Visual representations of the medical and humanitarian assistance to the wounded and to the invalids

Valérie Gorin, Center for Education and Research in Humanitarian Action (CERAH), University of Geneva

The First World War is often linked to intense State propaganda. However, the first relief organisations also relied on mass media to mobilize and sensitize the civil society. This presentation focuses on the way posters, pictures and cinema have been used by Red Cross societies to emphasize the needs of the suffering soldiers and the duty to care. They contributed to the creation of new visual conventions, that not only emblematized the wounded or crippled bodies of soldiers, but also emphasized the challenges of humanitarian and medical assistance during the war and its aftermath.