Revival: 1946

Abstract

The international association was scarcely ten years old when some dark clouds of a political and military nature gathered in the skies of Europe. S.I.C.O.T. was to be swept with the storm and forced into hibernation and inaction until it could be reborn seven years later. The society having been founded in Paris, it seemed appropriate to adopt the motto of that city: “Fluctuat nec mergitur”. Once more I can do no better than hand over the narrative to Sir Harry Platt; his keen humour and incisive pen are irreplaceable, and I would not wish to alter one iota: “At the Bologna meeting ... preliminary arrangements were made for the fourth Congress to be held in Berlin in September 1939 under the presidency of Professor Hermann Gocht with Dr. Fred H. Albee and Professor Patrick Haglund of Stockholm as Vice Presidents. By July 1939 the programme was in the hands of all members, and most “rapports” on the main subjects had been printed and distributed. Many members had made travel arrangements. Professor Georg Hohman of Frankfurt was in London in July with many of his Colleagues*, attending an international conference on “cripples”, and he assured the late Mr. Rowley Bristow and this writer that no international incident would prevent the Congress being held. We had no reason to doubt this belief. But the meeting was cancelled.”¹⁵