Le développement des systèmes hospitaliers dans les nouveaux pays d’Europe centrale pendant l’entre-deux-guerres

While the history of hospitals is a dynamic research sector in France and Great Britain, publications on the subject have remained relatively rare as regards Central Europe. This article aims to remedy that shortfall by studying the hospital systems in three Central European countries – Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary – after the First World War. Underpinned by a wide range of national and transnational sources (including national and local health service archives, extensive published sources and the wide-ranging reports produced by the Rockefeller Foundation), it assesses the effectiveness of each country in the construction of a new hospital system. Following a brief review of the context of
nation-building in the three countries, the article considers three key themes: the growth of hospital provision; hospital financing and management methods; and, lastly, the role of health institutions in nation-building.