Introduction: post-conflict exhumations and the movement of the war dead

Key Points

• To introduce the special issue and examine how the exhumation and relocation of soldiers' remains from the World Wars shaped the cultural memory and commemoration of conflict.
• Historical case analysis focused on the British experience of recovering and moving war dead across the two World Wars.
• Examination of post-conflict burial logistics, cemetery establishment, and memory reconstruction.
• Fallen soldiers were frequently subjected to multiple exhumations and relocations before reaching permanent military cemeteries.
• The physical shifting of corpses directly reshaped societal commemoration, memorialization rituals, and public remembrance of warfare.