Which nightmares can be caused by war experiences? How do you learn to cope with them and go on living?

"We are murdered every day, and every day we commit murder. Every day we pass a murder." (Wolfgang Borchert, The Man Outside)

The influence of War on the Human Psyche
by Anna Jányoki and Aisa Palkovics, DNG Budapest/Hungary

After Backman returned from war, he wanted to commit suicide. He jumped into the river Elbe, but the river pushed him back into life. Backman couldn’t find his place, because someone else was interested in his wife, his parents were gone and the director didn’t want to help him. The girl, with whom he could fall in love, was already married, but her husband didn’t return from war. Backman drew the conclusion from his own experience and he didn’t stay with the girl. He couldn’t accept the fact that people died in war because of his orders. Backman couldn’t handle this, that’s why he went to the corporal. He wanted the corporal to take responsibility back, which had pressed him before. They thought that he was a fool. He thought he was a murderer, but he was only a murderer symbolically. As a soldier, he obediently had to follow orders.

In my opinion, our quote belongs here: „We are murderers every day, and every day we commit a murder.” (Wolfgang Borchert, "The Man Outside") My personal opinion about this quote is that wars are terrible and bring misery in their wake. They destroy everything, even the human soul. All of our decisions, regardless of whether they are made in an extreme situation (for example in a war) or in everyday life, define our lives and human relationships.

Those who returned from  war do not always commit suicide, but this trauma stays with them forever. These people have a hard time being able to fit in society or they will not even be able to fit in again. For instance, we can think about the American soldiers from the Vietnam War or Iraq War.

https://index.hu/galeria/index/kulfold/2015/11/13/akkora_bombazas_volt_
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Posted 18.03.2019

I think how much somebody can change a person depends on how impressionable someone is.

Hannah Daxer - 16.04.2019 @ 14:19

Hey!

It’s really hard for the people who have or had to kill other people in a war. In my opinion being a soldier is one of the most difficult jobs. On the one hand they have to follow the orders they get from their commanders, but on the other hand they are just humans, with feelings, they have sympathy, they are scared, they are in a dilemma. Many soldiers have got a family and they need to stay strong although it’s sometimes really difficult for them to stay positive.

After a war they often have problems with aggressions, depression, their social life. It must be hard for them when they are months or even years away from their family and friends, and sometimes they’ve to accept that they killed other human beings. But they need to kill them. If they didn’t do it, they would be convicted as war criminals. But afterwards when their country loses the fight they’re condemned as war criminals too because then the enemy is going to sentence them. It’s a dilemma…

Madeleine Roessler - 27.05.2019 @ 09:17

Hello! 

I think that both articles and comments have great points considering soldiers but during war there are also other people we should mention. Not that long ago (about 80 years ago ) was World War II which caused the death of millions of people and a lot of them were of Jewish origin. We can read about it in "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" by John Boyne. It is terrifying how it looked like. The main character didn't completely change his moral backbone but we know from history it happened really often. Another example is "The Wave" by Morton Rhue. It is about teacher who tries to explain how German society worked when Hitler was in power. How people were intimidated and corrupted. They had to change their values to stay alive.

All in all, war influences both active warriors and civilians but in a different way.

Sara Kotlarz - 17.06.2019 @ 09:22

Hej!

We really enjoyed your article a lot.

We think that war itself is a very serious topic and therefore people often prefer not to talk about it. Still though we believe it should be the other way around. In our society we need to raise awareness of the work of soldiers. We should listen to them. It might be uncomfortable, but that's exactly why we should do it. 

A topic like war will never be normal, but we can help returning soldiers to feel normal again.

Through books we are able to see life through someone else's eyes. For example: the eyes of soldiers. We are able to understand their struggles, their problems, we are able to connect with them, feel what they're feeling, know what thoughts keep them awake at night and we'll slowly stop to avoid everything connected to war.

There is a quote from the book "All Quiet on the Western Front" written by Erich Maria Remarque: "But now, for the first time, I see you are a man like me. I thought of your hand-grenades, of your bayonet, of your rifle; now I see your wife and your face and our fellowship. Forgive me, comrade. We always see it too late. Why do they never tell us that you are poor devils like us, that your mothers are just as anxious as ours, and that we have the same fear of death, and the same dying and the same agony-Forgive me, comrade; how could you be my enemy?". 

As you can see even soldiers often don't have the opportunity to connect with each other, because they have the order to fight against each other. Due to this they even feel disconnected to the only ones understanding them.

When they are lucky enough to return home they often feel lonely. They've made an experience people with other jobs haven't made, but with books we're at least able to have a tiny bit of understanding for what they've gone through. 

All of us have to realize that these soldiers are incredible people. They are brave, strong, committed and determined, but in our society they get nothing for their exceptional work. They all too often have to keep up with posttraumatic stress, injuries that will accompany them their whole life long or depression. Still, no one is offering them help. There are organisations, support groups and therapists willing to help them, but a returning soldier always has to look for help himself/herself.

There is this saying that no one can help you, if your not willing to accept any help. However it is not true in this case. There are multiple soldiers loving to get help, but they might just be too depressed to contact anyone, help themselves or ask others.

Shouldn't the government look after people who have risked their lives and maybe even ruined their lives for their country?

We believe it should and maybe they should also read more books about war, so that they get a small insight into what a soldier's life looks like.

Isidor Fröström - 04.10.2019 @ 19:15