The Vietnam War is one of the longest military conflicts of the 20th century. It followed on from the war against the colonial power of France and lasted from 1955 to 1975.
The war, which claimed nearly four million lives, ended with the defeat of the US-backed regime in South Vietnam and the victory of communist forces from North and South Vietnam.
Entire libraries have been written about the Vietnam War and its aftermath. However, one thing often gets overlooked – the story of the long-term psychological and social consequences.
Post-Vietnam Syndrome
It has been known since at least World War I that soldiers often suffer long after the war is over.
The so-called "war shiverers" in Germany suffered from fever-like shivering attacks and panic attacks. Some sufferers refused food. Medicine had no answers, and in keeping with the spirit of the times, they were considered malingerers or left to the self-healing of the soul.
That changed with the Vietnam War. In 1972, psychiatrist Haim F. Satan, who had worked with Vietnam veterans, published a report in the New York Times on post-Vietnam syndrome. Satan described how veterans were racked with guilt, hardened by the war, and deeply alienated from their loved ones.
"The most striking feature is a nagging doubt about one's own ability to love and receive affection. One veteran said, 'I hope I can learn to love, just as I learned to hate. And I really did hate, man! But love is a pretty big word,'" Satan wrote.
Jose Bruner, a historian of science and professor emeritus at Tel Aviv University, told DW that Satan's article was crucial for understanding what wars do to people. "It was actually the first recognition that war does not end when the last shot is fired, because soldiers invisibly carry the war within them," Bruner says.
Post-traumatic stress disorder
It was several more years, until the 1980s, before the American Psychiatric Association officially recognized the illness as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
A 1983 survey commissioned by the US Congress found that fifteen percent of veterans were affected – a total of more than 400.000 people.
A follow-up study, conducted four decades after the end of the Vietnam War, found that one in five veterans still suffered from PTSD. Such veterans were twice as likely to have already died as those who did not have PTSD.
With the help of therapy and medication, PTSD can be cured or at least alleviated. For most sufferers, it becomes less acute over time.
However, the situation in Vietnam was completely different, as Martin Grossheim, a historian and Vietnam expert at Seoul National University, points out in an interview with DW:
"I'm absolutely certain that there were a very large number of Vietnamese soldiers who suffered from trauma. But it was never a topic in Vietnam."
The main reason is that the Communist Party of Vietnam still determines what can be said about the war. "Psychological problems did not fit into the official image of a heroic fight against the Americans," says Grossheim.
That problems did exist is shown by the example of writer and former soldier Bao Nin, who published the novel "The Suffering of War" in 1987. The main character in the novel turns to alcohol to escape from war memories and suffers from deep alienation from society. The novel was banned immediately after publication.
Social trauma
Overcoming trauma is not just an individual issue, Bruner says. "It's not enough for everyone to lie on the couch, get treated and then everything will be fine. I don't think that's how it works. The question is how society deals with war. And that, in turn, affects individuals."
The social approach, according to Bruner, has at least four dimensions:
First, the rituals of remembrance: Are wreaths laid at cemeteries? Are there public commemorations? Are soldiers celebrated as heroes, as in Vietnam, or are they seen as criminals, as were American veterans, who were labeled "baby killers" in the United States?
Second, popular narratives: Not only how historians study the war, but also how the war is portrayed in school textbooks, popular films, and novels.
Third, subsequent reconciliations between the warring parties: Did reconciliation occur or not?
Fourth, social recognition of the crimes and psychological pain of soldiers: Are the facts acknowledged or denied?
"In the first decades – and I speak here as a historian because decades are not that long of a time for this process – denial is a completely normal phenomenon," Bruner says.
A legacy that lasts for decades
According to Bruner, the effects of war are felt on both an individual and societal level for decades.
In Vietnam, the five decades since the end of the war are being marked with parades, televised debates and political speeches – within the limits set by the Party. The Party is trying to portray itself as the guarantor of the country's success, Grossheim points out.
"After the victory over the French comes the victory over the 'American imperialists,' as the official terminology goes, and then comes the victorious reform," he adds.
This refers to the economic reforms of the late 1980s, which made Vietnam one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
Reconciliation exists, but with an asymmetry. While Americans are welcome today, there remains a "big problem of reconciling" with former South Vietnamese adversaries, says Grossheim.
Past events are not openly discussed, and the suffering of South Vietnamese soldiers is only sporadically acknowledged. After the war, the cemeteries of these soldiers were desecrated and neglected for a long time, and families were forbidden to maintain them.
It was only in 2007 that the Vietnamese government reopened the cemeteries and allowed their maintenance.
"It was an important step towards national reconciliation," says Grossheim. "An even greater step would be for the Vietnamese authorities to allow people to search for the remains of missing South Vietnamese soldiers."
The remains of hundreds of thousands of people have still not been found. In Vietnam, where ancestor worship still holds great importance, many believe that the souls of the dead only find peace when they are given a proper burial.
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