Hangmen

A rather interesting dichotomy is created regarding the “victim” in the Hangmen also Die. While it is pretty apparent that the literal victims are the people of Czechoslovakia, figuratively thanks to an interesting portrayal of the Prague’s citizens Americans too appear to be victims of Nazi oppressors, inspiring a sentiment in US audiences that if the Nazis are not stopped this could easily become reality here. It is certainly clear that the Nazi occupying force is oppressing the people. The Nazis, rightly so, are unmerciful and ruthless, taking lives as if it were nothing. In this capacity the Czech people become martyrs for the cause of freedom. Individual characters like Professor Novotny are clearly victims, but they are made to be emblematic of the whole of society. The Czechoslovakians impressively do their best to fight back in any way possible, resistance lead by the underground movement is indicative of that. Moreover, very literally the idea of a “resistance” makes them by definition victims of an attack. Within the film there are evidently individualized victims like the Novotnys, but there is also the collective victim of the unnamed Czechoslovakina people (typified by the men executed from the barracks).

However, while this is easily readable by viewers it quickly becomes evident that the Czechoslovakians are entirely Americanized. Whether it be the “Czechoslovakian” cab driver speaks with a quite thick New York accent or the younger brother who might as well be a character on Leave It to Beaver, these people are personified not as European but as American. The purpose of this clearly to make the audience feel akin to their Eastern European counterparts, who prior to the war most in the United States likely felt little connection to. Additionally, by characterizing the Czechoslovakians in such an American way it evokes a feeling of personal attack for theatergoers. The Novotnys might as well be the family down the street. The lack of an effort at mimicking accents on the part of the people of Prague made it so that what was Prague in the movie could just as easily be Chicago or Atlanta. The personalization of the victims during the time likely proved more effective in stirring up the desire to fight back against the oppressors.