Abstract
<jats:p>In 1945, as the Second World War came to an end, social rebuilding began. Across Europe, societies faced urgent questions of justice, welfare, and democracy. Former collaborators had to be punished or reintegrated. Prisoners of war, refugees, and displaced persons required housing, education,and help with repatriation. Veterans, resistance fighters, and victims needed recognition, compensation, and support. The Tasks of Peace examines the difficult transition from warfare to welfare in Western Europe after 1945. It shows how post-war reconstruction was not simply a return to normality, but a contested process in which states, resistance and veterans’ organisations, welfare institutions, and civil society sought to define and shape post-war society. Drawing on case studies from Denmark, Finland, Italy, Britain, and Norway, the book explores how punishment, social assistance, democratic education, compensation, and institutional reform became part of the same struggle to secure peace and stability. It reveals how postwar welfare and democracy were shaped not only by political visions, but also by everyday administrative decisions about deservingness, danger, and belonging. The book is written by an international group of scholars and edited by Søren Werther Kjær Rasmussen, PhD and postdoc at the University of Southern Denmark.</jats:p>