From Warfare to Welfare: Postwar Homelessness, Dislocation, and the Birth of the Welfare State in Europe: The Case of Berlin 1945–1949

n past years, with state funding for public health and welfare undergoing much scrutiny, historians and public health policy makers alike have proposed to study the origins of what for years could be characterized as a European welfare consensus. Was there indeed any such conversion of approaches? And if so, what caused it? Among others, the Phoenix network, a coalition of scholars studying health care and medical policies over the course of Europe’s history and in its present, called for an investigation of moments in European history when thinking on public health and welfare policies converged. This paper proposes that indeed there was a period in European history which generated something of a postwar convergence of approaches. The postwar period witnessed a remarkable consensus about the importance of public planning, spending, and state involvement in the health and welfare sector. By examining the case of Berlin as one immediate postwar city and situating it in the larger European context of the time, one can point to common motivations and actors involved. The root of this consensus was not any optimistic humanitarian ideology, nor even primarily a concern for public health or the spread of epidemics. Rather, it grew out of a shared setting, marked by physical destruction and political instability. As a result, profound concerns about governability and the legitimacy of any state came to the forefront. In the case of Berlin, this was aggravated furthermore by a fear of the return of National Socialism. I