The Victims in Hangmen

The “victims” intended by the filmmakers in Hangmen Also Die are unique because we, as Americans, so often are presented with anti-Nazi propaganda films that focus on the Nazi victims as the victims of racial stereotypes, as well as the Allies. However, in this film we are presented with Eastern European victims of the Nazi occupation. While the film definitely attempts to prove to audiences that all members of Czech society were victims of oppression under the Nazi regime, I thought that there seemed to be a particular emphasis on the suppression of intellectuals and professionals. This victimization in the film would have been particularly compelling for American audiences in 1943, a time at which Allied victory in the war was definitely not certain, for it reminded audiences that if the Nazis were successful in the war effort, the entire world would be subjected to their occupational terror. Instead of focusing on more lower-class or unfortunate victims of the Nazis, the filmmakers choose to present characters that are obviously members of the upper-middle class, and well respected in society. The occupations of Novotny and Svaboda, as a professor and a doctor respectively, would have resonated with Allied audiences due to the fact that these are generally two highly respected occupations within Western culture, and the individuals who hold such occupations are usually well-respected and leaders in society. By confronting the audience with two likable characters who would have appeared to be likely leaders within a community as direct victims of an unjust Nazi occupation would have furthered hostility towards the Third Reich as an irrational and backwards system, and would have instilled fear of a possible takeover from the Nazis on Allied soil, further bolstering support for the war effort on the home front.