| Demilitarization and democratization of Germany and Japan constituted the Allies' essential goals of the Second World War; when the war was concluded and plans for postwar settlements were set up, the two countries' militaries were dissolved and their personnel disbanded. Demobilized soldiers returned to their war-maimed countries as soon as they were released from the custody of the respective Allied power to which they had surrendered. Most returned before 1948, although for some, Soviet captivity meant up to ten years of forced labor. This dissertation analyzes the situation of demobilized soldiers after their return home. It examines how returnees---former soldiers, now civilians---were perceived and treated by the American occupation in the American zone of occupation of Germany and in Japan, and by their own governments. Demobilized soldiers were, based on their indoctrination in the military and their engagement in the fighting of the war, understood as potential proponents of militarism, and as adversaries of democracy by the occupation. The German and Japanese administrations saw them in a more productive light, as a significant economic force and as potential supporters of democracy. As a consequence, policies with regard to demobilized soldiers oscillated between restrictions imposed by the occupation and material support provided by the national governments; between demilitarization and reconstruction. The analysis of archival material has yielded that the material provisions proved to be decisive in assuring the integration of former soldiers in postwar civil society, and in avoiding their alienation with the democratic governments.;Demobilized soldiers were at the same time the embodiment and the culprits of defeat, both perpetrators and victims of militarism. Their numbers and presence in contemporary discourse underscore their significance in postwar German and Japanese societies. Tracing the transition from war to peace through the study of veterans under American occupation, this dissertation shows how the occupation as well as German and Japanese policies were successful despite their very different motivations in preventing the re-emergence of militarism, and in integrating veterans into German and Japanese civil society. |
