Journal of the history of medicine and allied sciences
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J Hist Med Allied Sci · Apr 2014
Historical ArticleThe unwanted heroes: war invalids in Poland after World War I.
This article focuses on the unique and hitherto unknown history of disabled ex-servicemen and civilians in interwar Poland. In 1914, thousands of Poles were conscripted into the Austrian, Prussian, and Russian armies and forced to fight against each other. ⋯ Neither the Polish government nor the impoverished society could meet the disabled ex-servicemen's medical and material needs; therefore, these men had to take responsibility for themselves and started cooperatives and war-invalids-owned enterprises. A social collaboration between Poland and America, rare in Europe at that time, was initiated by the Polish community in the United States to help blind ex-servicemen in Poland.