum of emotional extremes. Horror immobilizes and disorients, whereas courage replenishes the inner resolve of the soldier, enabling decisive action. Through such oppositional binaries, Jünger constructs a conceptual framework in which war emerges as a transformative force, capable of forging a new human identity.

근현대 일본의 개발주의 공간정치 - 고베시 바라크 밀집 지역(バラック街)의 기원과 전개

This paper examines the origins and transformations of barracks in modern Japan. The legal foundation for barracks emerged after the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, when their establishment was permitted to aid in the reconstruction of the disaster-affected areas. The immediate postwar period saw a resurgence of barracks in significant numbers. Focusing on the barrack areas in postwar Kobe, this paper argues that the criminalization of barracks is closely linked to the emergence of developmentalism, which is rooted in the prewar and wartime experiences of colonial spatial development.

‘The Only Time I Think I’m a Veteran is When I’m Dressed up’ – Medals as Symbols of Second World War Veteran Identity

This article argues that the object of the campaign medal can deepen our understanding of British Second World War veterans’ sense of veteran identity and indicate how far they, as individuals, have related to their wartime experiences over time. Unlike First World War veterans, this generation were required to claim their medals themselves, making them a useful marker to understand veterans’ connections to the conflict. Using interviews with Second World War veterans, newspaper reports and archival evidence, the experiences of individual veterans are traced over time. Situating this study within the fields of veteran identity and embodiment, veterans’ narratives with a focus on medals, uncovers how decisions whether to claim, use and wear their awards can be viewed as symbolic of veterans’ changing identity. These shifts were fuelled by the post-war climate, recollection and comradeship and the changing status of the veteran at the end of the twentieth century.

DOŚWIADCZENIE WOJNY W TWÓRCZOŚCI PROZATORSKIEJ I TEKSTACH WSPOMNIENIOWYCH IWANA PTASZNIKAUA (WYBRANE ZAGADNIENIA)

The main goal of the article is to present the experience of war in selected prose and memoir texts by the Belarusian writer Ivan Ptashnikau. The focus is primarily on the issue of autobiographism, through which the majority of his texts should be interpreted, as well as the key techniques and narrative strategies used to structure the wartime experience. The article also explores several dominant themes in Ptashnikau’s work, including the childhood lost to war, the metaphysical dimension, the deheroization of the wartime experience, and the role of memory in shaping post-war identity. Additionally, significant attention is given to the poetics of the texts and the way emotions and experiences are portrayed, serving as instruments for Ptashnikau to shape and interpret the wartime reality.

„Oh, he reeks terribly! – that is all that remains of this man among the people”.Some Refl ections on the Experience of War and Tolstoy’s Concept of Patriotism

The article examines Leo Tolstoy’s wartime experiences, particularly his active participationin the defense of Sevastopol and his initially fervent attitude toward warfare. Tolstoy’s engagementin the Crimean War marked the beginning of his literary career, resulting in the publicationof The Sevastopol Sketches. This study explores the transformation of Tolstoy’s perspectives on warand patriotism. In his later years, especially in essays composed towards the close of the 19th century,Tolstoy adopted a markedly radical position: he categorically rejected the concept of patriotism,viewing all manifestations of it as profoundly detrimental.

Safety between the lines – the role, meaning and practice of pen-pal writing in the life of a young Finnish evacuee girl (1939–1945)

ABSTRACT This article examines the role, meaning, and practice of letter writing in the lives of two Finnish girls during the Second World War (WWII). We use a particular set of letters (N = 41) from the wartime letter collection kept in the Tampere University Folklife Archives and argue that they give us an interesting perspective on not only the girls’ wartime experiences, but also on the role of communication and pen-pal writing in everyday life. In particular, we focus on one evacuee – Ritva – who during the period 1939–1945 changed class six times, requiring her to constantly adapt to new class environments and peer relationships. However, from 1942 onwards, the correspondence with her pen pal Ella provided Ritva with a sense of continuous friendship free from the pressures of local peers. We suggest that pen-pal writing formed an arena of communication which allowed the two girls to share experiences, nurture mutual feelings, and give each other support – elements which might have sometimes been lacking in relationships they had locally with adults and peers at this time. In theoretical terms, this article is inspired by approaches from the history of experiences and history of emotions. These provide useful concepts for pinpointing the historical and cultural layers involved in the social process of cultivating a pen-pal correspondence.

The Sentiments of Croatian Homeland War Veterans Towards Wartime Comrades, Families, and Society in General, 30 Years After the War

The reintegration of veterans into civil society after military experience presents a challenge for individuals and governments alike, with social ties and institutional support being key factors in facilitating this transition. To gain insight into how the Croatian Homeland War veterans coped with these challenges 30 years after the war, we conducted semi- -structured focus groups (N = 17). We explored how connected they feel to the different segments of society, such as their families, comrades, other Homeland War participants, and other citizens of Croatia and Europe, and the quality of communication with relevant institutions and decision- -makers. The findings attest to lasting feelings of cohesion among veterans who have shared their warpath and experiences, the importance of veteran organisations, and the supportive effect of their families. Corrupt policies, resulting in a hyperinflated number of declared veterans who haven't been subject to wartime experiences, hinder a broader connection between veterans. The institutions mainly provide adequate support.

Multi-Ethnic Colonial Forces in China: The Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps Field Ambulance, 1939–1945

Abstract This article examines the experiences of multi-ethnic colonial forces in China during the twentieth century, using the Field Ambulance unit of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps (HKVDC) as an example. Formed in the early 1900s, this medical company, comprising mainly expatriate medical professionals and local Chinese, played a crucial role in sustaining the garrison’s medical system during the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong in December 1941. Using various sources, this article looks at the wartime experience of its members and discusses the broader implications of their service, challenging simplifications about colonial distrust and showcasing how military necessity and resource constraints, rather than ethnic or cultural considerations, dictated recruitment and deployment. The study contributes to understanding the complex interplay of identity, loyalty, and colonial military structures in East Asia, offering insights into the adaptability of British colonial forces in accommodating diversity and complexity within their ranks.

Schütz on self-alienation and homecoming in a warring world

Alfred Schütz, who joined the Austrian army at 17 years old as a lieutenant in 1917, faced traumatic experiences during the First World War that deeply influenced his later intellectual pursuits. This article examines how Schütz’s wartime and postwar experiences shaped his intellectual and political contribution to sociology. The trauma Schütz faced during and after the war profoundly influenced his views on the ethical competence and integrative capacities of common sense, particularly in his applied theory essays of the 1940s. Highlighting the modern crisis of alienation, Schütz’s works such as “The Stranger” and “The Homecomer” reflect his commitment to understanding and overcoming the estrangement and confusion that arise from social and spatial displacement and the ideology of irreconcilable alienness. Rather than treat what is missing from the biographical archive as an irretrievable loss or absence, the article reads parts of Schütz’s later writings for traces they bear of his unrepresented wartime and postwar experiences, and argues that his applied theory essays partly serve as a delayed response to his youthful traumas. Ultimately, Schütz’s insights into foreignness offer profound reflections on the interplay between historical events, personal experiences, and social theory.

Who are the people of Cyprus? The national identity building process in Cyprus from the late 19th to the early 20th century

Abstract This article offers a nuanced examination of the complex identity dynamics among the Christian and Muslim communities in Cyprus during the late 19th and early 20th century, particularly in the aftermath of British administration replacing Ottoman rule in 1878. The article draws attention to the profound impact of this historical transition on the identity formation processes of both communities. Despite the shared wartime experience of the First World War, the Christian and Muslim communities in Cyprus failed to construct a cohesive identity rooted in their common geographical space. Drawing on Zygmunt Bauman’s concept of ambivalence, the article explores the complex process by which Cypriot communities sought to align their identity with larger nations, namely Greece and Turkey, rather than grounding it in their local context. The article contends that the genesis of their ambivalence can be traced back to 1878 when British administration replaced Ottoman rule on the island.

From Displacement to Marginalization: Tonga-Goba Wartime Experiences in the Mid-Zambezi Valley, 1976–1979

In the 1970s, the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) opened its bases in the mid-Zambezi Valley, at Paradise and Mayovhe, under Chief Mola’s territory. This move by ZIPRA was motivated by a variety of reasons. The most important fact was that the Tonga-Goba people of this region were ready to support the war because they wanted to regain control of the riverscape from which they were displaced by the colonial state during the late 1950s when the Kariba dam was constructed. This paper examines how the colonial displacements of the Tonga-Goba people, their marginalization as well as the colonial regime’s “broken promise” all shaped their participation in the Zimbabwe War of Liberation in the 1970s. To explore this history of war from below, our study builds largely from the local Tonga-Goba narratives.

Factors influencing nursing students' willingness to volunteer during wartime emergencies: A cross sectional study in Israel

BackgroundDuring wartime emergencies, the Ministry of Health in Israel faces workforce shortages, prompting consideration of nursing students as auxiliary support. Understanding the factors influencing nursing students' willingness to volunteer, is essential for effective crisis preparedness. AimThe research seeks to identify how self-efficacy, positive attitudes, institutional support, knowledge, age, gender, prior experience, and familial obligations impact nursing students' readiness to volunteer during mass casualty events in wartime. DesignThis study employed a descriptive, cross-sectional research approach. SettingsNursing schools in Israel. ParticipantsA convenience sample of 300 nursing students who had commenced their studies for at least one month. The study targeted nursing students across Israel, regardless of their specific school affiliation. Recruitment was conducted through various channels, including face-to-face recruitment, emails, and synchronous chat groups. MethodsData were collected using a structured self-report questionnaire based on Bandura's self-efficacy theory and adapted from existing literature. Statistical analyses, included t-tests, Pearson correlation, and linear rand logistic regressions. ResultsThe study found high levels of intent (M = 3.33, SD = 0.83), perceived self-efficacy (M = 3.25, SD = 0.54), and positive attitudes towards volunteering during wartime (M = 3.57, SD = 0.54) among nursing students towards volunteering during wartime. Significant correlations were observed between students' willingness to volunteer during wartime and factors such as positive attitudes to volunteer during wartime (r = 0.543, p < 0.01), perceived self-efficacy (r = 0.313, p < 0.01), institutional support (r = 0.313, p < 0.01), knowledge (r = 0.138, p < 0.05), age (r = 0.179, p < 0.01), and previous volunteering experience (r = 0.158, p < 0.01). Regression analyses indicated that positive attitudes towards wartime volunteering, perceived self-efficacy, institutional support, and prior volunteering were significant predictors of the intention to volunteer. ConclusionsNursing students in Israel demonstrate a high willingness to volunteer during wartime, influenced by factors such as perceived self-efficacy, positive attitudes towards volunteering, and institutional support. While these findings suggest potential areas for enhancing volunteerism, further research is needed to assess the effectiveness of targeted training and support interventions. Nonetheless, fostering these key factors could strengthen the healthcare system's capacity to respond to wartime emergencies.

The Echo of Revolution: The Influence of War on Benjamin Rush’s Medical Theory

ABSTRACT During the American War for independence, young and ambitious medical men entered the ranks of the Continental Army. Philadelphia physician and chemistry professor Benjamin Rush was one such American practitioner who went on after the conflict to argue for a uniquely American medical practice. However, Rush’s wartime experiences have largely been treated in a vacuum with little connection to his later medical work. Despite this disconnect, much of Rush’s own writing and teaching directly or indirectly is pulled from wartime experiences. His interpretation of those experiences changed from a means of supporting British medical ideas in the 1770s to challenging them in the 1800s. This change mirrors and engages with other changes in American identity and use of science to craft that identity in the wake of the Revolutionary War.

The Forgotten Narratives: Mobilization, Recruitment and Wartime Experiences of World War Two African Servicemen from Southern Rhodesia, (Colonial Zimbabwe) c.1939–1945

Abstract This article discusses the mobilization, recruitment and wartime experiences of Africans who participated in the Second World War. Centred on the accounts of ex-servicemen, their families, and friends, this article argues that some Africans were either hoodwinked or forced to join the imperial forces. Consequently, they began to question their position as colonial subjects in the war. Their experiences revived anticolonial sentiments and abetted the rise of labour activism and mass nationalism in the colony during the war. The bulk of the material for this article was obtained from written family records, oral histories, and archival sources.

Wartime experience of visual impressions: K. A. Korovin and the problem of camouflaging positions at the front during World War I

During World War I the development of new methods for camouflaging the troops demanded the involvement of not only military professionals but also of the artists. Thus, a famous artist and Academician of Painting, Konstantin Alekseevich Korovin (1861–1939), cooperated with the paint-disguise and camouflage service established on the South-West Front on the initiative of brothers A. N. and N. N. Suchkov. The documents deposited at the Russian State Military Historical Archives reflect Korovinʼs interest in the problems of military camouflage, his trips to the front and his inventions. In the documents published here (the letters to the Suchkov brothers; a memorandum and an explanatory report to the chief of engineers of the armies of the South-West Front; instructions for the so-called “color finder” for determining the color of paint after drying) the artist outlined the problems of camouflage at the front, gave advice on the best ways of concealing positions (camouflaging trenches by paint spraying, setting up observation points that merge with the terrain, the use of camouflage nets). Korovin was aware of the innovations in camouflage in the armies of Russiaʼs allies, and urged to adopt the best of what they had. According to Korovin, the leadership of camouflage teams should be entrusted to competent officers familiar with the rules and specifics of perception of color combinations. The documents suggest that Korovin was one of the pioneers in the military science of camouflage in Russia.

Family, global conflict, and imperial migration: Paul Messi’s First World War

ABSTRACT The German Empire collapsed at the end of the First World War, necessitating a re-negotiation of the legal and social status of its former imperial subjects. This article discusses the wartime experience of Paul Messi, a Cameroonian language assistant at the Colonial Institute, Hamburg. Messi moved to Germany in 1913 to succeed his uncle, Karl Atangana who had returned to Cameroon to become Paramount Leader of the Ewondo and Bane. Atangana had secured the position in Germany for his nephew along with providing him with a stipend. The outbreak of war saw Messi stranded in Hamburg, suffering from ill health and cut off from financial assistance. However, due to Atangana’s petitioning to the German government, his daughter Katharina, and Messi were reunited in Madrid before repatriation in 1919. The return to Cameroon was difficult, Messi, despite his desire to leave Germany, was treated as a suspect person by the French authorities. Focusing on Messi’s account of his experiences, this paper highlights how the war not only disrupted intra-empire familial connections but also how these connections enabled a negotiated return to Mandate Cameroon in the early post-war period.

The Mystery of the Tanganyika Knife and the Rediscovery of the Polish Refugee Experience of Britain’s Wartime Empire

My Polish grandmother was sixteen when she arrived in Bolton. By the time teenagers today sit their GCSE examinations, she had travelled the distance of almost three-quarters of the globe. From Drohobycz in Poland (now modern Ukraine) following the arrest and murder of her father by the USSR’s NKVD aged 6, to a detention camp in Soviet Kyrgyzstan, to Iran, Tanganyika, and South Africa, before finally settling in England. Hers is a story of Stalin’s crimes, but it is simultaneously a story of how refugees utilised the global connections and routes created by the British Empire. It is also a postwar story of how she made a home in the nation that facilitated her wartime life. She carried with her few possessions, bar a bone letter-opener knife with an elephant carved into the handle, which she passed down to me. Bringing scholarship around refugee experiences, family histories, and material culture into conversation, this journal article seeks to achieve three things. First, it brings the story of the Polish refugees who utilised the imperial routes, colonies, dominions, and nations of British ‘interest’ to greater attention. While there has been some research into this in Britain, it has been an under-explored aspect of wartime experience which shows us as much about the war in the East as it does the inherently global nature of the war. Second, it asks what role the memory of the Polish refugee experience serves, both for those who lived through it and for subsequent generations. And finally, it addresses how this memory, beyond the Polish diaspora, might be used to explore more the nuances of life during the Second World War.

Diabelskie koło historii. Poetyki miejskie w powieści Aleksieja Iwanowa Cienie Teutonów

Shadows of the Teutons, a novel by the contemporary Russian writer Aleksei Ivanov, was published in 2021. The story unfolds across two different time periods. Some events take place in 1457 during the siege of Marienburg, the capital of the Teutonic Order’s State, and the Polish-Teutonic conflict serves as a starting point for the depiction of later battles, in 1945, within the former East Prussia, now known as the Kaliningrad Oblast. This article examines the means used to create the urban spaces depicted in the novel and their transformation as a result of armed conflicts. It focuses on the urban landscapes of Baltiysk (Pillau) and Malbork (Marienburg), which exhibit a complex identity and strong interconnections at various levels of the narrative structure. The analysis explores somatopoetics and thanatopoetics, two categories the author employs to describe places, as well as the auditory and olfactory dimensions of everyday wartime experiences, memoryscapes, Teutonic castles and underground settings such as cellars, bunkers, catacombs, secret passages and tunnels.

The First World War and Ford Madox Ford’s Short Stories, 1914–1920

This article analyses together, for the first time, Ford Madox Ford’s short stories about the First World War. A surprisingly unfamiliar form for Ford, who valued allusion, subtlety, and omission as narrative devices, we see in these stories his first attempts to parse his experience of wartime and, subsequently, military service. It is also an aspect of Ford’s writing which has received little previous critical comment. The wartime and post-war short stories are approached chronologically: ‘The Scaremonger: A Tale of the War Times’ (1914), ‘Fun!—It’s Heaven’ (1915), ‘Pink Flannel’ (1919), ‘The Colonel’s Shoes’ (1920), ‘Enigma’ ([1920–1922] 1999), and ‘The Miracle’ (1928). The contemporary debates in which Ford intervened are highlighted by returning to their original periodical publications, and extensive reference to a range of his non-fictional periodical contributions establishes new connections among his wartime writing. Here I bring together for the first time these short stories, arguing that Ford’s refracting of the war through the lens of his impressionism is distinctive as an early response to war, trauma, and neurosis and is vital to the genesis of his later successes in prose, notably the Parade’s End novel tetralogy (1924–1928).

The Political Legacies of Wartime Resistance: How Local Communities in Italy Keep Anti-fascist Sentiments Alive

Can past wartime experiences affect political behavior beyond those who lived through them? We argue that local experiences of armed resistance leave political legacies that “memory entrepreneurs” can translate into contemporary political action via a community-based process of intergenerational transmission consisting of three core activities – memorialization, localization, and mobilization. We empirically substantiate this argument in Italy, where an intense armed resistance movement against Nazi-Fascist forces took place in the 1940s. We combine statistical analysis of original data across Italian municipalities and within-case analysis of a purposively selected locality to show how the past impacts the present via the preservation and activation of collective memories. This study improves our understanding of the processes of long-term transmission, emphasizes armed resistance as a critical source of the long-term political legacies of war, and explores its political effects beyond electoral and party politics.