What does this research mean for the field?

The enduring absence of bodies following violent conflict fundamentally shapes and complicates long-term processes of post-war social and political reconciliation. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.INCREMENTAL. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

What question did this study set out to answer?

To examine how the absence of physical remains and unresolved disappearances shape long-term social and political reconciliation following violent conflict.

September 10, 2026Thesis ElevenOpen Access

Reconciliation without closure: The long-term legacies of disappearances after the First World War

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To examine how the absence of physical remains and unresolved disappearances shape long-term social and political reconciliation following violent conflict.
Conducted a historical and qualitative analysis tracking the century-long afterlives of missing combatants.
Focused on the First World War's Western Front in Belgium and France, analyzing records and legacies surrounding approximately 700,000 soldiers without known graves.
Demonstrated that the physical absence of bodies acts as an enduring obstacle to psychological and collective closure across generations.
Identified that corporeal loss directly mediates, constrains, or enables formal post-war reconciliation initiatives and societal recovery over a century later.

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Implication

Historical analysis uncovers the enduring impacts of missing soldiers across the Western Front, indicating that unresolved corporeal loss fundamentally constrains post-war reconciliation.

Cite This Study

Élise Féron (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6aa27a7f58559d80afc7322a https://doi.org/10.1177/07255136261487203

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Implication

Historical analysis uncovers the enduring impacts of missing soldiers across the Western Front, indicating that unresolved corporeal loss fundamentally constrains post-war reconciliation.

Reconciliation without closure: The long-term legacies of disappearances after the First World War

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Discussion

Implication

Cite This Study

Reconciliation without closure: The long-term legacies of disappearances after the First World War

Key Points

Discussion

Implication

Cite This Study

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